LATENT TRANSLATION | VEFILM | Pedro Feria Pino, SOC

From Sketch
to Screen

I wanted to test what I could make with AI image generation. Take hand-drawn storyboards and turn them into photorealistic frames. Not to replace the DP's sketches, but to translate them into something every department can reference before anyone steps on set.

I come from docs and reality. Fifteen years of unscripted television. You don't draw storyboards in that world. You show up, you read the room, you shoot what's happening. I used to draw as a kid, was decent at it, nothing special. But that muscle never got developed on set because I never needed it.

Nelson's different. Nelson Noel Salcedo can draw. He can paint. He literally painted his apartment walls to practice aging techniques for this production. So when he sat down with our director Lorenzo Collado to storyboard Knock Knock, a 90s Bronx crime short that had been sitting with Lorenzo for years, they produced something real. Hand-drawn frames that captured exactly what this thing needed to feel like.

"Nelson draws. I translate."

And I looked at those sketches and thought: what can I add here? I can't outdraw Nelson. But I can take what he made and translate it into something the whole production team can use. Gaffer, Costume, Props, Locations. Give them photorealistic references so everyone walks onto set seeing the same picture.

The Problem: The Cost of Guesswork

Think about a real set. The director has a vision. The DP sketches it out. But that sketch is open to interpretation. The gaffer doesn't guess the mood, but it takes time to explain. Costume needs to understand the palette. Everyone's working toward the same goal but starting from different pictures in their heads.

You're burning time in meetings trying to get everyone aligned. And on a professional set, every wasted hour has a massive price tag:

Union Tier 1 Production$5,000 / HR

Major Budget Feature$25,000 / HR

4 HOURS LOST

$100,000

Optimization Matrix

Director

Vision translated into concrete references. Less explaining, more executing. Provides a definitive lens lock during pre-production.

DP / Camera

Lens choices and framing locked before scout. Shot list writes itself. Exact compositions are shared with the entire camera team.

Gaffer

Key-to-fill ratios, color temps, and fixture placement pre-determined. Faster setups based on photorealistic lighting references.

Production Design

Palette and period details visible upfront. Ensures sets are built with the camera's final perspective in mind.

Costume / Wardrobe

Wardrobe choices tested against actual set colors and lighting in pre-production. Ensures character continuity.

AD / Scheduling

Shot complexity visible before day one. Realistic scheduling and accurate page turns for high-cost union crews.

The Whole Point

I'm not trying to replace anyone's job. I'm trying to make everyone's job easier. When the gaffer walks onto set and already knows the lighting ratios, that's less guesswork. When costume sees the exact palette in context, that's fewer emergency fixes.

And saved time matters. Because at the end of the day, this industry runs on hours. Hours away from your family. Hours of stress. Hours of fixing problems that could have been solved in pre-production.

Better pre-production means less wasted time on set. Less wasted time means you go home to your family. That's the whole point.

Pedro Feria Pino, SOC

Director of Photography with 15+ years in docs and narrative. Credits: Netflix, Disney, MTV. Founder: VEFILM.

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My DP Painted His Walls. I Built a Lens Reference with Claude.

How Nelson Noel Salcedo turned his apartment into a practice set, and how AI became part of how we walked into ARRI Rental knowing exactly what we wanted.

Sketch Render