Locking the stadium, street & office | Academy

The kitchen's locked, so the rest of the locations get the exact same treatment: generate, keep the best on the canvas, test with the hero, lock the winner.

Let Claude write the stadium prompt

Hand-writing a cinematic stadium prompt from scratch wasn't worth the effort, so it didn't happen. Claude got three things instead — running track, 3/4 view, sunny day — the same 3/4-angle trick as the kitchen, since generating a location at an angle just hits more often. It came back with a full, detailed prompt covering the track, the field, and the light, and the result nailed the brief: a perfect green field, red track, clean light.

A cinematic stadium generated from a three-word brief to Claude — green field, red track, clean light.

Test the location the same way — the hero decides it

Two stadium options make it to the canvas, and just like the kitchen, a still frame isn't enough to trust. The same character sheet runs through both on one simple line — he runs along the track in headphones — and the difference shows up on video, not in the photo: the winning stadium is brighter, and since this is a morning scene, it has to actually feel like morning. Winner locked.

A location can look great as a still and still lose the video test. Always run the hero through it before locking — light that reads fine in a photo can go flat and lifeless the moment it moves.

Street corner and office — same process

The street corner and the office go through the identical loop: generate a batch, keep the favorites on the canvas, test them, lock the winner.

The street corner chosen after testing — the pick that won its test.

The office chosen after testing — the pick that won its test.

Testing every single location this way can feel slow, but it isn't — it's exactly how you avoid burning a pile of credits later generating full scenes on top of the wrong assets.