Today, with new AI video generators, the only real limit is your imagination. We just proved it with a wild new ad for Veo 3 using the Artlist Image & Video Generator. We did it on a short two-week timeline with a small team. And by using AI, we cut production costs by about 85% compared to a shoot. The entire process felt less like a traditional production and more like discovering a new way to create.

Now, we’re taking you behind the scenes to show you exactly how we did it. We’ll break down the entire creative workflow and give you the key strategies you can use in your own work. This isn’t just about a new tool, it’s a deep dive into how you can be a director in a world with AI, where you set the vision and the tools become your crew. Let’s break it down.

The ad’s creative process

The entire ad was built around a simple concept: an announcer introducing characters to a world of limitless creation. The Artlist creative team embraced some serious constraints — a two-week timeline, no final script, just a framework, a whimsical song from the album Pounding So Hard, and a single starting point: a subway scene that transitions into a flying train.

This wasn’t a conventional production. Instead of a single director leading a crew, three creators worked in parallel, each responsible for different scenes. They used clever continuity tricks to weave their work together, like having a flying train lead directly into a skydiver in another scene. This parallel workflow allowed them to be agile and move at incredible speed.

The power came from a shift in mindset.

For the dialogue, they used Artlist’s AI Voice Generator to refine the announcer’s lines, then blended it all together with sound design in post, including camera shake, grain, chromatic aberration, and a custom sound mix. The ad wasn’t just a showcase; the creators felt like characters on their own journey, discovering new possibilities alongside the viewer.

Best practices you can steal

The creation of our ad revealed a new creative workflow. Here are the core principles and pro tips you can use to integrate AI tools into your own filmmaking.

Think like a director

Don’t treat these tools like a magic button. They’re your new collaborator. You’re the director, and AI is your crew. It can generate the shots you need, but you’re still responsible for the vision, the pacing, and the emotional tone of your story. 

Creative Director at Artlist, Itzik Cohen, explains, “This project proved that AI doesn’t replace creativity, it empowers it. The human imagination is still the most powerful part of the equation.”

The best outputs happen when you combine imagination with structure: clear, detailed prompts and a willingness to experiment.

Prompt like a cinematographer

A common mistake is treating AI like a search engine. To get a cinematic result, you have to think like a cinematographer. For video creators, that means using industry-standard language.

Instead of writing a full script and then trying to generate the footage, the team used a prompt structure that focused on cinematic language. The team used keywords they also use in ad production, like “cinematic shot of… 18mm, shallow DOF, subtle haze…” to ensure a cohesive, high-quality look. To ensure shot continuity across multiple clips, repeat key phrases to glue shots together.

This gives the AI specific visual cues to work with, resulting in a more refined and intentional image. To ensure shot continuity across multiple clips, repeat key descriptors like “rugged coastline, roaring sea” to glue shots together.

Storytelling with vignettes

Instead of trying to script a full feature film, think in modular scenes. A vignette approach allows you to build a larger narrative out of smaller, connected puzzle pieces. This method keeps things flexible and collaborative, which is how our three creators were able to work in parallel. 

“The speed was a game-changer. We could iterate on ideas and explore different looks in a single afternoon, not over weeks of location scouting and shooting.” Brand Creative Director at Artlist, Lena Shulman, told us. 

Focus on continuity anchors: a flying train leads into a skydiver; a character’s gesture bridges two scenes. This lets you build a full story with a high degree of flexibility.

Layering in audio early

Veo 3 generates video with audio, but you can also guide it with specific prompts. For example, specify “wind rushing,” “cinematic orchestral score,” or even dialogue lines. You can also use Artlist’s AI Voiceover to refine or replace dialogue for more control, and bring your own royalty-free music and sound effects from the Artlist catalog. Post-production sound design, like adding the right amount of grain, sound effects, and music stems, gives the final result realism and weight.

Your prompting and generating strategy

Don’t expect one perfect prompt to solve everything. The most effective approach is to generate different variations from a single prompt, then pick and remix the best elements. Keep a record of your prompts to track what works well. This kind of disciplined creative process is what separates a good filmmaker from a great one.

Post-AI polish

In this ad, the outputs from AI were a starting point, almost like raw footage. We found that even small manual touches can make AI output feel truly cinematic:

• Add subtle handheld camera shake and zoom keyframes to give shots more life.
• Color grade for consistency, as AI outputs can vary from one scene to the next.
• Add a film grain overlay for a cohesive texture across all your shots.

This hybrid approach, which merges AI generation with traditional filmmaking techniques, is the real secret to creating something truly unique and professional. 

And the payoff was huge — this workflow let our small team slash production costs by about 85% compared to a conventional shoot, while still achieving a cinematic, high-end result.

Lena said, “AI is great. We love working with it, but you can’t just rely on the AI. A human still needs to be in the director’s chair, adding that final layer of detail and emotion that makes the video feel real.”

Use the full AI Toolkit: Veo 3 and Nano Banana

Artlist has a full AI toolkit — AI voiceover, AI image generator: text to image and image to image, and AI video generator: text to video and image to video. So, when we created our ad, we also used the Nano Banana model for image-to-image visual generation. 

It thrives with strong aesthetic keywords like “Y2K surreal chrome reflection” or “cartoon squash-and-stretch.” You can use Nano Banana as a creative sketchpad to quickly test ideas, or generate short clips, and then refine and generate a finished cinematic output with Veo 3. 

Our advice: Don’t overthink it, just throw in weird descriptors and see what happens! 

Ready to step into the future of filmmaking? 

Veo 3 is more than a new tool. It’s an empowering partner for your creativity. It’s ready to help you push the boundaries of what’s possible in filmmaking. The only limit is what you can imagine.

Ready to start creating? Head over to Artlist and explore Veo 3, Veo3.1, Nano Banana and more today. See what worlds (and ads) you can build.

הפוסט The director’s new tool: Inside the making of Artlist’s Veo 3 ad  הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

But as faithful as those films are, they barely scratch the surface of what it really takes to get close to a storm, let alone capture it on camera. So, what is it actually like to be a storm chaser?

To find out, Artlist partnered with a team of creators willing to dive straight into the chaos. Veteran storm chasers Krystle Wright and Nick Moir led the charge — two of the most respected severe weather photographers working today, with decades of experience capturing extreme environments. Alongside them were travel filmmakers Josh Guvi and Christopher Balladarez, documenting the journey not just from a distance, but right inside the action.

Their mission? To chase down real-life tornadoes across Tornado Alley and bring back footage that shows storms like you’ve never seen them before — raw, emotional, and impossibly close. Footage that lives exclusively in the Artlist catalog.

Tornado Alley

“While adrenaline is part of the appeal of storm chasing, what I find truly fascinating is the organisation and structure of these storms, especially in Tornado Alley in the United States. So this year, we began our chase in Texas and were onto a tornado-warned storm within a couple of hours of getting off the plane,” Nick tells us. “We chased across Texas, Arkansas, into Mississippi, and then back through Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.” 

The team was right in the midst of Tornado Alley, a unique place that sees some of the highest tornado activity in the world. This is where warm, moist air from the Gulf collides with cold, dry air from the Rockies. This unique mix of geography and weather patterns creates the perfect conditions for powerful supercell storms and frequent tornadoes. There’s no better place to capture storm footage.

Nick’s mission was clear from the start. “My specific role was to get Krystle and the team into a good position to capture the structure of the storms and the severe weather they produce, including tornadoes.” Using his decades of experience, which includes covering major events such as the 2001 “Black Christmas” bushfire event in Australia and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, Nick was able to determine where storms were likely to form, how they might move, and what hazards they might bring. He’s no stranger to capturing natural disaster footage. “When chasing a particular storm, I also study the radar in detail. Supercell storms have specific radar signatures that indicate where a tornado might be embedded, allowing you to position yourself relatively safely, even quite close.”

No matter how experienced Nick is, Mother Nature is an unpredictable beast, as the team soon found out. Creator Josh Guvi reflects that “the hardest part is how quickly things change. There was a moment where we were set up in a great spot, waiting for a potential tornado to drop — everything looked good, we were calm, cameras ready. And then out of nowhere, the whole storm shifted and moved straight over us. Our position went from safe to dangerous in seconds. We had to pack up and get out immediately. It was a reminder that nature doesn’t care about your plan. You’ve got to stay alert and be ready to move, fast.”

Picking the right gear

This unpredictable nature massively influenced the gear the team could use. For Josh, he “packed gear that could handle rough conditions and move fast. I used a mix of handheld and gimbal setups, but kept everything light and quick to set up. The goal was to stay flexible because once things start happening, you’ve only got seconds to react.”

Meanwhile, for seasoned storm chaser and photographer Krystle, her many years in the field have helped fine-tune and streamline her setup. “My go-to setup is the Leica SL3 with a 24-90mm. A huge factor in why I choose Leica is its unique colour profile and rendering that complements how I love to document the world around me. The 24-90mm is such a versatile lens that it covers 95% of what I want to shoot. It’s pretty rare that I need to use a telephoto lens. Many years ago, my camera kit had grown so much that it felt like it had become a burden. I switched to Leica and stripped my kit back to the absolute essentials, so that the camera felt like a joy again and my back was far happier with less weight to carry.”

