Inspiration
The idea came from experimenting with ChatGPT. The short, fictional diary entries were entertaining to me and the people around me. That casual fun turned into the question: could this format work as solo social content?
What it does
A three-minute 9:16 short. It tells a first-person story of a blacksmith in Damascus in 750 AD. A realistic AI voice narrates a diary-style entry, matched with historically plausible visuals and short video clips. The goal is entertainment and knowledge transfer with high factual accuracy and a consistent look.
How we built it
I used GPT-4o to generate the story in a custom first-person tone, then fact-checked it in multiple steps. I created the voice with ElevenLabs, improving Arabic pronunciation by adding native spellings into the prompt. I edited everything in Premiere Pro, using short AI-generated video clips and images made in ComfyUI with custom LoRAs. The final output was optimized for the Shorts format with strong pacing and platform logic.
Challenges we ran into
Video generation was the main bottleneck due to compute costs and model limitations. Rendering accurate text in images required hybrid inpainting. Arabic pronunciation needed manual prompt tweaks. Platform pacing and hooks had to be refined through testing and iteration.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I built a complete solo pipeline with strong audio and visuals. The process includes structured fact-checking and clear AI labeling to ensure quality and transparency.
What we learned
Shorter shots improve quality in AI-generated video. Prompting and LoRA selection have a big impact on the visual style. Platform mechanics like hooks, pacing, and safe zones are key for reach. Multi-model fact-checking significantly improves accuracy.
What's next for 750 AD, Damascus. Early Abbasid era
I’ll produce more episodes, gather audience feedback, and refine the pipeline further. I’m also exploring educational applications and ways to better handle non-Latin scripts through hybrid workflows.
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