TapNow is the all-in-one node-based AI tool for control freaks

Posted on November 11, 2026 by Michael Korican

Tired of slot-machine-style AI generators that get close but never give you exactly what you want? Craving more control?

Jessie Qin, the co-founder and CEO of TapNow, extols on her Manifesto:

“For too long, society turned us into gears in an assembly line. We were labeled by our titles: Directors, Writers, Designers, Cinematographers, Editors. We were trapped in roles, and roles became walls. Today, the walls are crumbling. We are witnessing the Skillset Collapse. The boundaries are dissolving. We stop asking “What is your title?” We ask: “What lives in your mind?” We reject the “Black Boxes” of unpredictable AI. We refuse to gamble with creativity. We believe in Precise Control with Ease. The screen is no longer a barrier; it is an extension of your retina. Node is the Vocabulary, the atom of your idea. Wire is the Logic, the flow of your thoughts. Group is the Phrase, crystallizing know-how into reusable Chapters. Canvas is the Universe—an infinite space to compose thoughts exactly as they play in your head.”

Taylor Jackson of Taylor Jackson Photos gives a tour of the canvas:

TapNow has recently released its own 3D world creator called CineMap, an AI-powered 3D virtual film set and pre-visualization tool.

Simon Meyer, based in Germany, tries it out:

See the TapNow docs for answers to your questions.

TapNow is available as a download for MacOS.

My take: this all got me thinking about a potential workflow. Imagine uploading a real-world photo, converting it directly to 3D spatial geometry, and scouting camera angles inside the clip. Call it the Image-to-3D Engine Workflow or the Spatial Pre-viz Pipeline. You drop a standard Image block onto the node canvas and upload your real-world photo. Then pipe that Image block directly into a 3D World Node, setting the backend model to Marble. TapNow reads the 2D photo’s pixels, estimates the spatial depth, and instantly extrudes it into an explorable, depth-aware 3D space. Next, click on “Enter Studio” to launch the 3D Studio Workspace. You stand inside a virtual replica of your photo and can pan, tilt, shift, or orbit to find new angles. Lock a new angle or camera path with a “Viewfinder” snapshot and then pass that into a video generator block such as Seedance 2.5 or Kling 3.0. The video engine animates new footage using your custom camera moves while preserving the 3D spatial logic of the original photo. So, now a picture is worth a thousand points of view.

Cinematic AIGV Workflow

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Michael Korican

Seattle’s Yutao Han, aka Tao Prompts, has just released a great resource called The Cheat Code to Cinematic AI Videos on a Budget.

He ranks ten factors that influence the realism of generated video. In order from least to most important, here they are:

Resolution
AI Video Model
AI Image
Sound Design
AI Prompts
Camera Shot
Colour Grade
Lighting
Reference Materials
Idea

Some takeaways:

Image to Video is the standard workflow. Create lots of cheaper images and then choose the right model to animate them. 1080p seems to be the sweet spot between speed, resolution and cost.
Start with a great image as an expensive video model won’t necessarily fix a poor one. To this end, using an LLM to reverse-engineer reference material can help.
Expect to recreate sound in your edit.

My take: What’s fascinating about this list is that the top five factors plus sound design are traditional filmmaking concepts. In Yutao’s mind, the technical aspects of AI generated cinematic videos are less important than starting with a great idea and wrapping it in the elements that will express it best. In other words, begin with a story worth telling.

Is Generative AI Video at the Bad CGI stage?

Posted on August 12, 2026 by Michael Korican

Recently, I wondered about the parallels between VFX and GAIV. I found two interesting YouTube videos:

Breakdowns & Blockbusters laments that CGI is getting Worse.

In Is Traditional VFX Dying? ErikDoesVFX went head to head with Higgsfield, pitting modern VFX against GAIV. His wife claims victory, but then he reveals Higgsfield’s second, more creative version:

My take: the genie is out of the bottle and GAIV is just another tool that creators now have in their toolkit. I predict Hollywood will quickly become its biggest user simply because their schedules and budgets will render traditional VFX unfeasible.

June 2026: SOTA AIGC

Posted on June 17, 2026 by Michael Korican

This week I have one excellent AIGC film, and two very similar AI-generated content pipelines to highlight.

