From Scene Design to Short Film: New 2026 Courses

From Scene Design to Short Film: New 2026 Courses

Virtual Story Lab and London Filmworks announce two new AI filmmaking courses for 2026. Led by creative technologist and filmmaker Fiona Bavinton, the new programmes are designed for filmmakers who want to engage with AI not as hype, but as a practical creative tool within a serious production context.

Making a Scene: AI Scene Design for Filmmakers opens on 2 May 2026 as a hybrid intermediate course focused on scene construction, world building, dialogue, shot planning and building more coherent, repeatable AI-assisted workflows. Later in the year, AI Filmmaking Summer Studio runs 17-21 August 2026 as a five-day intensive in which participants develop a project from concept through to a completed short film.

Together, the two courses offer a strong progression route: one centred on developing control, consistency and production thinking in AI scene design, the other on taking a film from idea to screen within an intensive studio framework. Across both programmes, the emphasis is on hands-on making while staying grounded in the ethical and legal questions shaping contemporary screen practice, including copyright, consent, likeness, intellectual property and transparency.