Pretty quickly I realized that what I really needed to do was to turn this into a git repository. For those of you who have no idea what that is, let me try to explain.
A git repository (“repo” for short) is a cloud-based repository that makes it easy to track changes to a set of files – typically text files – over time. It also makes it easy to revert back to an earlier version of something, or see file histories. It is also nice for working on a project from multiple PCs – you check “check out” the repo from multiple locations and keep all your information in sync.
Today was the day this whole thing became a git repo instead of a pile of docs and images scattered across my drive. I did the initial commit, dropped in the first reference images and a draft of the screenplay, and then spent most of the day just cleaning up after myself — renaming locations, straightening out character references, pulling the README over from a Google Doc so it’d actually live with the project.
A lot of the day was terminology rework. I renamed “Rising” to “Waxing” everywhere, which feels small but it’s the kind of thing that’s much easier to fix on day one than three hundred files later. Fixed a batch of small consistency issues, added a new character, added a new location, and closed out the day tightening up the ending so both friends get a real send-off instead of one of them trailing off.
At this point I was still using OpenArt, but realizing that the Director feature was great for “vibe directing” but was really not suitable for the workflow I was moving toward. I wanted to treat this like a real film project, not a quick vibe-and-done. The AI built into OpenArt was trying to do the same things I really wanted to do locally in my own git repo.
I created a few more animations in OpenArt, but it was pretty clear that I needed a different service. But what to use? I also spent a lot of time getting various services’ MCP services working with Claude.
An MCP service is a standardized way of giving an AI agent (Chat GPT, Claude etc.) access to another system or service. For example, the OpenArt MCP lets Claude generate images or audio directly without me having to use the OpenArt website.
I got Claude connected to the OpenArt MCP, but it was more limited than I was hoping. Plus, OpenArt was very expensive. What I really wanted was an MCP service that would let me manage nearly everything through Claude.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but I evaluated several other services for video generation, including:
- Artlist
- Higgsfield
- AtlasCloud
I eventually settled on ArtistCloud, because they have a very powerful MCP with acess to a lot of different models; and a straightforward pay-as-you-go pricing model. Many of the other services have a weird “credits” system and you have to subscribe to a certain monthly level of credits – which then expire if you don’t use them. ArtistCloud just has a prepaid “wallet” (in dollars) and they never expire. Just top up when you run out.
I also evaluated other services for dialog and music, including:
- ElevenLabs
- MiniMax
Since these are also available through ArtistCloud, I likely won’t be using them directly.
One of the other nice things about using Claude + MCP is that Claude can automtically start the generation, download it into the repo, and then document each asset.