Case study · AI film · 2026
Wake the Orchard
A documentary-style territory campaign for Somerset cider, made entirely with AI.
Concept, script, direction, edit and sound by Fernando Mostacero / Foxtale
Somerset. Where cider still means something.
On a traditional production, this would be a night exterior shoot in a working orchard with a cast of around forty, fire, costume, a dog and a fox. Here, every shot was approved as a still before a second of video was generated, which kept the cost predictable and the process repeatable.
The brief
Sell a place, not a bottle.
A fictional brief: a campaign for Somerset and its cider, with no brand and no product shot. Instead of an advert, an observational documentary about the wassail, the centuries-old winter ritual in which a village goes out at night to wake its apple trees with songs, fire, cider and toast hung on the branches.
For almost two minutes the film tells a real tradition with complete seriousness. The old tree seems to breathe, but the magic is never confirmed. Only at the very end does the old man who has narrated the whole film look into the lens and say the one line spoken on camera:
"Around here… we take our apples… very seriously."
The tone was set early and held throughout: tradition, pride and continuity. Nobody is bored, worried or performing; the humour comes only from the contrast.
Research
Every detail traces back to the real ritual.
Photographs of real wassail nights reshaped the whole project. They replaced an imagined, austere folk-horror look with what the ritual really is: tatter coats of cloth strips, battered top hats crowned with pheasant feathers and holly, green-painted faces, a Wassail Queen with a crown of ivy and apples, real fuel-soaked torches, and a village of every age dressed half in costume and half in winter coats.
The order of the film follows the ritual itself: the Queen drinks first, pours cider on the roots, hangs toast in the branches for the spirits, and only then does the village fall silent and wait for the tree.
Cast & world
Three people, one orchard, two houses.
Each character was locked as a neutral reference plate, then dressed twice: in everyday clothes for the preparation at home, and in costume for the night. Every location was built as an empty plate first, so that every shot could be anchored to the same tree, the same kitchen door, the same lane.
Storyboard & animatic
Every shot approved as a still before a second of video.
To protect the budget, the whole film was first built as stills and cut to the final song and voice. The animatic below is that cut: it set the rhythm, exposed weak shots and decided where every line of narration would fall.
Decisions
What was thrown away, and why.
The difference between AI slop and a film you could broadcast is the number of human decisions between the first prompt and the final file. These are some of them.
The orchard
Rejected
Kept
"Looks like a fantasy poster." · "Looks like a photo." The first model drew an oak and outlined every twig in light; a different model and a plain, documentary prompt fixed it.
The old man
Rejected
Kept
"Too polished, an agency portrait." · "Caught, not posed." Handheld framing, firelight only, a busy background.
The grandson
Rejected
Kept
"War paint." · "Village festival." The costume had to belong to a celebration, and his deadpan face had to read as shyness, never boredom.
The neighbour getting ready
Four versions to get dignity right. In the final film the shot was replaced altogether.
The village
Rejected
Kept
"Marching past." · "Coming home to the tree." AI crowds fall into lines and poses; every group shot needed explicit chaos: gaps, latecomers, children, a dog, someone calling out.
The light
Rejected
Kept
"Someone brought a camera light." Fire is the only light in this world, so faces had to be lit by a bonfire placed between camera and people.
Sound
The song never cuts.
The film is built on one uninterrupted wassail song with original lyrics, written in the style of the traditional ones. The picture was cut to the song, never the other way round.
The old man's voice was designed once and used throughout, as the narration of a documentary interviewee. His one line on camera lands as the chorus fades, so that "very seriously" falls into near silence.
The video model invented its own voice for that line. Instead of paying for new generations, the real voice was split into its three phrases and laid by hand onto the lip movements.
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