Follow Emad on X.
Viggle: Hi Emad! Can you tell us about your background and how you got into filmmaking?
Emad Khalid Mughal: My creative journey started in my childhood when my family and I would watch films in Saudi Arabia. That experience gave me comfort and a deep appreciation for cinema. Even though I initially pursued an engineering-focused education, my passion for storytelling led me to apply for and get accepted into the National College of Arts in Lahore, which kickstarted my film career.
I’ve been producing ads for the past eight years, primarily focusing on post-production work. Early on, I experimented with AI-driven rotoscoping, which made me realize how much time AI could save in the production pipeline. That realization eventually led me to found Prompt Media Lab, where we focus on integrating AI into filmmaking to enhance storytelling and efficiency.
Viggle: How did you first start experimenting with AI and discover Viggle?
Emad: My AI journey started two years ago when I used Runway for the Gen48 Film Festival, where my short film “Hide and Seek” won an honorary award. That motivated me to dive deeper into AI tools and their filmmaking applications.
Later, I discovered Viggle at Project Odyssey, and it immediately solved a major problem—getting complete control over character movement. Other AI tools had limitations when it came to maintaining actor proportions and realism, but with Viggle, I could direct performances while keeping human actors in the process.
This opened up new possibilities. We could audition real actors for roles, then use their movements to drive AI-generated characters. That level of control was a game-changer.
Viggle: Can you walk us through your workflow for your latest film for Project Odyssey?
Emad: Absolutely! Our goal was to create a cinematic short film set in Kashmir, known as “heaven on Earth.” Here’s how we structured our workflow:
- Script Development – We crafted the story, ensuring that it required a mix of real and AI-driven performances.
- Environment Design – We chose Kashmir as our setting and designed scenes that captured its ancient beauty.
- Mood Board & Art Direction – Used Midjourney to create concept art and define the visual style.
- Character Design – Also done in Midjourney to develop a stylized look for the protagonist.
- Character Motion – We hired a child actor who physically resembled our AI character and dressed them in the same wardrobe.
- Endless Mirror Scene – Traditional text-to-image and image-to-video AI tools struggled with reflection realism. To solve this, we:Placed two cameras recording the same movement from different angles.Used Viggle to capture and swap the character accurately.Designed a 3D environment in Blender for accurate reflections.
- Upscaling & Final Polish – Used Magnific AI to enhance details and After Effects for final compositing. This workflow allowed us to merge AI-generated content with human performances, ensuring realism while maintaining creative flexibility.
Viggle: What are your thoughts on the future of AI in filmmaking?
Emad: AI is definitely going to change filmmaking forever. Right now, most AI models are trained on certain datasets that don’t always represent diverse cultures. For example, South Asian visuals and sounds aren’t as well-developed in AI models, which means filmmakers in our region need to put in extra work. But over time, this will improve, and AI will make it easier to tell culturally specific stories. In Pakistan, the AI community is growing, but we still lack strong representation in the global scene. I believe it’s important for creators like me to be more vocal and advocate for AI adoption in our industry.
One thing I’d love to see is a strong AI creator community—a place where we can share workflows, collaborate, and help each other refine our techniques.
Viggle: What’s next for you and Prompt Media Lab?
Emad: Right now, we’re experimenting with cricket-related content using AI, and we see huge potential in sports storytelling. We’re also interested in collaborating on projects that explore AI-driven advertising, branded content, and AI-assisted feature films.
In the short term, my team and I are focusing on refining our AI filmmaking workflows, and in the long run, we’d love to create AI-powered feature films that seamlessly blend human acting with digital enhancements.
With filmmakers like Emad pioneering new workflows, the future of AI filmmaking is full of possibilities.
Join our Creator Community!
Want to push the boundaries of AI filmmaking? Join our creator program to enjoy Pro features and the latest product updates!
📩 Reach out to us at [email protected].