For cinematographer Christopher Balladarez, the weather was the main consideration. “Thankfully, Canon has some really good weather sealing on their bodies! I went with the Canon C80, the Canon R5c, and some zoom lenses. You would think that if you’re storm chasing, you’ll be in a lot of rain, but chances are, if you’re in rain, you’re not going to get a good shot. Storm chasers like Nick and Krystle chase to capture beautiful images and try to get into a position close enough for a great shot, but far enough from getting smacked by 4-inch hail!” 

The challenge of documenting storms

While 4-inch hail sounds pretty threatening, Nick assures us that “you might think the greatest hazards while storm chasing are tornadoes, hail, or lightning — but by far the biggest danger is fatigue, and the driving — either by you or others on the road, especially in poor conditions.”

Krystle agrees. “Storm chasing is hard work and a stroke of luck! We spend so many hours on the road, and there’s numerous factors to navigate every chase — cell service, road network, fuel stations, other drivers, other chasers, interpreting forecasts, weather radar, and then of course the spontaneity of Mother Nature. Other drivers, whether they are chasers or not, are probably one of the most terrifying unknowns to encounter, as I’ve seen some strange behaviour, including drivers crossing over the ditch to start driving up the wrong way on the interstate in the midst of a storm.”

The team certainly spent a lot of time on the road, Chris tells us. “We drove through, like, five states. In the middle of America there aren’t that many healthy places to eat, so that was a challenge…it was at least a 4-5 hour drive to get to our target area for the next day, so that means getting to our hotels super late, dumping footage and then waking up extremely early to get back on the road. It’s a lot on the body and mind, but everyone was extremely good company, so it made it really smooth.”

“I’ll admit I can get a little grumpy after several thousand miles and not much sleep,” laughs Nick. He goes on to explain how having a great team is essential — “This was Krystle Wright’s fourth U.S. chase with me, and we’ve become a highly effective team. It takes a rare kind of determination to get the best possible photo or video in these situations, and very few people have that level of commitment.”

Getting the shot

That’s why Artlist picked this crew of four, because they were so committed to that goal of getting the best possible photos or videos. Josh reminisces on his favourite moment: “When we got our first tornado, I knew right away I didn’t want to just focus on the tornado itself — I wanted to focus on Krystle and her reaction to it. It was a rushed, hectic moment, everything moving fast, but I made one decision: whatever happened, I wasn’t going to stop rolling. We jumped out of the car, and I followed her as she ran toward the tornado — her reaction was so raw, so real. That kind of emotion, with this massive tornado towering in the background… You almost never catch something that honest on camera. It was wild — and it felt like the moment.”

Chris enthuses, “I’ve learned that when situations like that happen, you just have to roll everything and don’t stop recording, because you never know what’s going to happen. I can’t wait for that footage to come out!”

For Krystal, there was another moment that really stood out. “We could sense the possibility of positioning ourselves for some mammatus clouds at sunset and started driving north on a lonely road that weaved through barren desert hills. Mile by mile, we edge our way out of the dull grey of the storm behind us, and in the distance, the mammatus were beginning to emerge. By the time we decide to commit to a location, I remember stepping out of the vehicle and immediately being entranced as in one direction, the mammatus clouds are changing from golds to pinks, and in the other, the most impressive godlike rays are streaming through the clouds. I like to celebrate those moments just as much as the intense storm chasing moments… It’s all magic to me!”

Navigating the fear factor

Naturally, when up close and personal with such immense, destructive forces, fear comes into play. How could a storm chaser or filmmaker ever hope to stay calm while trying to capture such destructive storm footage?

Krystle does her best to unpick this complicated facet of the craft. “Fear is an asset that keeps me alive. If there is ever a situation that I don’t feel good about, even if I can’t articulate or reason why, I still carry enough faith to trust those gut instincts. In my first season of storm chasing, I was absolutely out of my comfort zone as everything was new to me. But each season I return to storm chasing, I continue to build up more experience, more knowledge, and familiarity so that I can make the right decisions, especially when we are in the thick of the action.” 

It’s about experience, she emphasises. “I can assure you that the adrenaline still pumps every storm chase, but perhaps with experience, the adrenaline evolves to a point where it’s more controlled and attuned to seeking out specific aspects of storm chasing.”

For Josh, it was a case of “you don’t really think — you just do. You fall back on muscle memory and trust your team. We knew our roles, kept it simple, and stayed focused. You don’t get fancy out there — you just stay steady and keep rolling.” 

With new learnings and experiences, he offers advice to other creators chasing epic moments like this…“Be patient, be safe, and be ready for anything. These moments are unpredictable — they don’t wait for you to get set up. But beyond just chasing something incredible, try to give it meaning. Context matters. Humanize what you’re seeing. Try to capture the emotion you felt in that moment, because that’s what people connect to. That’s what stays with them.”

And Chris chimes in, reminding us all to “not go alone and inexperienced. A lot of injuries and deaths have happened like that. Go with someone who does have some time chasing. You’d be surprised how many chasers will welcome you with open arms and show you the path. Learn forecasting, learn meteorology, and get into the community. It’s all about safety.”

Why chase storms

For seasoned pros like Krystle and Nick, safety has always been paramount. And it’s clear to see that there’s an alluring, addictive nature to this craft. “People chase storms for many reasons,” Nick theorises. “For some, it’s scientific, gathering data to better understand tornado formation and improve global warning systems. Others chase specifically to provide ground-truth reports, confirming radar signatures and helping issue timely warnings. Many tornado warnings have actually originated from chaser reports.”

For Nick, he feels it’s all of those things combined, and perhaps something more. “It’s like why surfers surf, or why people jump out of planes. All the noise and nonsense of everyday life vanishes, and your focus becomes razor-sharp. It’s liberating. And to see the excitement, joy, and elation on the faces of those I take with me — that’s immensely gratifying.”

“Imagine a day where it starts like any other day, bluebird sky with not a cloud to see anywhere,” describes Krystle. “Around lunch time, there are small clouds forming, but it’s hard to fathom that within a couple of hours, the entire sky can turn so dark and black that you’d mistake 3pm as if it were nighttime. The monsters that roll through the big open skies of the Midwest attract storm chasers from all over the world every spring because of this power, and it’s humbling to see every time.”

In the catalog

What this crew captured was the result of experience, instinct, and the kind of risk-taking that most of us would rightly fear. Shot on the road, in the chaos, and sometimes just 300 yards from a tornado, this is the real deal: authentic footage from inside real-life storms, captured exclusively for Artlist. It’s raw, it’s emotional, and it’s available now — only on Artlist. Whether you’re building an ad, a trailer, or a cinematic short, this is the kind of hurricane storm footage that turns heads and holds attention. Thanks to our team of storm chasers and creators, you can now create eye-catching videos with footage you can’t find anywhere else. Whether it’s capturing the sounds of Iceland or documenting the island slipping beneath the ocean, Artlist goes to extremes to bring you world-class footage — no matter how wild the weather gets.

הפוסט Storm Chasers: How Artlist captured epic tornado footage הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

The key is guiding your AI tool with the right prompts. By borrowing camera directions from filmmakers and cinematographers, you can add depth, drama, and movement to your videos. Think of camera shots and directions as best practices for AI prompts: when you describe motion the way filmmakers do, you give the model a clear roadmap to create videos that move with purpose and impact.

Why use camera shots and directions in your prompts? 

With AI prompting, you don’t need years at film school, but you can borrow filmmakers’ language. Most people write simple prompt descriptions with phrases like “a close-up of a dancer”. While that is a great starting point, you need more to set the tone and emotion of your videos. A slow dolly builds tension, a sweeping crane shot reveals grandeur, and an orbit adds energy and depth. Camera movement allows you to direct your scenes with more precision and take control of the storytelling. 

To help you get started, here are a few essential camera terms, explained simply and paired with prompt examples you can copy, tweak, and use to elevate your prompts 

Crane shot

Perfect for dramatic reveals or establishing shots, a crane shot moves the camera high above the scene and lowers it smoothly toward the subject. Use it to capture sweeping landscapes, emphasize scale, or introduce a character with gravitas. In prompts, simply add “crane shot” or “camera rising and lowering like a crane” to achieve that cinematic glide.

Prompt: A cinematic crane shot descending from a high aerial view down toward a small boat on a tranquil pond.

Dolly in and out

A dolly shot creates tension and focus by moving the camera smoothly toward or away from your subject. Add phrases like “dolly in on subject” or “dolly out to reveal environment” to make your scenes feel more deliberate and professional. Dolly in slowly zooms closer, heightening suspense or intimacy. Dolly out gradually pulls back, creating distance or revealing the bigger picture.

Prompt: A black and white medium shot, dolly in, shows a man and woman holding hands in front of a subway entrance at night.

Orbit

If you want energy and movement without changing the subject’s position, try an orbit shot. This moves the camera in a smooth circle around the subject, keeping them in frame while the background shifts. It’s a favorite for action sequences, product showcases, or creating a sense of 3D space. In your prompt, specify “orbit around subject” or “360-degree camera orbit.”

