Animation Accelerator: AI-Powered Filmmaking
BC + AI Ecosystem presents Cohort 3 of the AI Animation & Filmmaking Accelerator, where you'll build a complete 30-40 second animated short using the AI-powered production pipeline from Tiny Ghost Studios.
Led by Luke Minaker and Mayumi Rollings, this workshop teaches the actual workflow they use on paying client work, the same approach behind their greenlit original IP Blood and Glitter.
Three live online sessions: July 27, August 4, and August 10, 6:00-8:00 PM Vancouver time. Expect 10-16 hours of guided production work between sessions. You'll leave with portfolio-ready work and an optional screening pathway through BC + AI Film Club.
Here's what is happening right now.
The animation and film industry is changing fast, faster than most of us feel ready for. If you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed that the conversation has split into two loud camps: the people who think AI is going to save everything, and the people who think it's going to ruin everything.
We think both camps are missing something.
At Tiny Ghost Studios, Luke and Mayumi have spent the last two years exploring the space in between, where AI isn't a replacement for creativity, and it isn't a cheap shortcut either. Used well, it can flip animation production from the traditional ratio of 80% grind and 20% creative input, right around.
They built this workflow on paying client work and original IP. Luke brings nearly three decades of professional animation experience across film, television, games, writing, directing, modelling, and animation.
Mayumi is Tiny Ghost Studios co-founder and AI animation upskilling program lead, developing cohorts for animation professionals and newcomers navigating the industry's rapid transition.
It is still hard work.
It is also a genuine paradigm shift that puts you in the director's chair with a team of incredibly capable, wildly chaotic collaborators. Once you find your footing, it opens up possibilities that simply did not exist before.
This workshop is about finding that footing.
What You'll Build
One complete 30-40 second animated short from a client brief. Your vision. Portfolio-ready.
Session 1 (July 27): Storytelling and animatic.
Session 2 (August 4): Animation and editing.
Session 3 (August 10): Studio-style feedback and professional review.
Between sessions: 10-16 hours of independent production work.
Session recordings for reference.
What's Included
Direct access to Luke and Mayumi during production.
Private cohort chat for collaboration.
Optional screening pathway through BC + AI Film Club.
Connection to Canada's most active AI filmmaking community.
Who This Is For
Animators navigating the industry shift. Filmmakers exploring AI workflows. Creative professionals who want to see what is actually possible, not what the internet thinks is possible.
No AI experience required. Curiosity and commitment to 10-16 hours of work between sessions required.
Investment: CA$900 standard. CA$700 Earlyworm until July 3. Limited CA$450 student approval tickets.
NOTE: Class limited to 20 people. Requires 10-16 hours of independent production work between sessions to complete the program. Students should budget an additional ~$50 for AI credits and platform subscription fees.
About BC + AI
Part solarpunk R&D lab, part community potluck. BC + AI brings curious humans together to make things, ask hard questions, and have a say in where this technology takes us.
We’re a member-driven nonprofit building public-interest infrastructure for AI in British Columbia. A commons where meetups turn into working groups, prototypes turn into shared tools, and community values turn into governance. Vancouver AI was the first room. The work keeps growing through the people who show up and give a damn.
Multi-modal, multi-cultural, future-facing, and radically local.
Plug into the bigger organism
Bring the half-working thing. Somebody here might know what to do with it.
Membership helps keep this whole strange, useful organism alive. Bring a stuck project to Office Hours, find collaborators through the directory, or help start the working group you wish existed. Keep making things together between meetups.
Your dues help sustain the rooms, the connections, and the knowledge we put back into public.
Join BC + AI. Help build what happens next.
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