Award-winning Italian director and screenwriter, creator of the KHARMA universe. Every film starts with traditional direction, studied with Italy's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, and is then evolved with AI.
14:17
Play KHARMA
The opening chapter of an original sci-fi universe: morally grey characters, political conflict on a galactic scale, and a world with its own cults, hunters and history.
Theatrical screeningsJeju Arts Center · Jeju, South Korea · Jeju AI International Film Festival
Pollack Tempe Cinemas · Tempe, Arizona, USA · AIFILM3
4K
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Every film I make starts as a directed film. Script, shot list, staging, actors, camera, lenses and light are handled the traditional way, and the scene is recorded before AI touches a single frame. That is the craft I keep studying with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy's national film school.
AI comes after. From the recorded scene I extract depth and motion, then use AI to build what a small production could never afford: worlds, armies, starships and light. The performance and the camera stay the director's; the model works inside them.
I see it as the next step in filmmaking. Direction first, technology second.
One shot, start to finish. Drag the line to compare the take recorded on set with the finished frame.
The actress is directed and recorded on a bare set: marks, a chair, a glass.
A depth map locks her performance, the framing and the space around her.
The costume is designed as a reference: herringbone tweed, forest wool, velvet.
The look of the scene is set in one frame: the room, the light, the props.
AI rebuilds the world around the directed performance. The glass becomes a teacup.
Every film follows the same order: traditional direction first, AI second. Five stages, from the page to the final mix.
DirectionScreenplay, beat sheet and shot list, written before anything is shot.
ToolsA writer's mind. Every story is written in-house: great films start with a great script and characters who build worlds.
DirectionStaging, blocking, actor direction, camera and lens choices. The scene is recorded.
ToolsCamera and traditional set work, or full-AI direction through expert prompting: every shot, lens and performance written as a director's brief.
DirectionDepth and motion are extracted from the recorded take or the directed AI shot, locking framing and performance. Visual effects are designed on top.
ToolsDepth-map and motion passes, visual effects
DirectionWorlds, characters and light are generated on top of the directed take, shot by shot.
ToolsSeedance 2, Kling, Runway, Hailuo, Midjourney, Nano Banana Pro
DirectionEdit, continuity, sound design, mix and original music.
ToolsDaVinci Resolve · original score
Marcello L. Raso is an award-winning Italian director and screenwriter and the creator of the KHARMA universe. He writes and directs character-driven stories set in worlds built to last beyond a single film.
His film KHARMA won an award at the Jeju AI International Film Festival, making him the first Italian to win a film festival award in South Korea with a sci-fi film made using AI. He continues his professional training with Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC), Rome, through its CSC Play program, with courses in directing and actor direction, assistant directing, cinematography, screenwriting and film production. Every film he makes starts with traditional direction; AI comes after.