“Paperclip Heart” is the latest film by Tim Simmons of Theoretically Media. Wow.

Of course, Tim also posted another video all about his production pipeline. He implores you to:

“Don’t buy (or sub to) an AI film studio — build one! This is the future workflow of AI filmmaking: a complete production office that lives in one folder on your desktop, and you can download the whole thing free.”

The production office model uses an LLM, an MCP and martini.film to organize the project, cast it, storyboard it and generate shots. The filmmaker in Tim then edits the footage and mixes the sound and music traditionally.

Note that Tim gives you free access to his Claude skills files!

If all this seems a tad overwhelming, see Tao Prompts version of a very similar method: Master 95% of AI Video in 15 Minutes.

The main difference is that this method is more hands on and avoids MCP automation.

Note, both pipelines work best with a great idea — and script — first!

My take: this protocol is the state of the art for AI-generated content in June 2026: use Claude (with a Skill) to design the look of the film, the characters, prompts, locations and storyboards. Use these images to generate shots in Seedance. Edit as usual. I predict that as more and more folks discover this method, the quality of your ideas, script and editing will become much more important.

AI Feature Film at Cannes, sort of

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Michael Korican

Isabelle Bousquette of The Wall Street Journal exclusively reported that: “‘Hell Grind,’ a 95-minute fully AI-generated film, premieres this week at Cannes“.

Well, sort of.

Frank Landymore of Futurism quickly countered with: “Cannes Film Festival Says the Wall Street Journal Is Wrong: It’s Not Debuting an AI-Generated Feature Film This Week“.

He quotes a Cannes representative:

““We can confirm that ‘Hell Grind’ was not screened as part of the official Festival de Cannes program.””

Davide Abbatescianni of Screen Daily elaborates:

“The 95-minute feature cost under $500,000, with most of the budget going on computer costs. The first 25-minute segment required 16,181 video generations to produce 253 final shots, a 64:1 curation ratio. The film was produced by a team of 15 directors, cinematographers and editors, most of them working in person from Almaty, Kazakhstan with some collaborators joining remotely. Alex Mashrabov, CEO and co-founder of Higgsfield, explained that the execution phase took around two weeks, although the underlying idea and script had been developed by the filmmakers over several years.”

Back to the WSJ for some technical details:

“Every prompt had to be extremely long and detailed. Each one would typically start with a prefix that defined requirements like style (8k IMAX, photorealistic), lighting (natural light only, “contre-jour” backlight, camera on shadow side) and the type of camera it should look like it was being shot on (“cine lens,” 180-degree shutter motion blur). The lighting was key to avoiding the AI sheen that typically gets branded as “slop”. AI-generated video tends to over-light scenes in an unnatural way. That prefix would also have to remind the AI to obey the laws of physics with wording like: “gravity and inertia respected—mass has real weight, correct contact shadows, no floating props.” The individual prompts were, on average, 3,000 words each.”

My take: It seems Higgsfield made a 22-minute short a month ago and then decided to extend it to feature-length. Seriously impressive — no wonder they decided to go for it.

How Filmmakers Can Survive AI

Posted on May 6, 2026 by Michael Korican

No Film School shows How Indie Filmmakers Can Survive AI: 9 Insights from the Pros

The insights are from a SXSW 2026 panel titled Creativity, Commerce & Chaos: Tech & Indie Filmmaking that featured Lauren Oliver (co-founder of IncanterAI), Shaked Berenson (founder/CEO of Studio Dome), and Gregory Jensen (Accenture’s Media lead) and hosted by GG Hawkins.

The highlight? They view AI as a:

“disruptive toolkit designed to level the playing field for creators who don’t have Hollywood-sized bank accounts.”

