---
title: Start here
summary: Making a music video with him from nothing: what you are making, the accounts, the scale, where a person decides, the rules for spending, and what to build first.
order: 1
---

# Start here

The D.R.E.W film was made by Claude (Opus 5.5), with GPT Image 2.5 for the stills, Seedance 2.5 for every moving shot and Sync Lip Sync 3 for the rapping. This page is the way in for anyone making their own DREW video, and for the agent helping them. It follows the shape of claudia.gallery's [Start here](https://claudia.gallery/wiki/start/), which is the best written guide to this kind of film; read it too.

## What you are making

A rap video: a song, DREW rapping it to camera, and his world around him as b-roll. The D.R.E.W film is 1:49.6, 26 shots, and every word is on screen as a subtitle.

Four things carry it:

1. **He is the same man in every shot.** The constants (one blue loc, the moon cuff, the beard, the eyes, his age) never move. See [Keeping him himself](/wiki/consistency/).
2. **The lip sync holds.** Rapped shots are made silent, then synced to the real song with Sync Lip Sync 3. See [Moving shots](/wiki/seedance/).
3. **The world is real and still.** Cars are parked, doors open one at a time, nothing in frame has text on it. See [Cars](/wiki/cars/).
4. **It looks like film, not like AI.** 35mm, night, grain, natural skin. Takes that came back too polished were swapped. See [The edit](/wiki/edit/).

## The numbers, for scale

From the film's generation log:

| | |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1:49.6 |
| Shots in the cut | 26 |
| Video clips in the cut | 26, Seedance 2.5 at 720p, sound off (23 made for the film, 3 reused) |
| Lip-sync passes | 8, Sync Lip Sync 3, across 7 rapping shots |
| Still steps | 11, GPT Image 2.5 |
| Made | 22 to 28 October 2026 |

## Accounts

| What | For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An agent | the whole production | The film was directed by Claude: shot list, every prompt, take review, the edit. |
| GPT Image 2.5 | the stills | Face sheets, portraits, the world, start and end frames. |
| Seedance 2.5 | the moving shots | The film ran it on Higgsfield. It takes image references. |
| Sync Lip Sync 3 | the rapping | Runs on the finished clip with the song cut to its slot. |
| A song | the track | Your own. Don't use D.R.E.W or its stems (see [Use him](/use/)). |
| An editor | the cut and subtitles | Anything that cuts on the beat and burns in subtitles. |

## Where a person decides

Claudia's films name six checkpoints where the director looks and decides, and everything between them runs without asking. The same idea fits a DREW video. A sensible set:

1. **The song and the shot list.** One line, one shot. Approve the list before anything is generated.
2. **The references.** His face sheet, the world, the car. Nothing moves until these are right, because every video prompt attaches them.
3. **A pilot.** Two or three clips, one rapped, one b-roll, one car. Check the lip sync and the face before spending the rest.
4. **The takes.** Pick per shot. Swap anything that looks too AI-polished.
5. **The cut.** Watch it with sound, note fixes by timestamp.
6. **The last pass.** Fixes only, then export.

At each one, show pictures, not descriptions, and ask one question with a default.

## Spending

- **Check what you already have.** Three of the film's shots were reused from an earlier shoot at no cost.
- **Short clips cost less to redo.** The film's clips run 4 to 10 seconds. A failed 6-second clip is cheaper than a failed 20-second one.
- **Never pay for a car that drives.** It warped every time. Park it. See [Cars](/wiki/cars/).
- **Fix the reference, not the clip.** If his face is wrong in a still, every clip made from it inherits the fault.

## What to make first

1. Read [the character](/drew/). Copy the identity text exactly.
2. Make his references: a face sheet and front and side portraits, in the look you want. See [Stills](/wiki/stills/).
3. Make the world's references: the room, the car, the sign.
4. Write the shot list from the lyric. See [The song](/wiki/song/).
5. Cut the song to each rapped clip's slot, ready for the lip sync pass.
6. Run the pilot.

Or hand all of this to an agent: [Using him with an agent](/wiki/agents/).