Make your first film

This guide takes you from an empty account to a downloaded episode. It follows the order the studio is built around: idea, story breakdown, lock, assets, storyboard, video, export. Each step says whether it costs credits. For exact prices, see Credits and pricing.

Before you start#

• An account. Sign in at www.wandura.ai.
• A paid plan, if you want to render video. You can write, break down and plan a film without paying. Rendering scene videos with the studio's default model, voices and music all need a paid plan. See Free accounts.

Step 1: Create a project#

1. Open Drama Studio from the sidebar on www.wandura.ai, or go to https://www.wandura.ai/drama-studio.
2. Select Create new project.
3. Enter a Project name (up to 120 characters). You can also choose a collection to file it in.
4. Select Create. The project page opens.

If you leave the name empty, the project is called "Untitled drama" plus the date. You can rename, move or delete a project later from its … menu. Deleting a project removes every episode, scene and generated image in it, and it can't be recovered.

Step 2: Start the story#

The chat box on the left is where you talk to the studio's assistant. You can start from an idea or from a script you already have.

Option A: Start from an idea#

Type your idea in the chat, for example: "A maid is framed for theft on the night of her employer's birthday feast, and she has one night to prove it." The assistant can then:

1. Write story options. It writes five different story options for one short episode and shows them as a card. You pick one.
2. Write the screenplay of the option you picked.
3. Revise the screenplay when you ask for changes. Every revision is saved as a new version, and earlier versions are kept.
4. Send the screenplay to breakdown when you are happy with it.

The three writing steps cost a small number of credits each. The breakdown itself is free.

Option B: Upload a screenplay#

1. Select + in the chat box, or drag the file onto it. On an empty Script tab you can also select Upload scripts.
2. Choose one screenplay file: TXT, MD, Fountain, FDX, DOC, DOCX or PDF. The limit is 4 MB and 180,000 characters.
3. Send it. The studio runs a fast breakdown by default.

You can pick the kind of breakdown yourself by typing a command before you send:

Note: A chat message can be up to 4,000 characters. You can also attach up to 4 images (PNG, JPG or WebP) to a message, for example a face or a location you want to use.

Step 3: Review the story bible#

The Script tab now shows the breakdown, which acts as your story bible:

• Overview: the story overview, the outline and the project settings (genre, tone, visual direction, era and geography).
• Characters: everyone in the story.
• Episodes: each episode and its scenes.

Read it carefully. To change something, say what you want in chat, for example "Make the sister older and move episode 2 to a hospital."

Step 4: Lock the script#

When the breakdown is ready, the assistant shows a card: "Read N episodes, N scenes and N characters. Make any changes before you lock — locking is final." Choose one of:

Warning: Locking is final. After you lock, the breakdown can no longer be changed, so make every story change before you lock.

After you lock, the assistant asks what to do next:

• Draw the assets the script needs: one reference picture for each character, location and prop. The card shows the price.
• Build the storyboard from the script: turns every scene into one clip to generate. Costs nothing on its own.
• Nothing for now, I will drive: you carry on with the panel yourself.

Step 5: Create the assets#

Assets are the reference pictures that keep your cast and places looking the same in every scene. Open the Assets tab. It has four groups: Characters, Backgrounds, Props and Others.

On an asset's page you can:

• Generate or Regenerate its picture (costs credits).
• Upload your own picture, or pick one from your Library.
• Download the picture.
• Add outfits to a character, angles to a background, or states to a prop (the same object at different points in the story).

When you replace a picture, the old one is kept as an earlier version.

Note: Only upload pictures you own or have permission to use, and only faces of people who have agreed. See Content rules.

Voices and music (optional)#

You can ask the assistant to give a character a voice. It makes a short voice sample that later scene renders use as that character's voice, so they sound the same from scene to scene. Only scenes rendered after the voice is ready use it. You can also ask for background music for an episode; it is mixed in quietly when you export. Voices and music always show a price card before anything is made.

Step 6: Build the storyboard#

Open the Scene tab and select Build scenes from script, or choose the storyboard option on the assistant's card. This turns every scene of the locked script into one clip to generate. It is free.

You can also ask the assistant to draw storyboard frames: one frame per scene, or a board page that holds up to six scenes. Frames are images, so they cost credits. They are optional.

Step 7: Render the scenes#

Open a scene in the Scene tab. Its settings are:

With the default model a scene can be 4 to 30 seconds long, at 480p or 720p. Other models offer different lengths and resolutions; the lists change when you pick a model. To change which characters, backgrounds or props a scene uses, open its references, select the ones you want and choose Apply references.

Select Generate. The button shows the price in credits before you press it.

You can also ask in chat, for example "Render all scenes of episode 1." The assistant shows one card that lists each scene with its length, resolution and price, plus the total, for up to 12 scenes at a time. Nothing renders until you press Submit on the card.

Note: A price is tied to the scene as it was when priced. If you change the scene's prompt, references, length or resolution afterwards, it is priced again before it renders.

Step 8: Pick the best take#

Each take is a separate render. When the takes are ready, choose the one you want in the scene's Takes group, or on the card the assistant shows in chat. The chosen take is the one that goes into the episode.

Step 9: Export the episode#

1. Open the Video tab.
2. Select Download and choose:
   • Merged video: the whole episode as one MP4.
   • All scenes: a zip of the separate scene clips, in screen order.
3. When the file is ready, select Download on the notice. The download link is valid for a few minutes.

Exporting is free. If the link expires, export again to get a new one.

Every scene in the episode needs a chosen take before you can export. If one is missing, the studio tells you which scenes still need a take. An exported episode can be up to 10 minutes long. If the clips don't share the same format (for example, they were rendered at different resolutions), the limit is 3 minutes. Exports don't include subtitles.

What's next#

• Publishing your film: what you can do with the exported episode.
• Credits and pricing: plan your budget before rendering a whole series.