Prompt: A man in a patterned jacket and bucket hat stands in a dry landscape as the shot slowly orbits around him.

Tracking

A tracking shot follows your subject as they move through the scene, making viewers feel like they’re part of the action. Whether it’s walking down a busy street, running through a forest, or gliding across a stage, tracking shots add immersion and fluidity. To achieve this, prompt with “tracking shot following subject” or “camera moving alongside subject.”

Prompt: A sleek black car drives along a wet road through misty hills, tracking short from behind, cinematic and atmospheric.

Pan

A pan moves the camera horizontally from one side to another, creating smooth reveals or following action across a scene.

Prompt: A sunlit desert landscape, camera pans slowly from left to right, revealing ancient ruins emerging from the sand, epic cinematic scale, warm tones.

Tilt

A tilt shifts the camera up or down, often used to emphasize height, scale, or dramatic reveals.

Prompt: A skyscraper gleaming in the morning light, tilt the camera upward from the street to the top, emphasizing its towering height, cinematic grandeur.

Bringing it all together

Adding cinematic camera language to your AI prompts isn’t just a technical trick; it’s a creative shortcut. It helps the AI understand not just what to show, but how to show it. With crane shots, dollies, orbits, and other camera shots in your prompt toolkit, you’ll give your videos the same sense of motion and storytelling that professional filmmakers rely on.

Next time you’re crafting a prompt, don’t just describe the scene. Direct it. Start experimenting with your prompts now with the AI Image & Video generator. And pro tip, you can use AI to help make your prompts even better with the enhance button.

הפוסט Master AI video movement: Essential camera shots for your prompts הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

With Artlist’s AI image and video generator, you can turn a text prompt into cinematic visuals, designed by creators for creators, with tools that make it simple to bring your ideas to life. Every result comes with full licensing, so you can use your creations confidently in any project.

One of the most exciting parts of the generator is the ability to apply styles. Styles act like artistic filters that define the look and feel of your video or image. Whether you want photorealistic detail, anime-inspired action, or a retro glow, the right style helps your vision come together instantly.

In this article, we’ll walk through what styles are, how to use them, and show you how a single prompt can look completely different depending on the style you choose. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to start experimenting with Artlist AI styles to create images and videos generated to fit your project.

What are styles in the AI image and video generator?

Styles shape the look and mood of your AI-generated content. When you enter a prompt, the generator builds the scene, and the style shapes the colors, textures, and overall visual direction. 

The Artlist AI image and video generator comes with around 20 carefully curated AI image generator art styles and video filters. Each one was designed with creators in mind, tested by filmmakers, content creators, and AI experts to make sure the results are professional, consistent, and easy to use.

With styles, you can:

• Keep your visuals polished and on-brand without hours of editing.
• Experiment quickly with multiple creative directions.
• Match the mood of your project.

By combining a strong prompt with the right style, you can take the same idea in completely different directions.

Style comparison demo: one prompt, five looks

To show you how much of a difference styles can make, we ran the same prompt through five of the most popular AI image styles in the Artlist image & video generator. The prompt we used was:

Futuristic superhero on a neon-lit rooftop in a cyberpunk city at night, wearing a glowing nano-tech suit with holographic HUDs and a light-particle cape. Rain falls as flying cars and drones zip through a skyline of towering skyscrapers and holographic ads. Cinematic lighting, moody atmosphere, sci-fi concept art style.

Here’s how that single idea transformed across five styles.

Photorealistic

The photorealistic scene looks like a frame from a live-action movie. Realistic lighting captures the glow from billboards, lights shining from skyscraper windows, and the metallic detail of the suit.

In the video, movement enhances the realism. The hero slowly turns to look at the camera, creating a sense of drama.

This style is best for: Commercial spots, film concept art, or projects where lifelike visuals are essential.

Hard Flash

The Hard Flash style results in a bold, high-contrast shot with harsh lighting, giving the superhero an edgy, fashion-editorial vibe. The helmet visor and red lips pop under the stark flash, with drones silhouetted in the sky.

In the video, the drones and hero move naturally, bringing the scene to life.

This style is best for: Music videos, editorial, experimental visuals, or projects aiming for a provocative, avant-garde edge.

Macro Lens

The Macro Lens image is a close-up, cinematic portrait where every detail of the suit’s material and helmet glows under sharp, stylized lighting. The shallow depth of field makes the character pop against the skyscrapers.

In the video, the hero slowly turns to face away from the camera, adding a sense of mystery to the scene. 

This style is best for: Product-style hero shots, B-roll inserts, or adding visual richness to narratives.

Nostalgic Fade

The Nostalgic Fade style’s muted tones and soft textures give the city a cyberpunk sci-fi look, as if the scene was captured on aged film stock. The faded sky and color palette feel vintage and cinematic.

In the video, the wind gently and realistically blows the hero’s cape as they move, bringing the scene to life.

This style is best for: Music videos, period-inspired content, or emotional storytelling with a nostalgic twist.

Comic Noir

The Comic Noir style generated a moody, graphic-novel aesthetic. Heavy shadows and saturated neon create a dramatic comic-book feel, with rain streaking through the glowing billboards of the city.

In the video, the camera slowly zooms in, bringing the hero closer to the audience. 

This style is best for: Superhero projects, noir storytelling, or content inspired by graphic novels.

Tips for choosing the right style

With around 20 AI image styles to choose from, the hardest part can be deciding where to start. Here are a few ways to narrow it down and get the best results for your project:

• Match the mood to your message: Think about the tone you want your audience to feel. If you need realism and polish, go with Photorealistic or Warm Realism. For something more stylized, Comic Noir or Modern Anime might give your story more punch.
• Consider your distribution channel: The right style often depends on where your content will live. Social media tends to favor bold, eye-catching looks like Hard Flash or Retro Glow, while Photorealistic might make more sense for educational content.
• Experiment: Don’t be afraid to generate the same prompt in multiple styles. Often, a direction you hadn’t planned can spark a fresh idea for your project.
• Use styles as part of your workflow: Styles aren’t just for finished visuals. They can speed up brainstorming, help you storyboard scenes, or give clients options to review before production.

By mixing strong prompts with the right styles, you’ll quickly find a look that fits your vision.

Start experimenting with Artlist styles today

The right style can spin a single idea into endless creative directions. Whether you’re going for lifelike realism, retro charm, or a bold comic-book aesthetic, styles give you the power to shape your project’s mood instantly.

Now it’s your turn to experiment. Try running the same prompt through a few different AI image generator styles and see how your vision transforms. You might be surprised at how quickly you find the perfect look for your next project.

Start exploring styles with the Artlist AI image & video generator today and bring your ideas to life in just a few clicks.

FAQs

הפוסט Bringing your videos to life with AI styles הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Today’s AI tools make it easy to repurpose video content, turning it into something truly extraordinary — be it a reel about memory, a filmed family chronicle, or just about anything else you can imagine based on those inspiring visuals you’ve saved. It’s your chance to turn raw footage into a story, or to take fragments you’ve collected and, with the help of AI tools, create something completely new and unforgettable.

Creator-led stories in an overloaded world

In our restless era, we’re constantly chasing after something new. Every platform demands something fresh. Every trend asks you to keep up. But not every story worth telling has to come from something completely new. Sometimes it’s worth slowing down to really look at the treasures you’ve saved and haven’t yet brought into the light.

Repurposing your own archive is more than just efficient. It’s a way to craft stories that cut through the noise and invite your audience to pause, reflect, and engage. In a space crowded with constant updates, there’s a lot of value in rethinking and reimagining what you already have. Audiences instinctively sense authenticity — and there’s nothing more authentic than the unused footage in your collection.

How creators are doing it

Okay, so what to do with old pictures, and how to repurpose video content? That’s where today’s AI tools come in! They can turn what’s going on in the creator’s mind into an actual film.

Using image to video, you can make old photo stills come alive. Using AI video narration, you can create a voiceover for your family videos. You can capture stills from those videos to create new, in-between scenes that will elevate disparate fragments into a flowing narrative.

The possibilities are simply endless. All you really need to do is imagine how your material could look in a film and then make it real by using the appropriate AI tool for video creators. Around the world, creators are already showing what’s possible.  

Denis Shiryaev

Denis Shiryaev is a filmmaker and digital artist who has gained recognition for his thorough restorations of historic footage using AI. His short ‘A Trip Through New York City in 1911’ takes archival street scenes and turns them into a high‑resolution, lifelike experience with the help of AI upscaling and frame interpolation. It’s a powerful example of how creators can bridge the gap between eras and make the past resonate with modern audiences by adapting footage to the contemporary look and feel.

Particle 6

The team at Particle 6, an award-winning London video production company, used AI to craft cinematic scenes from very little source material. They inserted a journalist into iconic stunt sequences. They made it all happen with just three photos, a voice recording, and generative AI techniques. The project shows how old, seemingly static material can be transformed into something entirely new and cinematic, opening up creative possibilities far beyond its original context.

Sam Lawton

Sam Lawton’s short film ‘Expanded Childhood’ takes yet another perspective, using AI not just as a creative aid but as a way to question memory and authenticity. He blends real family images with AI‑generated interpretations to explore how technology can both preserve and distort our personal stories. His work stands as a thoughtful reflection on what it means to revisit the past and who gets to shape it.

