---
title: "Documentary Teaser Generator"
description: "Describe the film in a sentence and the storyboard boards it shot by shot: a card per beat, a still on every card, animated clips, and a cut teaser on the timeline."
canonical: https://docs.nodetool.ai/use-cases/documentary-teaser
markdown: https://docs.nodetool.ai/use-cases/documentary-teaser.md
product: NodeTool
source: https://github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool/blob/main/docs/use-cases/documentary-teaser.md
---

# Documentary Teaser Generator

<p class="usecase-eyebrow">Use case · Documentary</p>

Describe the film in a sentence and the storyboard boards it shot by shot — a
card per beat, a still on every card, then animated clips and a cut on the
timeline. The teaser below is one run: *DEEP — Life Below the Light*, a dive
from the surface at dusk to a bioluminescent whale on the abyssal plain, six
shots and 26 seconds.

<div class="usecase-hero">
  <video src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep_teaser_example.mp4' | relative_url }}" poster="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-1.jpg' | relative_url }}" autoplay loop muted playsinline controls></video>
</div>

## How it works

The storyboard editor runs the whole thing. Each step leaves something you can
read and change before the next one spends anything.

{% mermaid %}
graph LR
  brief["Premise · style · shot count"]
  board["Direct → shot cards"]
  stills["Still per card"]
  clips["Animate approved cards"]
  timeline["Timeline → export"]
  brief --> board
  board --> stills
  stills --> clips
  clips --> timeline
{% endmermaid %}

1. **Write the premise.** One sentence about the film, the look you want, and
   how many shots.
   *(e.g. "A dive from the surface to the abyssal plain · IMAX documentary look · 6 shots")*
2. **Direct the board.** Press Direct and the cards fill in — one beat each,
   with action, framing, and movement, all under one style bible.
3. **Approve the stills.** Every card renders a still first. Stills cost cents,
   so re-roll a card until it looks right; the rest of the board stays put.
4. **Animate and cut.** Animate only the cards you approved, then send the board
   to the timeline: the clips arrive in shot order, ready to trim, narrate,
   score, and export.

## Six shots, one teaser

The style bible under every card: IMAX 70mm look, volumetric light shafts, a
deep teal-and-black palette with cyan and magenta bioluminescent accents, subtle
film grain, 16:9.

<div class="usecase-gallery">
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-1.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="Aerial wide at dusk over a lone research vessel on a glass-calm ocean">
    <figcaption>Aerial wide at dusk, a lone research vessel on a glass-calm ocean</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-2.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="A submersible's headlights cutting through ink-black water">
    <figcaption>The descent, headlights cutting through ink-black water</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-3.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="A field of bioluminescent jellyfish pulsing cyan against darkness">
    <figcaption>First encounter, a field of jellyfish pulsing cyan</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-4.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="Extreme close-up of a colossal squid's eye reflecting floodlights">
    <figcaption>Creature reveal, a colossal squid's eye in the floodlights</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-5.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="A towering hydrothermal black smoker field swarming with white shrimp">
    <figcaption>The vent city, black smokers swarming with white shrimp</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <figure>
    <img src="{{ '/assets/use-cases/deep-shot-6.jpg' | relative_url }}" alt="A freediver suspended in the void under a bioluminescent whale">
    <figcaption>Finale, a freediver under a bioluminescent whale</figcaption>
  </figure>
</div>

## Make it yours

Nothing here is locked. Change the look, change the model, change one shot.

- **Swap the video model.** Veo, Seedance, Kling, Runway. Render that shot
  again; the board, the stills, and the clips you approved stay as they are.
- **Restyle the series.** The visual style you typed is the style bible behind
  every card. Change one line and the next pass boards it that way.
- **Fix one shot, not the reel.** Revise a single clip and it swaps back into
  its card. The other five never re-roll.
- **Keep the subjects consistent.** Save the vessel, the submersible, and the
  creatures as named entities; naming one in a shot rides its description into
  that shot's prompt.

## Models in this use case

Three jobs, one model each, every one a dropdown. They are called with your own
keys, so the bill comes from the provider and you can switch any of them for a
better model the day it ships.

| Job | Role | Pick from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Director | Writes the shot list, action, and camera notes | Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI |
| Stills | Renders each card's still | GPT Image, Flux, Nano Banana |
| Motion | Animates approved stills into clips | Veo, Seedance, Kling |

See [Models &amp; Providers]({{ '/models-and-providers' | relative_url }}) to set up keys.

## Next steps

- [Movie Trailer Generator]({{ '/use-cases/movie-trailer' | relative_url }}) — the same board, cut as a chase teaser
- [All use cases]({{ '/use-cases' | relative_url }})