How can a single sentence become a cinematic sequence?

In this live demonstration, artist Jenson Leonard will construct a short film scene from the ground up using ChatGPT, Nano Banana, and Seedance. Rather than presenting AI as a shortcut or replacement for filmmaking, the workshop explores these tools as part of a broader creative practice rooted in poetry, montage, production design, and visual storytelling.Participants will follow the evolution of an idea from written language to image generation, shot design, and finally animated moving image.

Along the way, Leonard will discuss how cinematic meaning emerges through composition, sequencing, repetition, and editing, drawing connections between contemporary generative media, visual effects workflows, and experimental film traditions.Rather than focusing on prompts alone, this workshop offers a behind-the-scenes look at AI-assisted filmmaking as an iterative artistic process—one in which writing, cinematography, production design, and VFX increasingly converge.No prior experience with AI tools is required. Artists, filmmakers, writers, students, and anyone curious about emerging approaches to image-making are welcome.

Tutorial Lecture






A hands-on tutorial of media artist Yufeng Zhao’s custom built Computer Vision application, designed to interpret and misread a video file. The computer algorithmically “cold reads” things like: text, faces, bodies, objects, speech, and other areas of interest. We'll briefly learn about the background of each algorithm, then remix its readings and mis-readings into visual collages and live video effects. No coding experience required. The application will be distributed with a USB thumbdrive.

What To Bring:

• A short video clip 30 to 45 seconds (Phone Footage is Perfect!)
• Personal Laptop: Mac (preferred) or Windows. Beefy RAM and Graphics Card Recommend. USB A Port or Adaptor
• Latest version of Google Chrome Browser installed

Class Size Max: 10 Persons


To RSVP email archaeologyvideo@gmail.com with your legal name and subject like “DMR: Workshop RSVP”

Location:980 Northampton Street, Buffalo, NY 14211 Room 2605

Date: Sunday August 9th 10:30AM to 12:30PM (In-Person Only)

ariella tai an experimental filmmaker, video and installation artist, film educator and programmer based in Portland, OR. Their practice is rooted in fostering spaces for critical spectatorship around film and media, with a focus on film from the Black Diaspora. They create experimental, sample-based films and installations using digital and analog video processing tools for glitch, editing and sound design to explore alternate storylines, endings and futures. Their methods are informed by research and pedagogical practices that center Black feminist and queer experimental film history, theory and literature.






Jenson Leonard is an artist working across memes and internet culture, sculpture, installation, film, and generative AI. His work explores how digital media shapes contemporary life, identity, and visual culture. He has exhibited at Pioneer Works and the Hessel Museum of Art, and has completed residencies at Obracadobra and Squeaky Wheel. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pratt Institute and teaches in the Media Study Department at University at Buffalo.









Yufeng Zhao is a media artist and technologist whose work addresses data, imagery/language processing, and experience design—exploring unexpected connections embedded in our techno-cultural landscape. Through web-based experiences, video installations, and data art, his practice investigates the intersections of information, graphics, and human interaction. His work has been featured in The Pudding, Fast Company, and the Electronic Literature Organization, and exhibited at SKOL (Montréal), Wonderville, and the SPAM New Media Festival. He is a master's student in the Future Sketches Group at MIT Media Lab.







Maurane Dubois is a video artist from Montreal, Canada, whose practice is rooted in autofiction, blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction. Her work draws from her own relationships, which she reinterprets through a playful, absurd, and critical lens, exploring ugliness, beauty, and truth within intimacy and human connection. Her recent projects explore the tension between authenticity and spectacle, questioning the circulation of intimacy and the role of the viewer within digital communication systems.