Even the simplest examples show how AI tools can boost your creative power. In one shared reel on Reddit, a user animated a portrait of their grandmother using AI to add subtle movement and expression. AI tools aren’t just for ambitious projects. They can also turn photos into living moments and make quiet, personal stories come to life in ways that feel deeply human and memorable.

Toronto‑based creator Chris Hau is also exploring what’s possible as part of a new campaign for the Artlist $100K fund competition. His idea is to visit the village where his grandfather grew up and recreate scenes he once described from memory, pairing them with AI. He envisions tracking down old locations, interviewing people who still remember, and using AI to bring old photos of the town to life. The idea is to create a short film about legacy, memory, and how the stories we hold onto define our future.

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More ways to make your work pay off

Sometimes what you’ve saved isn’t just creatively meaningful, it can also be valuable in ways you hadn’t considered. One creator, Peter Hollens, discovered that his unused session footage, collecting digital dust in his archive, could actually earn him money. By licensing it to an AI training company, he turned hours of forgotten material into a passive income stream of over $13,000.

It’s a reminder that nothing you create is ever truly wasted. Even the scraps and outtakes you thought you’d never use can find a second life, whether as part of a story or even as a tangible asset that pays off later. Your archive isn’t just a backup folder. It’s a resource full of creative and practical potential, waiting for you to put it to work.

How you can turn archived material into something amazing

Let’s say you find a handful of archival photos of your hometown decades before you were born: Storefronts, streets, and neighborhoods that no longer exist. You’ve heard stories about what life was like back then.

Your turn to tell the story

The stories you want to tell might already be waiting for you. They might be in the files you’ve saved or in the moments you’ve held onto without knowing why. Surely there’s material there that deserves another look.

AI gives you the tools to shape those pieces into something your audience can connect with right now. You don’t need to wait for the perfect new shot or the next big idea. You just need to start.

Take a moment to explore your archive. See what sparks your imagination. Then test it out for yourself with the Artlist AI image and video generator and turn those forgotten fragments into something finished — a story only you can tell. And when you do, share your results with us!

הפוסט Bring your archive to life: How to repurpose video content and old images with AI הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

On 31 July 2025, Amazon Prime released a four-part docuseries that follows Torsten Gross on his relentless mission to compete against the world’s most elite race car drivers. Torsten is quadriplegic, having broken his neck in an accident when he was 15.

Just Hands: For the Love of Racing is a story of human resilience, determination, and defiance. And we’re proud to say that Artlist plays a leading role — because every sound effect and composition you hear in this series comes straight from our catalog. 

In this article, we’ll hear more from the team at Sonic Gods, the production studio behind the Just Hands documentary series, and find out how they utilized Artlist in both pre- and post-production to enhance storytelling, mood, and build tension and emotion.

Who are Sonic Gods?

Sonic Gods is an entertainment studio that merges production, digital, and brand content to create unscripted TV formats and community-driven storytelling that reaches and inspires global audiences. Their team has decades of experience in the film and TV industry, and their long-form content focuses on sports, business, and lifestyle.

Just Hands: For the Love of Racing

This four-part documentary series shares Torsten Gross’s journey to compete amongst some of the best race car drivers on the planet. Torsten, who is paralyzed from the neck down, has spent most of his life in a wheelchair. But that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dreams. 

“There are very few sports that make us equal to everybody,” says Torsten. “I’ll never compete against able-bodied people, but with car racing I can.” 

In this series, we learn all about Torsten’s entry into motorsports after his wife surprised him with a track day for their wedding anniversary. After that, he was hooked, partly thanks to his adrenaline-loving nature as well as the sense of empowerment he felt behind the wheel. 

That’s when he decided to share this newfound gift with the rest of his community, co-founding Just Hands Foundation, an organization that opens doors for disabled athletes to compete in motorsports with the rest of the world. Their main focus is performance driving and adaptive mountain biking through workshops, courses, and excursions. 

The Just Hands docuseries tells Torsten’s story and his journey to the top, with the hope to inspire disabled athletes across the globe to compete on the world stage. “It’s about breaking barriers, exceeding limits, chasing after your dreams and the things that set your heart on fire,” says Michelle Delamore, executive producer on the show. 

Artlist for TV production

When Sonic Gods joined forces with Amazon Prime to create the Just Hands documentary series, they turned to Artlist for the soundtrack. With storytelling this raw and real, sound design is essential, so every wheel skid, gear change, and brake squeal was crafted using sound effects from Artlist’s catalog, and the music was hand-picked to elevate emotion and amp up the energy.

High-quality SFX and music help set the mood, build tension, and bring high-energy scenes to life. Our catalog helps the audience connect with Torsten’s journey and bring the documentary visuals to life.

These days, TV production involves creating a massive range of content across multiple platforms. To promote one production, companies need to create content for streaming services, social media, behind-the-scenes clips, promos, and more. To keep up with such a fast-paced production line, companies need speed, consistency, high-quality output, and tools that help speed up workflow, all without compromising on creativity.

Artlist helps production houses take on these challenges thanks to our vast library of royalty-free music, sound effects, and video assets, ideal for sound designers. Editors can quickly find the right sound or visual with an easy search, meaning they can stay on schedule and maintain a cohesive tone across the board.

How Sonic Gods Studios utilized Artlist

The team at Sonic Gods Studios says that Artlist helped them every step of the way, from pre-production visualization to post-production finishing touches. They even used Artlist to create audio storyboards to help them set the mood and tone for each episode.

Pre-production

Ian Hotchkiss is the director of Just Hands: For the Love of Racing, and says their goal is to get their audience emotionally invested in the story they tell.

“We want to create the best TV shows possible, not just for our audience, but for ourselves,” Ian says. “You can capture these wonderful stories, and edit them together, and if you can’t get those last assets — the music and SFX that make a scene — then you don’t achieve what you want.”

Ian says that Artlist’s musical catalog came in handy to build the foundations for each scene. “Usually when constructing a scene, I like to find a song first,” he says. “In Just Hands, we kept to a similar genre for each episode, so I could easily source the perfect track to instantly bring a scene together.”

As the director, Ian was thinking about music from the beginning. “Music is definitely in talks at pre-production,” he says. “When we’re creating a series, we discuss the mood, the vibe, the tone we want to set. So we go on Artlist, create sonic art boards of the type of music we want for this piece, and start thinking about which songs will help us tell our story.”

Greg McKarus was the editor on this project, and says that Artlist saved him time every step of the way. “Artlist allowed us to focus on the narrative,” says Greg. “I love using their AI search, so I can find the exact mood or feeling or a certain instrument, and then have a plethora of options to choose from.” 

This helped the team set themes for each episode, and guided the mood and flow of the series.

Post-production

Streamlining post-production was a high priority when making the Just Hands docuseries, because they were up against tight deadlines and had a huge amount of footage to sort through.

Michelle Delamor can attest to this. As the co-founder of Sonic Gods and the executive producer on Just Hands, she says Artlist helps navigate huge workloads. “We create so much content,” she explains. “There’s the show itself, then all of the promotional assets, and trailers. There’s a high volume, so we must maintain the quality. Having a tool like Artlist allows us to do that; there’s so much high-quality music at our fingertips that allows us to move with speed while maintaining the integrity of the project.”

Michelle says that when it comes to filming TV, efficiency is everything, so having Artlist to streamline post-production was a game-changer for the team.

Music

“Music is such an important part of creating an emotional connection with the audience,” Ian says. “We use music and sound design to bring our scenes to life.”

Tracks like Jameson Nathan Jones’ “Grounded” helped create that cinematic, big-screen energy in the high-pressure moments, while Amir Marcus and Stephan Fischer’s piano-led track “Awaken” helps share the freedom Torsten feels when he’s racing.

Every episode has a theme and a genre. For example, the team built tension in episode two through orchestral cinematic music, and when they filmed at night in Daytona on episode 3, they leaned into synthy, atmospheric tracks. 

“Before Artlist, finding those high-quality assets was very challenging,” says Ian. “You’d have to source through a lot of different types of media libraries, which took a lot of time, and maybe you don’t find the asset you want, so you settle.”

Greg says that Artlist’s music library didn’t just save time and streamline post-production, but elevated all the content they created.

“Music was very important to Just Hands because each episode had a theme,” he says. “We used a lot of orchestra and strings to accentuate the high quality of the cars. So a lot of the music we used through Artlist’s library was designed to immerse the audience in Torsten’s world.”

Ultimately, Artlist’s musical catalog saved Greg dozens of editing hours. “It allowed us to create a special and unique show that will affect millions of lives,” he says. “I feel proud of the show.”

SFX

Ian says that to cut through the noise, you need to have a story that’s engaging, entertaining, and emotive, and sound effects are one of the best ways to capture an audience and keep them hooked. While Ian was filming with Torsten, he found that every race, every track, and every behind-the-scenes clip had a different energy, and the best way to convey that on the screen was through sound effects.

The team used Artboards to build their design template, referring back to it throughout the project to ensure consistency and streamline the process. 

