Turn a poem into an AI short film
A poem to try (an original, written for this page) is below, with its three stanzas mapped to three segments. Paste the poem with the setting paragraph above it and read the storyboard.
The first problem: a poem is shorter than the floor
The site needs about a paragraph to break into scenes: roughly 330 characters of English. A haiku, or a short lyric, is under that, and a poem rarely says who is speaking, where they are or when. So put a short setting paragraph above the poem. What you can feed in · Upload a script and read it.
Setting. A woman in her sixties stands at the window of a rented room by the sea, folding a white sheet. She remembers her mother hanging washing in a yard when she was five. Morning wind. The poem is her thought, read aloud by a narrator.
The poem
The Washing Line
Mother pegs the morning out,
one white sheet, then another;
wind unfolds them like a sail
and the yard becomes a harbour.I am small enough to hide
in the cold, clean smell of linen,
hear the house go on without me,
count the clothes-pegs, count the sky.Years on, I fold a stranger's sheet
in a rented room by the sea.
The wind comes in, and for a moment
I am small, and she is calling me.
Stanzas to segments
| Stanza | Words | Speech at 3 words a second | Segment | The picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | about 7 s | 15 s | A yard at morning; sheets filling like sails on a line; a small child, seen from behind |
| 2 | 26 | about 9 s | 15 s | Inside the sheet: white light, a hand counting pegs, a house sound far off |
| 3 | 30 | about 10 s | 15 s | The rented room by the sea; the old woman folds a sheet; the wind lifts the curtain; she turns toward a voice |
Each stanza's speech takes 7 to 10 seconds, which fits a 15-second segment and leaves room to breathe. For a longer film, give each stanza two segments and let the second be silent: just the picture and the ambience. Shot seconds and timing.
Voice-over, not dialogue
A narrator's lines are off-screen audio: heard, while the people in frame keep their mouths closed. Write each line as a shot's voice-over:
[Shot 1] 5s: Wide shot, a yard at morning, white sheets lifting on a line. @Narrator (voice-over, soft): Mother pegs the morning out, one white sheet, then another. (voice: Narrator)
[Shot 2] 5s: Medium shot from behind: a small child watches the sheets fill with wind. @Narrator (voice-over, soft): Wind unfolds them like a sail, and the yard becomes a harbour. (voice: Narrator)
[Shot 3] 5s: Wide shot, the line against the sky. Ambient: wind in cloth, a gate. No dialogue.
Lines, voice-over and captions · How voices work.
Do not illustrate every line
If the picture says what the words say, the film is a caption. Show what the poem leaves out: the sheet as a sail is a metaphor, so put the sail in the picture only once, and let the rest be the actual sheet. Metaphors work well as props that stay the same object in every shot: the white sheet is the same sheet in the yard and in the rented room. Props and locations.
Visual Style: Watercolor Storybook
Visual Style: Painterly Anime
Visual Style: Classical Oil Painting
Whose poem is it
Use a poem you wrote, or one you have the right to use. The Terms prohibit generating protected works without permission, and the confirmation window before an upload asks you to confirm that you have the right to use the material. Terms · What you can feed in.
Make it in SceneMixer, start to finish
- Script: paste your own on Upload Script, or write the brief above in AI Create and let it draft the episodes.
- Step 1: Type Film; Scene Style Pastoral Healing, American Small Town; Costume Style Soft Everyday; Visual Style Watercolor Storybook, Soft Glow; Target Region; dialogue language; 16:9 Landscape. Then read the script.
- Step 2: Draw the woman and the child she was, the yard and the rented room; the white sheet is the one prop that crosses both. The first 15 setup images on an account are free.
- Storyboard: generate episode 1 first (free on your first drama) and read it before you render anything. One place per segment.
- Video: render on the default tier at 10 credits a second, fix single shots instead of whole episodes, then put the episode together and post.
| Poem length | Setting paragraph | Segments (15 s) | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| A haiku (3 lines) | Needed: the poem alone is under the floor | 1 | 15 s |
| A short lyric (8 lines) | Needed | 2 | 30 s |
| A 12-line poem, 3 stanzas | Recommended | 3 (or 6 with silent pairs) | 45 s (or 90 s) |
| A longer poem | Recommended | One per stanza or two | As long as you choose |
FAQ
Can AI turn a poem into a video?
Yes. Add a short paragraph that says who, where and when, paste the poem, and the stanzas become segments read by a narrator over pictures.
What if my poem is very short?
The site needs about a paragraph, roughly 330 characters of English. Write a setting paragraph above it.
Who reads the poem?
A narrator, as voice-over; people in frame keep their mouths closed. A member can upload a voice recording they have the right to use.
Should the pictures show every line?
No. Show what the words leave out, and use a prop for a metaphor.
Can the poem appear as text on screen?
Readable on-screen text is not drawn reliably. Add it in your editor, or use the subtitles feature, which shows the lines your characters speak.
Can I use a famous poem?
Use your own, or one you have the right to use; the Terms prohibit generating protected works without permission.
Which look suits a poem?
Watercolor Storybook, Painterly Anime or Classical Oil Painting, depending on the mood.
What does it cost?
A 45-second film is 45 seconds of video at 10 credits a second on the default tier plus 1 credit a second to join, before retakes.
Paste the setting, then the poem
Three stanzas, three segments, a free storyboard to read.
Updated November 2, 2026