How a film moves through Swiftbird

Every film in Swiftbird follows the same path. What changes from step to step is who's doing the work. Here's the whole journey, using an illustrative example film, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Map. The film and its numbers are made up for this post; the steps are the real ones.

1. A story is chosen

It starts in Chat. Ask your agent to research a topic and the findings come back as cards: the angle, the sources, and the gaps. Each card shows what's supported and what isn't, because a confident summary with no sources is worse than none.

You shortlist, dismiss or approve. An approved title lands in Calendar, where you can propose a date. That date is a plan, not a publication.

Who: your agent researches; you decide.

2. The script is written and approved

Your agent drafts the script in the film's own folder. You read it in Production, select the sentences that need work, and attach a note to each. The correction goes back to Chat with the exact words and the revision you were reading, so the agent knows precisely what you meant.

When it's right, you approve it. The agent never approves its own script.

Who: your agent drafts; you approve.

3. The film becomes shots

The script becomes a visual sheet: every line of narration mapped to shots, each with a build route. In our example, that's 94 shots: 81 built in Blender and 13 in Remotion. Production shows them as rows, in order, each with its timecode and narration.

4. Scenes are built and corrected

Agents build the scenes lane by lane, in Blender and Remotion, through your normal workflow. As work comes back, Production shows each shot's stills and the checkpoints your workflow recorded: a builder marking a batch ready, a judge's verdict, your own.

This is where most of a film's time goes, and where Swiftbird helps most:

• A note on a shot for simple changes.
• The Scene editor for anything spatial. Open the shot's saved Blender scene as a wireframe, block out what belongs where, key the camera and preview the path. It becomes a precise proposal your agent builds in Blender. When the new version is saved, compare it against exactly what you asked for.

Who: agents build; you direct and correct; Blender and Remotion render.

5. The thumbnail

Thumbnails lays the versions side by side. Pick the direction, write what should change (bigger headline, different light, smaller object) and the note goes to your agent for the next version. Old versions stay put.

6. The cut

In the film editor, shots sit on a timeline with voice, sound and music tracks. Narration can be generated with your own ElevenLabs key when you authorise it. Then the sequence goes to Premiere as XML, and Premiere finishes the film. Your own voice-over edits are preserved.

Who: you and Premiere.

7. The upload is prepared

Publishing holds the title, description, tags, thumbnail, visibility, audience and an optional release time, next to the exact final file. Review upload shows precisely what would be sent and where.

Swiftbird has not yet published a video through this step; it prepares and reviews. The upload itself only ever happens on your explicit action.

Who: you.

The thread through all of it

At every step, the same three rules hold: the work stays in your folders, your agent does the building with its own tools, and every approval is yours. Swiftbird's job is to keep the evidence in front of you, and to make sure your corrections arrive exactly as you meant them.