“We wanted the audience to go into each episode feeling like they were watching something they’d never seen before,” Ian explains. “So we leaned into creating these soundscapes through music and sound effects to allow the audience to follow along with Torsten’s journey.”

Episode 1, for example, is full of tension; it’s Torsten’s first time competing, and the viewer can feel it as he gets into his car and sees his competitors for the first time. “There’s sections where we don’t use music, we just use sound design,” Ian explains. We want the audience to experience what it’s like to be in a race car, so it’s the sound of the motors as the cars pass, the sound of these wrecks that happen when you’re competing.”

Why production houses and TV shows use Artlist

From mood boards to post-production, Artlist helped shape Just Hands’ emotional and cinematic impact. The music and SFX set the tone, guided editing choices, and ensured the story flowed seamlessly, bringing this team’s vision to life within tight timelines. 

“With Artlist, we had all the high-quality digital assets we needed in one place,” Ian says. “High-quality sound effects, music, and even graphic templates for the promotional content we do around our shows.”

Michelle says that partnering with Artlist helped the team create a sonic landscape for the project. “Artlist gives us high-quality music, sound design, and all the elements that bring the story to life in an impactful way,” Michelle says. “There’s a lot of layers to storytelling, and sound is one of the most important ones. It’s what creates an immersive experience, brings people into the story, and  it’s what makes a project feel cinematic and premium.”

Ultimately, Michelle hopes people will feel so inspired by Just Hands so they’ll jump off the couch and go chase after their dreams. “That’s really what this show is designed to do,” she says. “We tell stories around the pursuit of greatness. That moment when people go from ordinary to extraordinary.”

Want to see how you can do this for your business? Contact us to get your team set up with an Artlist Business Plan. 

Dive into the full collection featured in the docuseries,  including every track in the series, exclusively on Artlist.

הפוסט How Artlist powered an Amazon Prime docuseries הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Travel and Summer time footage

High-quality stock travel footage is a great time-saving tool for video creatives who want to capture the vibrancy of summer, without the generous budget or schedule. Plus, saving time and money on production means you’ll have more freedom to enjoy those longer, sunny days. With Artlist’s vacation collection, you can explore the world without ever boarding a plane. Here are some of our favorite cinematic, timeless clips to bring your summer stories to life.

We watch two friends hop off a cliff into an aqua swimming spot and then switch to an underwater view with tons of tiny bubbles. This GoPro shot is a versatile one that could easily work for a travel vlogger’s social media reel or a mountain resort looking to highlight the area’s recreational activities. The framing of this shot would work well for a variety of formats too — vertical, horizontal, or square. 

This clip features a classic view from the side mirror of a car on a winding desert road. This particular piece of stock footage was shot in Zion National Park, and the area’s distinct red rocks are prominently featured. This clip is useful for any business that serves visitors to these National Parks or as a transition clip for a vacation reel. 

A waitress walks by holding a tray of appealing drinks in an upscale hotel bar. The brass pineapple beverage gives the impression that we’re somewhere tropical, but the actual location remains ambiguous. Stock clips like this one are great because they can really be used anywhere. We could see this one being useful in a video reel for a hotel or a cocktail lounge. 

The epic POV shot shows a surfer’s perspective as a tube wave crashes over him. We love the vibrant color of the water and the unique perspective. This 14-second clip would work well to promote a surfing school, activities at a resort, or a summertime recap video.  

A vertical POV shot featuring two relaxing hikers clinking metal mugs with a spectacular view. The vertical shot makes it perfect for use in a reel. This travel footage would be useful for outdoor brands, a lifestyle content creator, or a travel vlogger. 

We love the unique perspective in this summer stock clip. It begins with a view through a pair of sunglasses, then shifts as the man in frame takes them off, revealing a pristine, sunlit beach. The playful framing perfectly captures the carefree vibe of the season. While it was filmed in Cyprus, the shot feels intentionally location-neutral, making it ideal for telling a visual story about any beach, anywhere.

A stunning piece of underwater footage featuring a woman snorkeling through a big school of fish. The vertically shot footage is ideal for a social media reel. This clip would be useful for seaside resorts or snorkeling schools looking to attract new customers through social media. This type of aspirational b-roll footage is a great choice to show potential customers what their own vacation might look like. 

This short clip captures the energy of summer love. It features a man and woman sitting next to a small beach bonfire, sipping beers and playing guitar. This clip could be used as a useful b-roll for any business in a resort town or as a wide shot for a regional beer company — the bottles are far enough from the camera that you don’t see any distinct labels, so a smaller brand could mix them with existing branded footage to create a short online ad. 

It’s a simple vertical shot of the edge of a pool, but its simplicity is what makes it such a versatile piece of summer stock footage. It’s best suited for a vertical reel, but something this universal is great for all types of content creators — small businesses, micro influencers, or big brands.  

It wouldn’t be summer without a little bit of nervous anticipation before you head out on that great vacation. This clip of a child looking out the window at an airport captures just that. This could be a great opening shot for a vacation recap video or an airline advertising low-price summer fares. In this particular shot, you don’t see the child’s face, which makes it a great addition to a project that mixes stock travel footage with existing production-shot footage. 

Save time with templates

Once you’ve downloaded your footage and made an edit, add one of Artlist’s summer-inspired templates to give it that final polish. 

This simple 3D animation is a good choice for an opening sequence, so viewers and potential clients know exactly who made the summer-inspired video. 

Looking for something simpler? Check out these cute summer-inspired animated icons. They feature hand-drawn elements and can be used to add emphasis in your summer travel videos. 

How does Artlist’s licensing work? 

Artlist makes licensing high-quality travel footage easy if you have an Artlist subscription, and a variety of subscription levels are available. 

A Footage and Templates plan lets you download unlimited stock footage from the catalog and takes the hassle out of negotiating usage rights with individual creators. You can then use that footage in your projects and publish on any platform worldwide. The licence includes social-media usage and commercial projects. 

Looking to explore Artlist’s LUTs, royalty-free music, and AI-generated features? The Artlist Max subscription covers it all. 

Are you on the creative team of a business with more than 50 employees? Contact the Artlist Business team to customize a license to cover your specific needs. 

Add royalty-free music and SFX

Artlist’s curated Summer royalty-free music catalog makes it easy to find the perfect song for your video creations. 

This vintage-summer inspired playlist is filled with upbeat bops that are sure to inspire nostalgia. Perfect for videos about long road-trips, lazy days on the beach, or a low-key hang at a backyard BBQ. 

“Get Hit” by Monako has an old-school, uplifting vibe that reminds us of the DJ Jazzy Jeff and The  Fresh Prince’s classic “Summertime.” This track’s carefree groove makes it a great fit for vacation recaps, timelapses, and video content looking to inspire viewers. 

High-quality SFX can give your vacation reels and summer stories an extra creative boost. The stock footage of folks relaxing on the beach will really come to life once you add in some crashing waves and kids laughing in the background.

This SFX combines the sounds of a wave crashing on the shoreline and some birds chirping in the background. This versatile SFX manages to catch the wave at different intensities, which will make it easier to match with your stock footage. 

Looking for something a bit more lively? This SFX sonically captures the chaotic joy of a hot day at a local swimming pool — splashes, excited laughter, and a bouncing ping pong ball. 

Check out the Artlist summer SFX catalog to explore more classic summertime sounds. 

Summer-inspired LUTs

LUTs are a video editor’s best friend when it comes to elevating the look and feel of your summer footage. LUTs can be particularly useful when you are mixing together different pieces of stock footage, because they will give the project a unified look and feel. 

Look for LUTs with vibrant tones for summer-time projects. Warm-toned LUTs will help you recreate the dreamy, golden-hour light we associate with summer. 

Artlist’s AI-powered search function lets you explore LUTs by style, tone, temperature, and contrast. 

Sit back and unwind

Artlist’s collection of summer stock video footage, summer templates, SFX, LUTs, and royalty-free music has everything you need to make an epic summertime video project. Working with stock travel footage can also save you time and money, which means you can squeeze in one last day of leisure time before the summer slips away.  

הפוסט The best summer stock footage to make your summer reels shine הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Picture yachts spelling out Louis Vuitton’s logo across the Mediterranean. A billboard that teaches you how to pronounce “Carlsberg” and rewards you with a free beer. Or screens in London showing sun damage happening in real-time, triggered by live UV data.

This is no longer about renting attention. It’s about earning it, through experiences that adapt, respond, and resonate.

Beyond shouting for attention

For decades, out-of-home media advertising was primarily about reach. Buy a board, place your message, rack up impressions, repeat. If you were lucky, people might actually look at it.

But that equation just isn’t enough anymore. People scroll faster than they walk. They tune out what feels forced. They ignore what feels irrelevant.

AI is rewriting those rules. Suddenly, OOH can respond in real-time, adapt on the fly, and join cultural conversations instead of interrupting them, making it feel less like outdoor advertising and more like a moment worth stopping for.

How AI is changing the playbook

So here’s how AI is such a game-changer for out-of-home advertising, and how you can really lean in and make a difference within your day-to-day:

Know when and where to show up: You can use location, weather, behavior, and cultural signals to predict when and where your audience is most receptive — and forecast foot traffic with incredible precision.

