post-film production
A studio for filmmaking beyond film.
01 — Manifesto
On Czech film sets, a street sign reads MIMO FILM — “except film crews.” It marks the space reserved for filmmakers.
We took the sign with us — into work that couldn’t be filmed two years ago. Films, series and branded content made with tools that are brand new, and craft that hasn’t changed in a hundred years. No AI slop.
02 — Case study
A living series — proof of concept for solo AI narrative production.
A nine-episode AI dark-folklore series set in Iron Age Bohemia. Rooted in real history — Ptolemy’s Κορκόντοι and Helwig’s 1561 map of Silesia. Vertical 9:16, released on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
@korkontoiThe workflow that sells: film craft at every step, AI as the tool.
// audience metrics added as the series rolls out
03 — Case study
A standalone AI short film. Different genre, same craft — proof the studio’s voice extends beyond folklore. Details added before release.
I spent several days producing a short film entirely with AI. Here’s my honest take on where the technology actually stands.
The brief was a 2.5-minute vertical thriller. One character in a rideshare. Rain. A stranger who won’t leave. A cliffhanger.
The pipeline I built: moodboard → AI image generation → character creation → video generation → voice cloning → local foley model → sound isolation → colour grade → upscale. Roughly a dozen tools to finish what a small crew would do in a day.
What surprised me — in both directions:
Further than I expected: The visual quality, when you get it right, is genuinely cinematic. Atmosphere, lighting, texture. Two years ago this wasn’t possible at this level.
Further from ideal than the demos suggest: You don’t direct AI. You negotiate with it. Reverse shots are hard. Consistent faces across cuts are hard. The gap between what you see in your head and what the model gives you is still wide — and bridging it takes as much creative problem-solving as any traditional production.
The result isn’t perfect. The pacing is faster than I’d want. Some shots had to be redone mid-process. Budget constraints shaped every decision.
But here’s what I keep thinking about: the constraint isn’t the technology anymore. It’s the craft of working with it. Knowing how to visualise a shot before you generate it. Knowing when to fix in post instead of regenerating. Knowing which tool to reach for.
AI video is no longer a novelty. It’s a production discipline. And like any discipline — it rewards people who treat it seriously.
Still a long way from the ideal. But I’d make another one tomorrow.
Last Fare — produced with Higgsfield, SoulCast, DaVinci Resolve, HunyuanVideo, Magic Hour, ElevenLabs, Fal.AI, Topaz and others.
04 — Services
AI proof-of-concept for series and film — for producers pitching projects.
Spots, campaigns and brand films — cinematic language at AI speed and cost.
We don’t do cheap volume content or generic AI slop. We’re mimo — outside. Hence the name.
05 — FAQ
You’re not paying for compute. You’re paying for direction. AI made shooting cheaper — crew, gear, locations, actors. It didn’t make it any cheaper to decide what belongs in the frame, why, and how it should feel. That’s the work you’re buying. Seventeen years behind the camera carried over into a new tool — not into a lower quality of judgement.
Every project has three phases. The ratios shift with the brief, but roughly:
1. Creative development (~25 % of the price) — concept, script, visual style, storyboard. The cheapest phase to make changes in — this is where a video succeeds or fails. We never skip it, even when you’re in a hurry.
2. Directed production (~45 %) — where the image is made. A single shot in the final video typically takes 5–15 generated versions. We select, refine the brief, keep characters, light and space consistent across shots. The same work as on set — we just direct a model instead of a crew.
3. Finishing (~30 %) — edit, colour grade, sound, music, masters for every platform. The phase that separates “AI video” from a video that looks like an ad.
And where are the machines in all this? Compute, specialised software and studio gear aren’t free — but they’re our fixed overhead, absorbed into the price. You won’t find “credits” or rentals on the invoice; we bill days of focused work, and the price agreed up front is the price.
A traditional 30-second spot means a shoot day with crew, gear and location rentals, actors, catering, insurance — and only then the edit. Realistically from ~€4,000 up, several times that for bigger campaigns. AI production skips most of those line items:
| Item | Traditional shoot | AI production |
|---|---|---|
| Crew (camera, sound, lights, production) | yes | no |
| Gear & location rentals | yes — billed per day | included |
| Actors & casting | yes | optional (digital characters) |
| Shoot day(s) | 1–3 days | none |
| Direction & creative lead | yes | yes |
| Edit, colour, sound | yes | yes |
| Typical delivery | 4–8 weeks | 1–3 weeks |
| Price of a 30s spot | from ~€4,000 | from €1,800 |
What we won’t promise: AI still can’t fully replace authentic human performance or your actual product in a customer’s hand. For those cases we offer a hybrid approach — we shoot real footage (we’re filmmakers by origin) and use AI where it saves budget: environments, extras, impossible shots.
Full HD (1080p) is included in every package. For social media, web, e-mailing and company presentations it’s the full-value standard — Instagram and Facebook won’t actually use higher resolution anyway.
4K is a 15–20 % surcharge on the project price. It makes sense for TV, cinema advertising, large-format screens, trade fairs, and for clients who want archive-grade quality for the future.
Why a surcharge when “the computer does it”? Because 4K in AI video isn’t one extra click:
Our recommendation tends to be honest: if the video will only run on social media, you don’t need 4K. Save where the viewer can’t tell.
Raises it:
Lowers it:
A short social-media spot from €1,800, a content series from €1,400 a month, a brand film from €4,800. You’ll have an exact quote within 48 hours of the brief.
Yes. Commercial use of the final video is part of the price — no time or territory limits, no further licensing fees. We work exclusively with tools whose terms permit commercial use of outputs, and your usage rights are spelled out in the contract, black on white.
Depends on the style we choose together. We do photoreal production as well as overt stylisation. And from August 2026 the EU AI Act requires machine-readable labelling of AI content — we handle that for you, deployed correctly, so the brand stays trustworthy.
Two revision rounds are included, and you approve as we go: concept → storyboard → rough cut → final. No buying a pig in a poke — you decide at every stage.
06 — About
For years, my mum kept seeing street signs around Prague that read “No parking — mimo film” (“except film crews”), and she was convinced MIMO FILM was a production company. The certainty she said it with made me laugh — until I realised she was right. The company just didn’t exist yet.
I’m a cinematographer. I’ve shot films, series and commercials, and for the past few years I’ve been exploring what happens when film craft meets generative tools. The answer: either the AI slop flooding the internet — or something that looks like cinema, because it was shot by someone who’s been shooting film his whole life.
mimo.film is the second thing. A boutique studio for AI narrative work and branded content. Deliberately small. I work on every project personally, from concept to grade.
07 — Contact
cinematographer & founder
www.ondrejherold.czWrite directly — no forms.
ondrej@mimo.filmPrague