Student
Fia the Firefly: A Short Animated Story for Children
May 14, 2025
COURSE:
CT380 AI-Assisted Design
STUDENT:
Ranjani Srinivasan
PROFESSOR:
Christie Shin
PROJECT
Create a short animated story for children
Various AI tools were used throughout the process to support storytelling, visual development, and audio production.
AI assisted with brainstorming, generating imagery, creating narration, and enhancing the overall creative process.
WORKFLOW
1
Concept brainstorming
• Concept development
• Planning with ChatGPT
• Script writing
2
Visualizing the vision based on Script Breakdown
• Drawing on paper
• Digitizing in Illustrator
3
Generating Assets Using AI Tools
• Images: Adobe Firefly
• Video: Runway
• Voiceover: ElevenLabs
• Music: Suno
• Editing (non-AI): iMovie
4
Assembling final video in iMovie
PLAN OUT A STORY
Concept
A story about a firefly with the themes of kindness and bravery
Developing Stories with ChatGPT
“I want to create a short children’s animation, like a short story, where the main character is a firefly. The story will incorporate the firefly’s glow as an important motif—perhaps symbolizing confidence, letting go of fear, embracing your true self, and showing kindness to yourself and others.”
PROCESS: SKETCH FRAMES + ILLUSTRATOR ⥬ GENERATE ASSETS USING AI
FINAL OUTCOME
TAKEAWAYS
[What I Learned]
• AI tools supported my entire creative process — from planning to execution
• I used them not just for generating visuals, but also for audio and narration
• The process became more efficient and streamlined, saving time and helping me stay organized
• There’s still lots of room for improvement, but working with AI made the process much more manageable and creative.
[Limitations]
• Getting the right image often took multiple attempts
• Limited credits added pressure to each use
• Results didn’t always match my vision — requiring lots of iteration and adjustment