Test and adapt creatives at scale: Quickly generate, test, and iterate campaign ideas at speed, automating large-scale A/B testing so you can pivot fast instead of sticking to a single master visual.

Respond in real-time: Adapt messages in response to live events, such as a sports win, or a sudden heatwave (hello, Europe), or breaking news, and personalize content for local audiences moving through specific neighborhoods.

Create stories that connect: Use audience data and social buzz to help creative teams craft emotionally resonant stories that reflect what people genuinely care about. 

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A few examples worth a second look

Louis Vuitton’s recent yacht campaign was more than just a luxury flex. AI choreographed the boats and optimized drone angles to maximize social sharing, blending a physical spectacle that could cause a ripple effect online — amplified even further by the playful debate over whether it was real or not. With the rise of deepfakes and hyper-realistic content, it’s becoming increasingly hard to tell. Still, the attention had already been captured.

Recently, the Burnable billboard by Wonderhood Studios and The British Skin Foundation used live UV data and generative AI to create thousands of medically accurate image frames, gradually revealing how healthy skin burns and blisters throughout the day. In a world where people still underestimate sun damage, the campaign made the invisible danger impossible to ignore, turning a digital screen into a public health moment.

Carlsberg’s AI-powered billboard in Vietnam is another perfect OOH and AI example. Their installation invited passersby to pronounce “Carlsberg” correctly, using speech-recognition AI to judge their attempts. If they nailed the pronunciation, they were rewarded with a free beer. Beyond being a clever stunt, it was fun, interactive, and deeply brand-connected, showing how even a simple name can become a memorable experience. 

These campaigns brilliantly combine three fundamentals of great OOH: clever creative, on-point messaging, and an effective, highly shareable medium.

From interruption to contribution

The most exciting part is that OOH, previously all about commanding attention, can now move beyond that, creating real moments that genuinely earn their place and time.

This represents a fundamental evolution in how brands think about out-of-home advertising: from interruption to contribution, from advertising to experience creation.

When you build something people want to pause for, interact with, or share, you’re no longer just renting space; you’re adding to the culture around you. One well-designed, data-driven moment can ripple far beyond its physical space.

When people film, remix, and talk about an activation, they become your amplifiers. They turn your billboard into a cultural touchpoint, something they choose to participate in.

It’s not “look at me.” It’s “look with me.”

That mindset shift, from forcing a message to inviting someone in, is at the heart of why this feels so powerful right now. It’s how media can become personal, and how paid placements can transform into genuine experiences that matter.

The future of physical and digital

After this year’s Cannes, one theme kept popping up again and again: the blend of physical and digital. AI is the tool to help that blend. 

As audiences raise their expectations, wanting more relevance, authenticity, and usefulness, brands will understand that they need to treat out-of-home as an experience platform, not just an ad buy.

Where do we go from here?

Creativity has always been the spark. GenAI is now the fuel. That partnership, combining human instincts and nuance with speed and machine precision, is opening up lots more possibilities for what can be done in the public space.

OOH can still be big and bold. But now, it can also be personal, responsive, and even kind. It can move beyond noise into experiences people talk about, moments they share, and stories that resonate.

Contact us to learn more about how Artlist can help you with your out-of-home media advertising.

הפוסט OOH is having its AI moment  הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Recently, he sat down with Artlist to talk through his action videography journey, offering amazing insights, and some very useful advice for those wanting to become the next best extreme sports videographer. If you’re wanting to know which is the best video camera for action sports, or have designs on shooting your own extreme sports film, then this one’s for you.

From passion to career

“I started with action sports when I was 14, surfing in Rome. Before that, I was just your classic Italian kid playing football. But in the summer of 2004, I discovered surfing, and that changed everything”, he reflects. Naturally, “Surfing led to skateboarding, and then in the winter (while on family vacation in the mountains), I told my dad, ‘I don’t want to ski anymore — I want to try snowboarding.’” 

“I started organizing parties and festivals in Rome. That’s actually when I first picked up a camera — just to shoot photos and videos of the events and my friends surfing. I was maybe 15 or 16, just a kid with a camera shooting his friends.” From there, Mirko never really looked back. 

What started off as a passion and hobby has developed into an impressive career. “In 2008, I met a girl who invited me to Innsbruck (in Austria), and I’ve been based here ever since. A couple of years in, friends asked if I wanted to try longboarding. At first I thought, ‘No way,’ but as soon as I tried it, it just clicked.”

“From the beginning, I had this ambition. Ever since I was a kid I have wanted to be a pro surfer. Then I started doing downhill skating, won a slide jam, and got my first sponsor. That’s when I realized ‘ok I needed to start filming properly.’”

“After years of skating and filming, I realized — I’m a filmmaker now. Around 2019, just before COVID, I decided to focus more on filmmaking full-time. I opened my own agency and started freelancing.”

“I leveraged all those contacts I made from skateboarding…I pitched ideas to the same companies, but now I was the filmmaker. That led to projects in…snowboarding, ski resorts, bike parks, and big sports branding events like Swatch Nines and World Cup comps.”

Gear and technique

After many years of building up his experience and skillset, Mirko is now one of the most impressive action sports videographers around, with a signature style of daring stunts that are beautifully cinematic. “I always wanted a clean, cinematic look. I cared about the angles,  getting the shot from the front, understanding the side that looks best on camera…all these things matter.”

When you watch Mirko’s work, as he follows a skateboarder down the mountain at insane speeds, you really feel that speed, as well as the risk and adrenaline that comes with it. “Follow-cam work brings out the emotion and momentum of a moment in a way a static shot never can. It’s more dynamic, more real,” he explains enthusiastically. 

For Mirko, there’s no single best camera for sports videography. At the moment, to capture these unbelievable shots, his go-to gear is the “Sony A7S III with a 12-24mm wide lens for cinematic work. For the follow cams, no gimbals — I just use the camera handheld.” While the Sony is more about the precision and cinematic look, he also makes use of GoPros and action cameras — “I go crazy, get in close, shoot fast.”

Of course, to achieve these risky shots, there has to be a high level of communication and understanding between the rider and the filmmaker. “Extreme sports filmmaking is different. You need to know your riders, and they need to know you. It’s all about trust and understanding what looks good and how they’re going to move. Without that, you can’t get the shot.” 

Additionally, he adds, it’s about being comfortable with your gear, too. “Sometimes it’s about feeling and intuition. You can teach technique, but the flow of follow-cam work comes from how well you know your board and your camera.”

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Preparation matters

It’s clear that the secret to Mirko’s success lies not just in his communication and understanding with his athletes, but in his attention to the details, and the preparation and planning that goes into each sports content shoot. The weather, for example, is something he had to learn about the hard way. “Cold kills batteries, so I always tell people to keep your batteries close to your body, to keep them warm. That one tip is a game changer.” 

Another piece of advice is to “always scout your location. Coming from skating, I used to just show up and shoot, always run-and-gun style. But now I know: if you’ve scouted, you save time, avoid confusion, and lead with confidence.” 

Given the nature of the job, it doesn’t always go to plan. He references the many times he’s broken DSLRs, and it’s not just the cameras and gear at risk, either. “I’ve also broken myself – road rash, burns, lots of skin gone — because when you crash while filming downhill longboarding, you try to protect the camera by holding up. I’ve lost a lot of skin-saving gear,” he laughs. 

Despite the risks, you won’t catch him quitting anytime soon. With a tattoo that reminds you to “go big or go home”, he’s committed to his craft, continuously pushing boundaries. “It’s the people, the adrenaline, the outdoors. Action sports filming gave me so much. It shaped who I am, professionally and personally. I feel like I still have a lot to give back to this world. I’ll keep doing this as long as I can.”

Editing workflow

From location scouting in pre-production to his intuitive understanding of riders during production, Mirko’s attention to detail carries all the way through each project. It’s no surprise to learn that his post-production editing workflow is similarly well organized. “I label everything by camera, athlete, and scene. Then I watch everything again and begin to pick out the best shots — the best of Sony, best of GoPro POV — and build from there. I’ll narrow it down to the very best shots and begin editing them all together in a separate timeline.” Most of this work is carried out with Final Cut Pro, before shifting over to DaVinci Resolve for color grading.

He also makes good use of all his Artlist assets, too. “Artlist has been huge for me. I’ve used it for royalty-free music on probably 95% of my projects, and I use their light leaks, transitions, VFX, and plugins all the time. Sound effects are always very underrated but necessary, too.” In a tight squeeze, he can even make use of stock footage. “I’ve recommended Artlist to a lot of people who ask about stock footage, and they’re always really surprised about the quality of stuff that’s in there compared to what they have just been using.”

Mirko’s top three tips

Before he left, Mirko outlined his top three tips for any aspiring extreme sports filmmaker.

1. Create your own opportunities — and say yes before you feel ready

Don’t wait for brands or clients to call you. Go out, film your friends, make that passion project, and launch the idea you’ve been sitting on. Half of my career came from personal projects that no one asked for — but they got noticed. And when opportunities did come, I said yes, even when I wasn’t 100% ready. Some of the wildest jobs I’ve done started with me figuring it out on the go. Confidence doesn’t come first. You earn it by doing the thing.

