A useful AI film process note explains what you wanted to communicate, which materials you used, and which decisions shaped the finished work. It helps an audience understand your film without needing a transcript of every prompt. Start with the creative intention, distinguish generated material from other contributions, and show one decision that made a meaningful difference.

This is practical editorial advice, not a submission requirement for Prompt2Screen or any festival. Always check an event’s own rules before submitting.

Start with the film, then explain the method

Write one sentence about the story or experience. For example: ‘The film follows a person revisiting a place they can no longer recognise.’ That gives a listener something to hold onto before the technical explanation begins.

Then describe how the method served that idea. Did you use generated images to suggest an unstable memory? Did you combine recorded sound with animation to keep the scene grounded? Be specific about your own project. Avoid presenting an experiment as a universal claim about what AI can do.

Separate the main ingredients

A short paragraph can identify generated images or video, photographed or filmed material, music, voices, manual compositing, editing and collaboration. Describe the ingredients actually present in your film. Credit collaborators and sources accurately; describing a contribution does not replace any permission or credit the work requires.

Tool names can be helpful, but they are not the explanation itself. An audience learns more from ‘I selected three variations and rebuilt the scene around their differences’ than from a list of applications with no account of what happened between them.

Show a decision, not an output count

Choose one turning point. Perhaps you removed a visually impressive shot because it interrupted the story. Perhaps changing the sound made a scene feel less literal. Explain the choice and its effect on the finished piece.

If you show a comparison, label it clearly: an early version, a rejected direction, or the final edit. A comparison should help someone understand your judgement. It does not need to turn into an exhaustive production diary.

Try a four-sentence process note

Use this structure as a starting point:

  1. Intention: what the film asks the audience to experience.
  2. Materials: what was generated, recorded, performed or supplied by collaborators.
  3. Decision: one selection or editing choice that changed the work.
  4. Reflection: what you learned or would explore in a next version.

For a hypothetical film about memory, the note might say: ‘I wanted the room to feel familiar and unreliable at the same time. I combined generated interiors with recorded room sound. I removed the most detailed images because their consistency made the space feel too stable. The final edit left me interested in how sound can hold a scene together when the image keeps changing.’

Adapt the structure to your actual process. Do not claim a contribution or an experience that did not happen.

Use the note to open a conversation

Prepare a short spoken version and a fuller written version. The spoken version should let someone ask a follow-up question. The written version can give collaborators, techniques and sources the space they need.

For more questions to bring into that conversation, the Milan AI Festival guide to AI and creativity considers intention, selection, editing, process and audience. Milan AI Festival is a VIA Group event; check its official site for current announcements before making plans.

VIA — Visual Innovation Awards provides the wider organisational context. Discover the sister communities through Rome AI Festival and the Florence AI Festival listing. Each event has its own programme and requirements. A process note can help you speak clearly about your work across these settings, while the official event pages remain the source for practical details.

Sources & further reading

Updated 8 October 2026. Event availability and final details are maintained on the linked official event pages.

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