The nine strategies, from the article, are:

Training your “Digital Eye”: Cinematography Knowledge Still Matters
Because AI doesn’t know the emotional difference between a high-angle and a low-angle shot your knowledge about filmmaking is your greatest asset.
The “Micro-Problem” Strategy: Build Your Own Pipeline
Look at AI as a series of specialized assistants, rather than a single “creative partner”, and use it to solve niche problems such as Audio Issues, Localization and VFX Generative Fill.
AI-Native vs. AI-Assisted: The Gap in Decision-Making
The panel highlighted the growing divide between “AI Native” creators (who often lack traditional film training) and “Filmmakers using AI.” Filmmakers don’t just prompt; they curate.
Personalization vs. The Shared Experience
One panelist floated “Dynamic Content“; the idea that a screen could generate a version of a film tailored to the viewer’s preferences (e.g., skipping gore for a sensitive viewer or emphasizing a certain subplot).
The “Dishes” Principle: Using Tech to Buy Back Time
The ultimate goal for the indie filmmaker isn’t to let AI do the “fun” part (the writing and directing). It’s to let it do the “chores” like organizing a scene list, budgeting with predictive models, or building a character-tracking app.
The “15-Minute Wall”: Understanding AI’s Memory Problem
One of the most practical “craft” takeaways for filmmakers is the current technical limitation — AI models have a “short-term memory” problem. So don’t try to “generate” your whole movie yet. Use AI for shots, textures, or cleanup, but rely on your principal photography to maintain the “scaffolding” and continuity of your characters.
The “Signal Through the Noise”: Curation as a Creative Act
With the barrier to entry dropping, the sheer volume of “content” is exploding and the role of the filmmaker shifts toward being a human gatekeeper. Your job is now curating.
Directing for “Dynamic Viewing”
Personalized Exhibition: AI could allow for versions of a film that adapt to the viewer so when shooting, consider capturing “excess” coverage.
AI as Your “Marketing & Advice” Department
AI can act as your business consultant or Creative Producer. Feed it your script and ask: “What is the most marketable 30-second hook for a Gen Z audience?” or “What film festivals have a history of programming films with these specific themes?”

The article concludes with a warning:

“The intersection of AI and indie film isn’t about the technology—it’s about curiosity over fear. If we leave the tools to Silicon Valley, they will build a “push-button” industry. If we engage with it as filmmakers, we can build a more accessible, disruptive, and human-led future.”

My take: art is always an abstraction of reality. Cinema, and by extension TV and screen-based media, use a vocabulary and grammar that is barely 130-years old. I predict most viewers will accept the new tools in time, like they did animation and Computer Generated Imagery.

The state of GAIV in March 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Michael Korican

Tim Simmons of Theoretically Media has just released an astounding short film that showcases the state of Generative AI Video in March 2026 called “Dragon Blue“:

He generously shares his workflow online and in his newsletter.

Like most generative video pipelines, Tim made single frames and then animated them, using Google Nanobanana Pro and ByteDance Seedance 2.0 via Dreamina.

He used Claude Cowork as his “Production Office” (subscribing to the Pro plan). The key here is to grant it access to one folder on your computer and give it instructions in a .md markdown file.

He used Luma’s Agent Canvas as his “Studio”. Watch the masterclass to see his process.

And sign up for his newsletter to download the SKILL.md instructions markdown file.

My take: wow! Such a great short film! Such a generous man! Way to go, Tim!

Netflix buys AI post-production company from Ben Affleck

Posted on March 11, 2026 by Michael Korican

Netflix has bought InterPositive, Ben Affleck‘s stealth AI post-production company.

From the media release:

“InterPositive’s mission — to use emerging technology in ways that protect and expand creative choice — is deeply aligned with Netflix’s long-standing belief that innovation should serve storytellers and the creative process.”

According to Variety:

“The InterPositive system builds an AI model based on an existing production’s dailies, then lets a filmmaker introduce that model into the postproduction process to provide the ability to do things like mix and color, relight shots, and add visual effects.”

Note that InterPositive owns a patent on technology that Ben invented called “Method, system, and computer-readable medium for training a captioner model to generate captions for video content by analyzing and predicting cinematic elements”. It describes systems designed for enhancing video content analysis and generation through cinematic element recognition and metadata utilization.

Price has not been disclosed.

My take: is this the beginning of Netflix turning into a “dream factory”? Imagine sitting down on the couch and prompting the movie you’d like to see. Or a spin-off with some of your favourite characters. Or — and I want this so much — “Yeah, this movie, but make it 90 minutes instead of two hours and forty-five minutes.”