2. Start with what you have and where you are

You don’t need the best gear or the perfect location to begin. Just stay focused on what you want, know your vision, and aim for it. I started by filming my friends with a GoPro, and I was called “the filmer.” I honestly like that! Focus on having fun, don’t waste time, and stay consistent. If you put in the hard work and effort and stay driven by passion, it will pay off before you even realize it. 

3. Learn to be your own one-man show

Especially at the beginning, you’ll wear all the hats: Director, DOP, editor, drone pilot, maybe even athlete. That’s a blessing in disguise. It forces you to understand every part of the process, and that’s how you learn everything. This was key to becoming who I am today and reaching the level I’m at now.

Mirko’s very own Artlist collection is available to download now. Featuring some of his best work, it includes some crazy snow jump FPV shots, and adrenaline-pumping longboard action.

הפוסט How Mirko Paoloni became one of the best extreme sports filmmakers הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

A couple of weeks ago, we took our creative team offsite to Google for a one-day Creative Hackathon. The goal: create a scroll-stopping ad in a single day, and let the algorithm, not opinions, choose the winner.

“It was kind of stressful at first — to develop an idea and execute in one day,” said Itzik Cohen, Creative Director. “You’re used to layers of approvals with time for polishing. Here, you had to just trust your gut, and your team.”

What made the hackathon so intimidating was the realization that it’s easy to get comfortable hiding behind processes. With so little time, there’s nowhere to hide; you either make something bold, or you don’t make anything at all. 

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The success behind Artlist commercials

07 Feb 2024 7 min read

Gen AI

8 tips for creating viral videos with AI tools

03 Mar 2025

The setup

We split into teams of two or three. Each team got the same brief: 

Show how Artlist’s AI tools make video editing faster, easier, and more intuitive. 

The rules were simple; 

• All ads would launch on the same date
• Equal budget split
• Mobile-first, loop-friendly
• Under 60 seconds
• Targeting a US audience

To raise the stakes, we added a little friendly competition. The winning ad would be crowned based on views, CTR, and cost per site visit. 

With emotions out the window and no time for stakeholder alignments, approvals, or internal politics, performance was the only thing that mattered.

Eldad Weinberger, Creative Lead at Google, shared: “Artlist’s creative hackathon was much more than just a fun team-building exercise. It’s a powerful way to unlock creativity, streamline production, and drive real value. Shorts demand a unique approach, and the hackathon, which specifically focused on best practices and trends for this format, encouraged the teams to think natively about what makes a short video successful, rather than trying to adapt longer-form content. The result was super cool, and are already proving to be highly effective.”

“I loved it,” said Gili Aharoni, Motion Designer. “You stop trying to impress people in the room and start thinking about the person scrolling their phone at 11 PM. That’s your audience.”

When comfort becomes limiting

For many of us, it was a return to something that often gets lost in day-to-day work: creative play, working with people outside of your usual bubble, bouncing ideas around, a bit like improv. Saying “yes, and…” instead of checking with the manager. 

It was refreshing and a reminder of how valuable it is to change the setting and the tempo every once in a while.

“I’m used to having a lot more time to ideate, to test different approaches, and getting feedback from five different stakeholders,” Ayala Levi, Senior Marketing Copywriter, explains. “But when you only have a few hours, you just have to trust your instincts. And that constraint made the work feel more authentic.”

Ayala got to scratch her creative itch and go completely off-script with: “A deranged story I came up with on the spot about a guy having an existential crisis and creating his own AI family. It’s weird, not like anything I’d normally get away with, but that’s what makes it fun.”

The audience has the final say

Our team is a mix of seasoned creatives with years of marketing experience and junior talent, still early in their careers, but no less sharp.

That mix of depth and fresh perspective was exactly what this challenge demanded. Structure, strategy, and storytelling polish blended with instinct, speed, and the boldness to break the rules.

When performance matters most, Shir Aviram, User Acquisition Manager, emphasizes why this was right in her wheelhouse. 

“I work with data all day, and while we aim to push what works, it’s true that not everything beautiful necessarily converts. I genuinely love most of the creatives we create. Still, sometimes even the most visually stunning work doesn’t perform the way we expect.”

What we learned

This day wasn’t just a test of creative output but a test of how we work. It stripped away our usual safety nets and reminded us what we’re made of, and what we’re capable of, which, ultimately, when you strip away the regular day-to-day, reveals the core valuable talent we’ve been brought to the table for. 

Here’s what that raw creative talent taught us:

1. Constraints liberate creativity. Deadlines leave no time to overthink, forcing bolder, braver decisions.
2. Data sharpens focus. When you know you’re optimizing for CTR, you write your hook differently. You design for attention, not approval.
3. Fresh collaboration sparks unexpected ideas. Mixing teams created energy, tension, and unhinged concepts in the best way.
4. Speed reveals authenticity. Without time for perfection, you get real instincts. Raw thinking. And sometimes, better results.
5. The algorithm doesn’t care about your ego. No matter how senior or experienced you are, the audience has the final say. That kind of clarity? Liberating.

Rewriting the rules, without throwing out the playbook

This wasn’t about replacing thoughtful brand storytelling with quick-hit performance content. But it is a reminder to confront something most creative professionals don’t like to admit. How much of what we call “creative process” is often masked as procrastination?

The algorithm doesn’t care about your years of experience or your design philosophy. It cares about one thing: does this connect and make someone stop scrolling? And maybe that’s exactly the creative constraint we needed.

“We’re not throwing out our process entirely,” Lena Shulman, Brand Creative Director, shares. “But we are questioning which parts actually serve the work, and which just make us feel better about it.”

The four ads are still live, and we’ll share them, along with the winner based on 30-day performance data. But we’ve already gained something more valuable. We reconnected with our instincts, worked fast, and remembered who our word is actually for. 

Final thoughts 

When was the last time you surprised yourself with a creative solution? 

What would your team create with one day and complete creative freedom? Start creating today with Artlist.

הפוסט What happens when you give creatives one brief, one day, and unlimited freedom? הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

To ignite your inspiration, we caught up with two creators using AI to enhance their visions. They’re real-world examples of the way AI can empower creatives, and how the latest tools can inspire artists, filmmakers, and content creators to explore the realms of possibility, not replacing their art but enhancing it.

Today, we’ll dive into how creators are integrating AI tools into their art projects, utilizing them at every touchpoint from storyboarding to concept creation to finishing touches. 

They’ll share the way they use AI to experiment and expand the horizons of their imaginations, their tips and advice for harnessing the power of AI for artists, and their thoughts on the future of creative production.

Meet the creators

Murad Muradov, the creator putting the AI in Azerbaijan 

Murad Muradov was born and raised in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan in Central Asia. Murad says his creative evolution from web design to motion graphics was shaped by an early fascination with computers. His family was the first in his area with a computer, so people often asked him for help with one thing or another. Now, he’s one of Azerbaijan’s most promising creatives. The Visual Artist, Creative Director, and Art Director has become known for compelling AI-fuelled visuals deeply rooted in the culture of his home country. 

Toma Gerzha, the creator championing post-Soviet youth culture

Toma is a documentary photographer and multimedia artist. She was born in Moscow in 2003 and moved to the Netherlands as a child while staying closely connected to her Russian family and culture, which is exactly what she explores in her art. “I was always interested in my roots, and I speak Russian and Dutch fluently, so I’m multicultural, and that’s how the Eastern European style in my work came up.”

Toma Gerzha has been an artist-in-residence at Treehouse, a creative studio based on Amsterdam’s NDSM Wharf, and has collaborated with Artlist since early 2025. 

Toma creates AI-generated photography best described as pioneering. She combines documentary storytelling with emerging technologies to explore themes of memory, culture, and identity. 

Her breakthrough project, .ru (2023), marked her first major foray into AI and won her global recognition. Toma’s use of AI goes way beyond aesthetic experimentation — her work is concept-driven, steeped in nostalgia, and challenges conventional notions of documentary truth.

The journey from passion to profession

Murad didn’t have formal training in graphic design or fine art — instead, he worked for creative agencies for several years, where he honed his skills as a designer, artist, and creative director before pursuing his independent artistic journey. 

His aesthetic is deeply influenced by Russian filmmakers, and he’s inspired by the rich sounds of Middle Eastern music, especially from Azerbaijan and Iran. “My work is inspired by Azerbaijani films,” he says. 

Murad’s images and videos are saturated with Azerbaijani culture and demonstrated in the latest image-to-video catalog for Artlist. It was created using a variety of AI tools and explores many of the themes he’s become known for: religion, culture, futurism, and the divine feminine. The imagery is unique and show-stopping — and AI is the tool that empowered him to create it.

Murad’s video shows a woman sitting inside an old Arabic house filled with sand. 

This video shows Soviet-style buildings floating mid-air while women in orange veils float around them. 

And another depicts women in purple veils, walking along a misty, cobbled street. 

