The D.R.E.W film was made by Claude (Opus 5.5), with GPT Image 2.5 for the stills, Seedance 2.5 for every moving shot and Sync Lip Sync 3 for the rapping. This page is the way in for anyone making their own DREW video, and for the agent helping them. It follows the shape of claudia.gallery's Start here, which is the best written guide to this kind of film; read it too.
What you are making
A rap video: a song, DREW rapping it to camera, and his world around him as b-roll. The D.R.E.W film is 1:49.6, 26 shots, and every word is on screen as a subtitle.
Four things carry it:
- He is the same man in every shot. The constants (one blue loc, the moon cuff, the beard, the eyes, his age) never move. See Keeping him himself.
- The lip sync holds. Rapped shots are made silent, then synced to the real song with Sync Lip Sync 3. See Moving shots.
- The world is real and still. Cars are parked, doors open one at a time, nothing in frame has text on it. See Cars.
- It looks like film, not like AI. 35mm, night, grain, natural skin. Takes that came back too polished were swapped. See The edit.
The numbers, for scale
From the film's generation log:
| Runtime | 1:49.6 |
| Shots in the cut | 26 |
| Video clips in the cut | 26, Seedance 2.5 at 720p, sound off (23 made for the film, 3 reused) |
| Lip-sync passes | 8, Sync Lip Sync 3, across 7 rapping shots |
| Still steps | 11, GPT Image 2.5 |
| Made | 22 to 28 October 2026 |
Accounts
| What | For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An agent | the whole production | The film was directed by Claude: shot list, every prompt, take review, the edit. |
| GPT Image 2.5 | the stills | Face sheets, portraits, the world, start and end frames. |
| Seedance 2.5 | the moving shots | The film ran it on Higgsfield. It takes image references. |
| Sync Lip Sync 3 | the rapping | Runs on the finished clip with the song cut to its slot. |
| A song | the track | Your own. Don't use D.R.E.W or its stems (see Use him). |
| An editor | the cut and subtitles | Anything that cuts on the beat and burns in subtitles. |
Where a person decides
Claudia's films name six checkpoints where the director looks and decides, and everything between them runs without asking. The same idea fits a DREW video. A sensible set:
- The song and the shot list. One line, one shot. Approve the list before anything is generated.
- The references. His face sheet, the world, the car. Nothing moves until these are right, because every video prompt attaches them.
- A pilot. Two or three clips, one rapped, one b-roll, one car. Check the lip sync and the face before spending the rest.
- The takes. Pick per shot. Swap anything that looks too AI-polished.
- The cut. Watch it with sound, note fixes by timestamp.
- The last pass. Fixes only, then export.
At each one, show pictures, not descriptions, and ask one question with a default.
Spending
- Check what you already have. Three of the film's shots were reused from an earlier shoot at no cost.
- Short clips cost less to redo. The film's clips run 4 to 10 seconds. A failed 6-second clip is cheaper than a failed 20-second one.
- Never pay for a car that drives. It warped every time. Park it. See Cars.
- Fix the reference, not the clip. If his face is wrong in a still, every clip made from it inherits the fault.
What to make first
- Read the character. Copy the identity text exactly.
- Make his references: a face sheet and front and side portraits, in the look you want. See Stills.
- Make the world's references: the room, the car, the sign.
- Write the shot list from the lyric. See The song.
- Cut the song to each rapped clip's slot, ready for the lip sync pass.
- Run the pilot.
Or hand all of this to an agent: Using him with an agent.