AI story video ideas, with a prompt for each

Animals or objects, one flaw, one lesson. These suit watercolor or claymation and a soft storyteller voice.

1. The slowest bakery in the forest

   “Every animal laughed when the tortoise opened a bakery. Then they tasted the bread.”

   The hare’s bakery is fast and the loaves are flat. The tortoise lets his dough rise all night and opens late. By the end of the week the queue is outside the tortoise’s door, and the hare asks to learn the slow way.

   Prompt: A gentle watercolor fable about a tortoise who opens the slowest bakery in the forest and wins over the other animals because he lets his bread rise properly.

   Make this video

2. The river that kept its water

   “The river decided it was tired of giving its water away.”

   A proud river stops flowing to the valley and pools into a lake for itself. The meadows dry and the birds leave, and the lake grows still and lonely. When the river lets the water run again, the valley and the songs come back.

   Prompt: A moral story about a proud river that stops sharing its water with the valley, grows lonely as the meadows dry up, and learns that flowing is what made it a river.

   Make this video

3. The owl who never said ‘I don’t know’

   “The wisest owl in the wood had never once said ‘I don’t know’. That was the problem.”

   Animals bring the owl questions and she always answers, even when she is guessing. One wrong answer sends a young rabbit down the wrong path. She finds him, apologizes, and from then on says ‘let’s find out together’.

   Prompt: A short fable about a proud owl who always gives an answer even when she is guessing, until a wrong answer leads a young rabbit astray and she learns to say ‘let’s find out together’.

   Make this video

4. The wind and the sun, retold

   “The wind and the sun made a bet: who could get the traveler’s coat off first?”

   Retell Aesop’s fable in your own words. The wind blows harder and harder and the traveler only clings to his coat. The sun shines gently, the traveler warms up and takes the coat off himself. Close on the moral that gentleness persuades where force fails.

   Prompt: Aesop’s fable of the North Wind and the Sun retold in fresh words as a short claymation story, ending on the moral that gentleness works better than force.

   Make this video

5. The goat who wouldn’t ask for help

   “The mountain goat could climb anything. That’s what she told everyone.”

   A proud young goat refuses help from the older goats and gets stuck on a narrow ledge as night falls. A small marmot she once ignored shows her the hidden path down. She learns that asking for help is part of being strong.

   Prompt: A watercolor fable about a proud mountain goat who refuses help, gets stuck on a narrow ledge at dusk and is guided down by a small marmot she once ignored.

   Make this video

One impossible rule, explored for a minute. The world can be strange; the feeling should be ordinary and human.

1. The last paper library on Mars

   “On a colony with no trees, one robot still guards a room full of paper books.”

   A librarian robot looks after the only paper books on a Mars colony, dusting them every day though nobody visits. A child born on Mars wanders in and asks what a tree was. The robot opens a book with a drawing of a forest.

   Prompt: A sci-fi story about a librarian robot guarding the only paper books on a Mars colony, until a child born on Mars visits and asks what a tree was.

   Make this video

2. The dragon who was afraid of fire

   “Every dragon breathes fire. Ember just hoped nobody would ask her to.”

   A young dragon hides her fear of fire from the others. When a winter storm ices over the village’s well, she is the only one small enough to reach it. She lights the tiniest flame she can, and learns that brave doesn’t have to mean big.

   Prompt: A fantasy story about a young dragon named Ember who is afraid of her own fire, until an iced-over village well needs the smallest, gentlest flame she can make.

   Make this video

3. The map that redraws itself

   “The map changed every time she looked away. Tonight it showed her own house.”

   A girl finds an old map in her grandmother’s attic that redraws itself overnight. It leads her through a forest, across a bridge that wasn’t there yesterday, and finally back to her own front door with a single word written on it: ‘begin’.

   Prompt: An anime-style adventure about a girl who finds an old map that redraws itself every night, leading her through a forest and back to her own front door marked ‘begin’.

   Make this video

4. The town where rain falls upward

   “In Upstill, people carry umbrellas upside down.”

   Describe a town where rain rises from puddles into the clouds. Children jump into puddles to send water up, gardeners water plants from below, and once a year the rain falls down like everywhere else and the whole town stops to watch.

   Prompt: A dreamy watercolor fantasy about a town where rain falls upward from puddles into the sky, and the one day a year it falls down like everywhere else.

   Make this video

5. The 8:14 loop

   “This is the four-hundredth time I’ve waited for the 8:14 bus.”

   A commuter is stuck living the same morning at the same bus stop. He tries running, hiding, taking a taxi. Nothing works until he finally speaks to the stranger who sits beside him every loop and asks if she is okay. The bus arrives at 8:15.

   Prompt: A sci-fi story about a commuter stuck in a time loop at a bus stop who finally breaks it by asking the stranger beside him if she is okay.

   Make this video

Small domestic stories people send to their parents and siblings.

1. Grandpa’s recipe with a missing step

   “Grandpa’s soup recipe had six steps. We could only ever find five.”

   Three siblings try to recreate their grandfather’s soup from his handwritten card and it never tastes right. Their grandmother finally tells them the missing step: he always made it with them in the kitchen. They cook it together and it finally tastes like his.

   Prompt: A warm family story about three siblings who cannot recreate their grandfather’s soup from his recipe card, until their grandmother tells them the missing step was cooking it together.

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2. The boy who wrote to the moon

   “Every night, Leo put a letter on the windowsill for the moon.”

   A small boy writes the moon letters about his day. One night a reply appears in silver ink, written by his older sister, who keeps answering for years. A quiet bedtime story with a gentle reveal at the end.

   Prompt: A soothing bedtime story about a little boy who leaves letters for the moon on his windowsill, and the silver-ink replies his big sister secretly writes back.

   Make this video

3. The robot vacuum and the retiree

   “My grandfather has named the robot vacuum, and they are not friends.”

   A retired man treats his new robot vacuum as a rival: blocking it with slippers, complaining when it bumps his chair. When it gets stuck under the sofa he spends an hour rescuing it. By the end he is talking to it at breakfast.

   Prompt: A funny, warm story about a retired man who treats his new robot vacuum as a rival, until he spends an hour rescuing it from under the sofa and starts talking to it at breakfast.

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4. A stray who chose the house

   “We didn’t adopt the dog. The dog adopted us.”

   A scruffy stray sits outside a family’s gate every evening at six. They ignore him, then leave water, then a blanket. One rainy night the door opens and he walks in like he has always lived there.

   Prompt: A heartwarming story about a scruffy stray dog who sits outside a family’s gate every evening until, one rainy night, they open the door and he walks in like he always lived there.

   Make this video