# AI Shorts

> Turn an idea or your own script into a vertical animated skit with characters, voices, captions and music, then edit the script, cast, look and sound.

**Where:** Studio › Home › Create with: AI Shorts · **Cost:** 60 credits a short

AI Shorts makes a short animated skit for two or three characters. Give it an idea and it writes the script, or paste your own script and it’s filmed as written. Each character gets a voice, and the short gets captions, music and sound effects, in vertical 9:16 (1080 × 1920). It opens in the Shorts editor, where you can change anything and render the MP4.

Voices, captions and music are included in the price.

## Make a short

1.  On **Home**, choose **AI Shorts** under **Create with**.

2.  Describe the skit, or paste a finished script with named speakers. For example: *“Two office plants argue about who gets the window seat.”*

3.  Under the prompt, a line tells you how your words will be read: *An idea: a skit will be written from it.* or *Your script, filmed as written: 8 lines, about 38 seconds, 3 voices.* Press **Film my words as written** or **Write a skit from it instead** to switch.

4.  Set the options (see below).

5.  Press **Create short**, or <kbd>⌘</kbd>/<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>Enter</kbd>. The prompt shows each stage: **Writing the script**, **Recording the voices**, **Composing the music**, **Building the short**. A short usually takes a minute or two. **Cancel** stops it.

6.  The short opens in the Shorts editor by itself when it’s ready.

> **Caution:** Stay on the page while your short is being made. Leaving stops it; the studio warns you first.

## Options

| Option | Choices | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Length** | About 25 seconds (9 to 12 lines), About 40 seconds (15 to 20 lines) | About 25 seconds |
| **Tone** | **Deadpan** (dry, understated), **Playful** (light and quick), **Dramatic** (small stakes played as a thriller), **Wholesome** (warm, with a kind ending) | Deadpan |
| **Characters** | Auto cast, Two characters, Three characters | Auto cast |
| **Music** | Composed for this short, No music, Original score, Quiet lift, Open horizon, Human warmth | Composed for this short |
| **Voices** | On or off. Off builds the short silent; you can record voices later. | On |
| **Caption look** | Any of the 87 [caption looks](https://docs.muvomi.com/sound/captions/#caption-looks) | Pop |

When you paste a script, **Length**, **Tone** and **Characters** switch off: the script runs as long as its words take, with its own characters.

## Writing your own script

Write one line per speaker, with the speaker’s name first:

```
Fern: Is it just me, or is the window getting further away?
Basil: It's you. You've been leaning for three days.
Fern: I prefer to call it reaching for my dreams.
```

A script can have up to 40 lines and run up to 90 seconds, with up to six voices (three seen at once). Each line is up to 96 characters. Lines without a speaker aren’t said; the studio tells you if it finds any.

## The Shorts editor

The editor has four tabs, plus **Edit in video editor** and **Render video** at the top. Script and cast changes can be undone with <kbd>⌘</kbd>/<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>Z</kbd>.

### Script

Edit the **Title** and each line: its speaker, its words and its **Mood** (Plain, Pleased, Worried, Shocked, Deadpan, Cross, Sad or Tender). Move, add or delete lines, or press **Add a line**.

**More** on a line lets you choose where it happens and what the camera shows, add a pause after it (up to 1.5 seconds), show words on screen instead of saying them, put a sign or a message on the set, or change the light from that line on.

**Ask AI** rewrites the script from a request, for example *“Make the ending kinder, and give Pixel the last word.”* or *“Make every line shorter and punchier.”* Press **Apply**. Each request is an AI edit (20 credits). What changed is listed, and **Undo** puts it back. With your own script, only what you ask for changes.

### Cast

For each character, set the **Name**, whether they’re **On the set** or **Heard, not seen**, the **Body** (Robot, Screen, Person or Critter), a **Colour**, and a **Voice**. A person also has hair, clothes, skin, age and glasses. **Add a third character** or **Add a voice, heard and not seen**; **Remove** takes a character out.

### Look

Choose up to six **Places**: a bedroom, living room, kitchen, office, classroom, café, shop, hospital room, street, park, bus stop, a plain backdrop, or one of four original sets. Set the **Time of day**, the **Light**, the furnishings, and what each character is doing.

Captions are set here too: on or off, **Caption position** (upper third, middle, lower third), **Caption size** (70% to 140%), **Colour captions by speaker**, and the **Caption look**.

### Sound

Turn the music on or off, choose or compose a track, and set the **Music level**, **Sound effects** and **Sound effects level**.

### Voices

The strip at the foot of the editor shows whether voices are recorded. If you change the words after recording, the preview plays without voices until you press **Record voices** again. Recording is a voiceover (20 credits a minute of speech); the recording made when the short was created is included, and recording the same words again is free.

## Render and edit further

**Render video** exports the MP4 (720p to 4K, 24, 30 or 60 fps). Exporting is free. See [Exporting and downloading](https://docs.muvomi.com/edit/exporting/).

**Edit in video editor** lays the short out on the [video editor](https://docs.muvomi.com/edit/video-editor/)’s timeline: every shot, its voices, music and captions as separate clips. The edit is a copy, so the short itself doesn’t change. If the short already has an edit, you can open it or make a new one.

## What shorts won’t do

Shorts don’t use real people or brands that aren’t yours, and the studio declines hateful, sexual or cruel ideas, saying why in one sentence. A short takes no pictures or video of yours.

## Troubleshooting

| You see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| *Stopped. No short was created and nothing was charged.* | You pressed **Cancel**. Start again when you’re ready. |
| *The connection was lost before your short was ready.* | Look in [Projects](https://docs.muvomi.com/workspace/projects/) (as **AI short**) before trying again. |
| *A short or a film is already being made for you.* | Wait for it to finish. |
| *Said aloud, this script would run about N seconds.* | Shorten the script to 90 seconds or less, or split it into two shorts. |
| *The script changed after the voices were recorded.* | Press **Record voices**. |
| *This short was changed in another tab.* | Reload to get the latest version. |