Toma’s creative journey began by accident. Growing up traveling between Russia and the Netherlands, she used social media, photography, and technology to stay connected to her home country and make herself understood. When Toma first moved to the Netherlands, she didn’t speak English or Dutch, so she used imagery to communicate. “My dad gave me a Nokia with a camera, so I would take pictures to explain stuff,” Toma says. “So photography and digitalization came early because of that.”

Toma would show her friends in both countries images of her dual lives, and soon started filming. Then she found her mother’s old stash of DSLR cameras and took them everywhere she went. “I still take documentary-style photographs related to the Netherlands and Russian youth culture,” she says.

Now, Toma is redefining the boundaries between technology and art, encouraging conversation around memory, identity, and reality in the age of AI. Her collaboration with Artlist is still in the process of being created, and will combine her signature, Soviet-era style with Artlist’s new technology. 

Using AI to enhance creativity

When the first AI models came out in 2021, Toma was instantly curious about the possibilities they presented. She tried out several early AI tools to find out how they could support her creativity.“When the war started, and I couldn’t go back to Russia anymore, I started to use my own photo archives to train the AI models,” she says.

The result was images with an Eastern European style, similar to her own. “It was a nice way to sort my archives and documentary projects,” Toma says. “I started to take it more seriously and use AI to create animations by combining images in a stop-motion, old-school style.”

Murad has a similar story. As soon as AI tools emerged on the global stage, he felt compelled to find out how they could accelerate human creativity. “AI is only powerful if you have vision,” he says. “Without vision, you can’t do anything. It’s the same with Photoshop or After Effects; it’s the same instrument. You need to have a vision and create it.”

Murad is driven by a desire to spark deep emotional reactions in his audience, and believes AI helped him actualize his creative visions in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. “Working with AI is like having a creative assistant or art director,” Murad says. “I see it as having two or three people in the room, bouncing ideas off each other, discussing a concept, and helping develop my vision more effectively.”

Tools, techniques, and technology

Both Toma and Murad use a range of generative AI platforms in their work and always try out the latest technology, as well as editing in After Effects and Photoshop. 

Both are transparent about their use of AI, and Murad is happy to share how he makes his images but steers clear from explaining the meaning behind his work, preferring instead to allow viewers to make their own interpretations. “I don’t like to explain so much,” Murad says. “I want to leave them to brainstorm and have their visions, their thoughts.”

Toma sees social media and her art as inherently linked and enjoys creating for a range of social platforms. “I love creating animations, working with reels and TikToks, and creating something new using a mix of AI and documentary photography.”

Not long ago, Toma went to Kenya to explore visual themes to create new images, animation styles, and learn how to work with video in new ways. But she recommends one place in particular to get started.

“To start with AI, I would really suggest Artlist,” Toma says. “Because they have a lot of tools that a beginner can try and get good results.”

Working with image and video generators

Murad believes Artlist’s AI image and video generators are ideal for anyone curious about delving into the world of AI. “When I explore AI-generated art, I see it as a collaborative process between the AI and the artist,” he says. “The artist contributes their concepts and creative direction, while the AI assists in bringing those ideas to life. This partnership allows for continuous creativity. So the AI doesn’t replace the artist but enhances their ability to develop and refine their work.”

Toma uses AI in a multitude of unexpected ways. CTRL+R is a project Toma started in 2021 as part of a high school thesis about young people in Russia. When the war started, she expanded the concept to explore how the war changed the lives of people she’d photographed. “I started to actively explore AI as a tool to collect everything that I’d already shot and explore what I can create from that.”

The result of CTRL+R is a book and exhibition of documentary photography that AI helped sort and archive. And .ru (the Russian web domain) is a culmination of the new images she made from that project. “Those just look really photorealistic, but they are fully made with AI,” Toma explains. “They contain all the pictures generated from the book to create an archive of new images.”

Toma is in the process of working with Artlist on an image-to-video AI project. “I’m exploring the image side of things, trying new styles and combining them with my own style,” she says. “The new technology has some realistic styles that are good for people who haven’t used AI before, especially for people who want to create ultra-realistic film photography.”

Advice for aspiring creatives 

Murad believes a strong artistic vision and consistent practice are essential to art in all its forms, regardless of whether AI is in the mix, and sees AI as a powerful professional tool and creative partner rather than a shortcut. “My advice is to develop your vision,” Murad says. “Always practice your vision. If you can shoot with a camera, then you can also make art with AI. AI can only help you if you have your own vision.”

Toma’s advice is not to be afraid to explore the world of AI and to unearth the possibilities it brings creators. “I was at a photographer’s dinner in Paris, and when I told them I work with AI, everybody was freaked out,” she says. “I think photographers are afraid. They expect AI to replace them. But it doesn’t work like that.”

Toma believes the media is responsible for AI’s negative reputation. “I think it was hated at the beginning because the news wrote sentences like ‘AI created…’ and so people think a machine does everything for you,” Toma explains. “They do not understand how it works, and how difficult and long and exhausting the process can be to create one image in the hyper-realistic result that I want, and how much time it saves me. That’s because the media didn’t frame it in the right way at the beginning, but now I think it’s more accepted.”

The future of creativity 

As AI creators, both Toma and Murad believe artists, photographers, filmmakers, and creatives can benefit from embracing AI tools and should view them as a creative partner that can improve workflow and boost creativity.

“I think the future of AI is positive,” Murad says. “You can develop your idea and grow it with AI. You prepare your prompt and images and adjust them until they start to align with your vision. That’s when you begin fine-tuning the prompts to achieve the exact result you’re aiming for.”

Toma urges creators to explore new programs and see what they come up with. “I get most of my money from artificial intelligence commissions because I love exploring new things,” Toma says. “Just from opening an AI program and trying out some different styles, different techniques, and finding out what I like.” 

Some footage from Toma’s Artlist collection “Cartoons”

She also suggests combining AI with your practice by training it on your own images, taking inspiration from AI influencers. “I’ve seen so many artists combine AI with their techniques, and it looks so cool,” she says. “And I appreciate when they are open about their process, and teach people how to do it themselves. I’m open about using AI and about telling people that AI can help you create really cool things, especially in combination with your own art.” 

Neither artist believes that AI can replicate the human touch alone because it doesn’t have emotions. “It hasn’t lived a life or had your experiences, so you have to explain your emotions to AI,” Murad says. “That’s why it can’t replace humans.” 

Art, powered by AI

These creatives show that AI isn’t replacing creativity — it’s reshaping it. Toma and Murad are using AI image and video generators to turn their own ideas and concepts into larger-than-life, thought-provoking work. From Murad’s cultural dreamscapes to Toma’s nostalgic, post-Soviet photo essays, these artists prove that AI can be a powerful creative partner with limitless possibilities. Like Murad and Toma, the key is to experiment with new ideas, embrace the latest technological developments, and explore the boundaries of your own creativity. To get started, try Artlist’s new AI tools for image, video, and voiceover today.

הפוסט How and why creators are embracing AI הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

The way you discover music for your video projects has never been easier with Artlist.

Have you ever wondered what sounds are blowing up on TikTok this week? What songs are topping YouTube’s trending chart in the U.S.? Or what people in the UK are streaming on repeat on Spotify?

Now, you can find out, and use that insight to inspire your next edit.

What is this new Artlist widget?

This new Artlist widget brings you the most popular songs on TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify each week, so you can see what’s trending right now on the platforms your audience lives on. 

On YouTube and Spotify, you can even filter this information by country across 17 global markets. 

And here’s the kicker: For every trending song, we’ll show you up to 10 Artlist royalty-free tracks that are musically similar and creatively aligned — covered by your Artlist license and ready to drop straight into your project. It’s global inspiration, filtered down into something you can actually use in your videos.

This feature can easily be found on the Artlist homepage. If you are new to Artlist, create a free account now, and you can access more tools by signing up today.  

Why does this matter for video creators?

Combining Artlist’s high-quality assets with this tool, you can stay culturally in tune, creatively fresh, and strategically ahead. Now you can easily increase engagement with music that feels instantly familiar, spark inspiration with the latest trends, and discover music from our catalog that mirrors the world’s biggest sounds. 

Because when you’re tuned into what’s trending, you’re not just making content to stay consistent. You’re making content people care about that connects, entertains, and goes viral fast. The biggest creators on social don’t just follow trends. They anticipate them. And now, with this new feature showing you what’s trending on social media, you can too.

With this new Artlist tool you can easily stay up to date on the latest and most popular songs of the moment, and find similar royalty-free music to add to your videos instantly. Sometimes, a single trending sound is all it takes to launch a video into the stratosphere. Makeup tutorials using Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” became a TikTok staple in late 2023, with creators syncing their lip combos and blush transitions perfectly to the beat. Thousands of beauty influencers used the song to boost visibility and ride the trend, and it worked.

These creators weren’t just lucky — they were on trend. They used the right sound at the right time to tap into what people were already feeling, sharing, and searching for. Now you can too with with this new, easy-to-use widget on Artlist.

Ready to see what’s trending?

If you have an Artlist subscription head to your homepage and start exploring the widget now. And if you don’t, this is the perfect time to join the platform built to keep creators moving forward. Sign up today and explore what’s trending around the world.

הפוסט Stay ahead of the trends with Artlist’s new music discovery tool הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.