🔍 Read the full analysis: From Boring To Better: Revising Our One-Night AI Horror-Comedy on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Thorsten Meyer says his team created Hollow House, a 97-second AI-generated horror-comedy, in three versions between the evening of Oct. 27 and about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 28. The first cut looked polished but felt slow; the final version used three longer generated segments, a faster rhythm and human editing decisions. The project used 2,220 Higgsfield credits, which Meyer values at about $95 under his plan.
Thorsten Meyer says he and his team made Hollow House, a 97-second AI-generated horror-comedy, in three versions between early evening on Oct. 27 and about 1:30 a.m. the next day. In a behind-the-scenes account published Oct. 28, Meyer says the first cut looked good but was “terribly boring and amateurish,” prompting a change in how the cast and scenes were generated and edited.
The short is set at an extreme haunted attraction where a real ghost joins the scare crew. When a guest says the safe word, “cotton candy,” the frightening presence does not stop; the employees respond to the supernatural problem as though it were a workplace and waiver issue. Meyer describes the characters, voices and sets as AI-generated.
The team’s first version consisted of 20 shots running 2 minutes 15 seconds. They generated character reference pictures, made a starting frame for each shot and animated those frames with Google’s Veo 3.1 Fast. Meyer says the footage looked visually consistent, but the finished edit averaged 5.6 seconds per cut, which he judged too slow for the comedy.
For the third version, the team generated three segments of about 30 seconds each using one model supplied with references for the full cast. The final cut runs 1:37. Meyer reports that all three versions together used 2,220 Higgsfield credits, which he estimates at about $95 at his plan price, plus roughly 2,100 ElevenLabs characters for music and sound effects. These figures are the creator’s account, not an independently verified production budget.
Editing Set the Comedy’s Pace
Meyer’s account presents the project as a case study in the gap between generating attractive images and assembling them into a working short. He says visual consistency was not the first version’s main weakness: its slow cutting, static camera and lack of a score made the story feel flat. The decisive revision was editorial, not simply a more polished image-generation prompt.
The experience also gives a practical example of the limits Meyer encountered with current AI video tools. He says Veo misread a shouted line written in capitals as the character spelling out the letters, failed to produce a requested head turn, and changed a backward-bending stunt into a forward crawl. A speech-recognition check helped catch dialogue that differed from the script. The examples show why generated footage still required human review, retakes and sound work in this production.
For viewers and creators, the project’s costs and workflow offer a specific, creator-reported snapshot of making a very short AI film—not a general measure of what AI filmmaking costs. Meyer’s estimate covers the stated platform credits and sound-generation characters; it does not establish a complete industry cost or show how the process would scale to a longer production.
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Three Cuts, One Overnight Production
Meyer says the idea combines an extreme haunted house with the bureaucratic habits of a workplace. In the story, the shift lead asks whether the mysterious new arrival signed a waiver, while a staff member is pulled into an attempted exorcism. Meyer writes that the structure was inspired by an AI horror-comedy short shared on X, while describing the script, characters and jokes in Hollow House as the team’s own.
Before producing video, the team created eight character reference sheets with Google’s Nano Banana 2 image model through Higgsfield. Meyer says those sheets were used to keep looks and costumes consistent across later frames and clips. The first version was assembled from 20 individually planned shots; the next used 66 faster cuts and ran 2:21. Meyer’s account then describes the third approach as three roughly 30-second segments generated from one model with the full cast as references.
The comparison that informed the pacing change came from Meyer’s count of the short that inspired the structure. He estimates it had about 74 cuts in 2:14, or an average of roughly 1.8 seconds per cut. That is Meyer’s measurement, not an independently checked benchmark. He says the contrast with his first version’s 5.6-second average helped explain why the initial edit did not land as comedy.
““terribly boring and amateurish””
— Thorsten Meyer, describing the first cut
Production Claims From Meyer’s Account
The production details and comparisons here come from Meyer’s Oct. 28 account. The supplied material does not include an independent review of the film, a separate accounting of platform charges, or verification of the credit-to-dollar estimate. The stated $95 estimate reflects Meyer’s plan price and should not be treated as a standard cost for making a short with these tools.
The account also does not give a complete, side-by-side breakdown of all three versions’ editing choices, generation settings or total labor time. It says the first version had 20 shots, the second had 66 cuts, and the third used three longer segments, but it does not fully explain how every scene changed between drafts. The degree to which the final version resolved the first cut’s pacing and performance problems is presented through Meyer’s assessment rather than an external evaluation.
Meyer says the structure drew inspiration from a short shared on X, but the supplied account does not identify that video or provide a link to it. The relationship between the two works cannot be independently assessed from the information provided.
The Published Film and Process
Meyer has published Hollow House as a 1:37 short and accompanied it with a production account containing character sheets, starting frames, failed attempts and a contact sheet of the final cut. The supplied material does not announce a sequel, another production or a planned release schedule.
The immediate point for readers is the finished short and the creator’s explanation of how it changed overnight. Any broader claims about AI video cost, reliability or the amount of human work needed would require more productions and independently comparable data. For this project, Meyer’s next documented step is sharing the film and its behind-the-scenes materials; further developments are not specified.
Key Questions
What is Hollow House?
Hollow House is a 97-second horror-comedy short about a ghost joining the staff of an extreme haunted attraction. Meyer says its characters, voices and sets were AI-generated.
How many versions were made?
Meyer says the team made three versions overnight. The first had 20 shots and ran 2:15; the second used 66 cuts and ran 2:21; the final version runs 1:37 and was generated in three longer segments.
Why did the first version change?
Meyer says the first cut looked good but felt boring. Its average cut lasted 5.6 seconds, and the edit relied on mostly still cameras and a synthesized drone rather than a music score.
How much did the production cost?
Meyer reports using 2,220 Higgsfield credits, which he values at about $95 at his plan price, and roughly 2,100 ElevenLabs characters for music and sound effects. The estimate is his own and is not a full independently verified production budget.
What is not yet independently confirmed?
The supplied material does not independently verify the costs, the cut-count comparison or the extent to which the final edit improved the film. Those points are reported as Meyer’s account and assessment.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
