Cinematic AI Avatar Lesson Video
A nicely-made AI avatar lesson video with two avatar hosts, deliberate sound design, designed slides, micro-animations, interactive quiz slides, and hand-crafted B-roll.
Project Overview
A self-esteem curriculum publisher that had been delivering teacher-led classes in person. They wanted a virtual class they could ship to schools that did not have a wellness specialist on staff. The bar was simple: learners should not realise the host is AI until the credits.
The brief was to take the lesson their lead facilitator had been delivering in person, off the existing PowerPoint deck, and convert it into a 25-minute AI avatar virtual class their schools could ship without a wellness specialist on staff. The bar was simple: learners should not realise the host is AI until the credits.
The video opens with a warm AI avatar host. A second avatar takes over for variety. Deliberate sound design carries the lesson between scenes. Designed slides with on-screen captions anchor each section. Micro-animations break up the cuts. Interactive quiz slides anchor every key concept. Hand-crafted B-roll, color-graded and paced for emotional rhythm, brings the subject to life.
Every cutaway was hand-picked, color-graded, and matched to the emotional beat of the moment. Avatar takes were generated in HeyGen and Synthesia, with ElevenLabs layered in for the line readings that needed extra nuance. The whole video was cut in Premiere Pro, sound-designed in Adobe Audition, and finished in After Effects.
What's Inside
25-minute lesson video
Exportable in 1080p and 4K, with H.264 and ProRes masters.
2 AI avatar hosts
Warm and energetic, with consistent looks across scenes.
~40 designed slides
With on-screen captions, anchoring each section of the lesson.
Deliberate sound design
Music bed mastered to -14 LUFS for streaming, with stings on key beats.
Hand-crafted B-roll
Hunted from licensed footage and original shoots, color-graded across the video.
Micro-animations
Lottie and After Effects between slides and scenes.
Interactive quiz slides
Three across the lesson, each tied to a key concept.
Accessibility track
Closed captions, transcript, and an audio description track.
What the Client Provided
- A 38-page lesson script (Google Doc) authored by the program's lead facilitator
- Mood-board PDFs for the visual language
- A music library license register and reference tracks
- An existing voiceover recording for reference pacing
- The school's accessibility requirements list (captions, transcript, audio description)
Design and Build Process
Script and Storyboard
Scripted the 25 minutes scene by scene. Storyboarded every avatar shot, slide, B-roll cutaway, and quiz slide before any rendering.
Avatar and Voice Casting
Cast two avatars and two voices to fit the warmth of the topic. Generated avatar takes in HeyGen and Synthesia, then layered ElevenLabs voice for the line readings that needed extra nuance.
Slide Design
Designed every on-screen slide and caption in Figma against a single visual language. Exported as PNG sequences for the edit.
Edit and Sound Design
Cut the full lesson in Premiere Pro. Sound design and music bed mastered in Adobe Audition. Micro-animations layered in After Effects.
B-Roll Hunt and Color Grading
Hand-picked every cutaway from licensed footage and original shoots. Color-graded the whole video in DaVinci Resolve to a single look so the avatar, slides, and B-roll read as one piece.
Tools and Stack
Deliverables
- Final 25-minute video in 1080p and 4K (H.264 and ProRes masters)
- Closed captions (SRT), transcript (Google Doc), and audio description track (WAV)
- Full script, storyboard, and shot list (Google Docs)
- Slide source files
- B-roll license register (publisher and asset)
- Color grade LUT for reuse across the publisher's video library
- Embedded directly into the publisher's website, with SCORM packaging for Schoology, Canvas LMS, Kajabi, Thinkific, and Teachable, plus closed captions and xAPI tracking
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