Story → Video

The Story → Video node turns a short story prompt into a finished film. It runs an AI pipeline in eight stages: script, characters, props, locations, shot list, scene images, animation with audio, and the final edit. Between stages it stops so that you can approve, edit or reject what it made, and everything it makes appears on the canvas as ordinary nodes.

Story → Video runs on Nodaro Cloud only. It is not available on self-hosted installs.

When to use it

• You have an idea for a trailer, a short film, a music video, a reel or a commercial, and want a complete first cut from one paragraph.
• You want the AI to cast characters and design locations, and keep them as reusable assets for later work.
• You want to direct at a high level, approve the important choices, and let the pipeline do the rest.

To build a film shot by shot yourself, start from Generate Script and Generate Video instead.

Quick start

Settings

Select the node to see its settings in the settings panel.

The Run pipeline button starts the run. After a run, it becomes Re-run and starts a new pipeline.

Formats and lengths

Modes

A running Auto or Guided pipeline has a Switch to Manual button. A pipeline that an upstream trigger starts automatically always runs in Auto mode, because nobody is there to approve.

The eight stages

The pipeline panel lists the stages in order. Each one shows its status: waiting, running, awaiting approval or approved.

What the critics check

AI critics check the work at several points. In Manual and Guided mode their findings are shown to you; in Auto mode they decide on their own.

• Pictures of characters and locations. A vision critic compares each main picture with its description. A failed picture is made again with the critic's advice, up to two times. A score below 5 out of 10 always counts as a failure.
• The storyboard. After the keyframes are made, a critic reviews them as a sequence, for example for a character whose look drifts, a location that changes, an unexplained jump in time of day or a gap in the plot. It only warns. When the storyboard is incoherent, the banner offers Branch from Shot List.
• Every shot. After each shot is animated, the video critic checks that the action matches the prompt, that the first frame continues the previous shot, and that there are no broken bodies, garbled text or motion glitches. A failed shot is made once more with the critic's feedback. If it still fails, Manual and Guided show Skip and Regenerate for that shot; Auto fails the run and refunds the credits not spent.
• Match cuts. When a shot is planned as a match cut and the critic finds a break with the next shot, the stage waits until you choose Accept break or make the keyframe again.

What Animate & Audio does

1. Animate. Each shot is animated from its keyframe with the chosen video model. Scenes that need continuity run one shot after another, each starting from the previous shot's last frame.
2. Voice. Dialogue lines are voiced, and lip-synced when the shot needs it. When the plan has a narration script, for example in a trailer, a narrator track is voiced once for the whole film.
3. Check the timing. In Manual and Guided, if the real dialogue lengths are far from the plan, the panel shows a Dialogue duration recheck with a proposed rebalance to approve or reject.
4. Preview without music. In Manual and Guided, the panel shows a Silent preview so you can check the timing before music is made.
5. Score. Music is generated for the film, trimmed to the target length with a short fade-out, and its beats are detected. Shot lengths shift slightly so that cuts land on the beat.
6. Edit. An AI editor chooses a hard cut, dissolve, match cut or overlap for each join, and avoids cutting during dialogue. The final film mixes the music with the narration, if any, with the music lowered under the voice.

Work with the canvas while it runs

The pipeline writes nodes to the canvas as it works. The canvas lays them out automatically and follows the build while you are idle. Pan or zoom to take control; click Follow build to let it follow again.

The border of each pipeline node shows what you can do with it:

A small orange stale mark means that something the node depends on has changed, for example a character used in a scene, and the node may need to be made again.

If you delete or disconnect pipeline nodes, the pipeline pauses at the next stage and shows a canvas drift banner. Put the canvas back in shape and approve again, or fork the pipeline.

Control the run

• Re-run from here. Starts a new pipeline from an earlier, approved stage, for example to redo the shot list with a different direction. The original pipeline stays as it is.
• Cancel run. Stops the pipeline. The credits not spent are refunded.
• Fork pipeline. Takes the canvas off the pipeline's hands. The pipeline stops at the next checkpoint, the credits not spent are refunded, and every node becomes yours to edit. This cannot be undone; to continue with AI help, start a new pipeline from the forked canvas.

If the service restarts during a run, the pipeline resumes on its own, up to three times. After that the run fails and the credits not spent are refunded.

Refine the plan in Guided mode

In Guided mode, a chat opens next to the pipeline panel at the Script stage.

• Ask for a change. Write what you want, up to 8,000 characters per message. The director answers in one sentence and can propose a change card.
• Apply or branch. A proposed edit to the plan, such as a new title, a scene's length or a cast member, has an Apply button. For a structural change, such as a new genre or a different main character, the director suggests re-running from an earlier stage instead.
• References stay intact. A change that would remove a character, location or prop still used in a scene is rejected, and the director explains what to fix.
• 20 messages per pipeline. When the limit is reached, approve, branch or switch to Manual.

After the final merge, Guided mode opens a second chat to review the film, with 8 messages. It cannot edit the film in place. It suggests which stage to re-run, for example the script, the characters, the shot list, the keyframes or the animation.

Credits

The cost of a film depends on its format and length, the models, and how often you regenerate. When the pipeline starts, it reserves its estimated cost; the panel shows the estimate and what has been spent so far. Guided mode reserves a little more for the chat.

When you cancel or fork the pipeline, or when the run fails, the credits not spent are refunded. The helper buttons of a Scene node cost a few credits each, reserved when you click and refunded if the helper fails. See Credits.

Tips

• Write the story, not the shots. Give the characters, the setting, the conflict and the ending. The Showrunner and the Scene Director plan the shots.
• Fix problems early. A wrong character portrait carries into every scene. Reject it with feedback at stage 2 rather than at the end.
• Use Re-run from here to explore. Branch from the script or the shot list to try another direction without losing the first one.
• Pin the models for a consistent look. Choose an Image model and a Video model when every shot should share one style.

From the API

Pipelines have their own API on Nodaro Cloud: POST /v1/pipelines starts a run, and other routes list runs, stream events, and approve, reject or cancel stages. See the Pipelines API. AI assistants can direct a film through the Film Director MCP tools.