Step-by-step guide · 89 steps

Making a telenovela episode end to end: Guadalajara, Tonight, Episode 5

How we built Episode 5 of our Spanish telenovela Guadalajara, Tonight in ShowMaker Studio. We fix single moments inside a rendered take, rewrite a scene in the Screenplay editor, build multishot panels with voiced dialogue, add a black card with a sound hit, score it, and publish. It ends with what the episode cost at subscriber prices, mistakes and all.

Scene 1: render the take, then fix single moments

1Scene 1 is one multishot panel: four shots, 16 seconds, 42 credits on Wan 3 at 480p. Each shot needs a start frame. Click Pick to choose one from pictures you already have.

2Choose the frame and click Use as start frame. Then render the panel.

3After the take renders, watch it. To fix one shot, open it and click Re-shoot. Only that shot is rendered again. The rest of the take stays as it is.

Soundkeep the take's soundnew sound from the prompt — 4Sound: keep the take's sound, or make new sound from the prompt. A changed action usually needs new sound.

Re-shoot · 14 cr — 5Click Re-shoot. One short shot at 480p costs 14 credits.

What happens in this shot, with @slugs — 6For the next shot, rewrite what happens in plain words. An @tag brings in that character's look, so the model draws the right person.

7No good start frame for a close-up? Punch in crops a closer frame out of a wider one.

Size — 60% of the frame — 8Drag Size to set how tight the crop is.

Sharpen first · 2 cr, once per frame — 9Sharpen first upscales the frame once (2 credits) so a tight crop stays sharp.

Lengths · the line needs 5.5 s — 11The panel tells you how long the line needs (5.5 seconds here). Give the shot enough time so the line is not cut off.

Re-shoot anyway · 22 cr — 12Re-shoot. A longer shot costs more: this 8-second shot is 22 credits.

13Play the new version. If it is better, click Keep this. If not, close it and the original stays.

Use its last frame — 14To carry straight on from the shot before, use its last frame as this shot's start.

COMBINE EXISTING SHOTS Free Joins the shots you already have — 4 edited, 2 trim… — 15When the fixes are kept, Combine existing shots joins them back into one take. Combining is free.

16Click Render scene to put the new take into the scene.

Change the story in the Screenplay editor

S02 INT. MAIN DINING HALL — NIGHT — 17Switch to Scene 2. In the first draft it was a family dinner at night in the dining hall.

Ask a question about the story, or select something to change it… — 19Ask for the change in plain words. We moved Scene 2 to the reception hall right after the press conference, so the toast and the wine spill happen in daylight in front of the press.

20Click Add to draft. Nothing in the script changes yet. The change waits in a draft.

22The badge shows 2 unapplied changes. Click Review & apply to see them before anything changes.

Apply 2 to script & Scene Flow… — 23Review & apply shows every change, old line struck through and new line under it. The scene heading goes from INT. MAIN DINING HALL — NIGHT to INT. RECEPTION HALL - DAY. Doña Elena now presides from the head of the family's round table, with the other tables turned toward her. Victoria now pours wine for the guests, moving from table to table. Click Apply to send the changes to the script and to Scene Flow.

24Back in Scene Flow, click Convert to multishot. The scene becomes panels. Each panel is one take of several shots, with the dialogue spoken on camera.

Scene 2: build the room

25The new scene needs a new room. Open Locations.

Default · Seedream Seedream · 5 cr Nano Banana 2 · 4 cr GPT Flare 2.5 · 4 cr Mi… — 26Pick the picture model for the room. We used GPT Sunburst 2.5 (5 credits).

Generate a new still from the description — gpt-sunburst-2.5 — 27Generate a still of the reception hall from its description.

Ask about your screenplay, or paste an image for a better prompt... (Enter to s… — 28Not right? Tell the assistant what to change. Here: center on the round tables, and keep locations 16:9.

Scene 2: write, voice and render a panel

What happens, with @slugs. Dialogue in quotes after the speaker: @chloe turns t… — 30Write what happens in the panel's first beat. Put dialogue in quotes after the speaker's @tag.

31Replace @slug swaps one tag for another everywhere in the panel at once.

an asset… Lucía Herrera · @luc_a_herrera Victoria Montenegro · @victoria_monten… — 32Here everyone changes into the press conference outfits they wore in Scene 1, since this happens right after it.

33Write it writes the start frame's picture prompt from the beat.

Draw · 5 cr — 34Draw the start frame (5 credits).

35Tick v4 before voicing. It carries each speaker's delivery from line to line, so they sound like the same person in the same mood.

36Voice lines voices every line in the panel. Each line costs 2 credits.

37Render the panel. Wan 3 at 480p costs about 2.6 credits a second of video.

Scene 2: split the take and fix single shots

Split into 4 shots — 38When the take comes back, Split cuts it into its shots, so one bad shot can be fixed without redoing the whole take.

Shoot anyway · 14 cr — 41Shoot this one shot on its own: 14 credits.

COMBINE EXISTING SHOTS Free Joins the shots you already have — 1 added, 1 trimm… — 42Combine joins the new shot into the take. Free.

Scene 2: the wine spill

What happens — no dialogue. @tag whoever and whatever is in frame. — 43A panel with no dialogue only describes the action: Victoria takes over the pouring and drenches Lucía.

Replace 5 — 44Fix outfits with Replace @slug before rendering, not after. A wrong outfit means paying for the take again.

Use the frame at 18.17s — 46Any frame of an earlier take can be a start frame. Drag to the moment you want and use it.

Split into 6 shots — 48Split it into its shots.

Hide shot 5 — 53Hide shot leaves a shot out of the take without deleting it. You can show it again later.

COMBINE EXISTING SHOTS Free Joins the shots you already have — 1 edited, 1 hidd… — 54Combine the shots back into one take.

Scene 3: a night call in Victoria's study

S03 INT. VICTORIA'S STUDY — NIGHT — 55Switch to Scene 3.

60Play all reads the panel's lines in order, so you hear the scene before you pay for video.

A black card and a sound hit

63Make a solid card. We left it blank: just black, no text.

Add card as shot — 64Add the card as a shot, 2 seconds long. Cards are free.

Hits 28 on the cut — 65Under Sound, open Hits: sounds that land on the cut. Library sounds are free.

Hear it against this shot — 67Hear it against the black and set the volume. The hit over black lands harder than it would over picture.

Score the episode and build the show

Score all scenes (whole show)… — 69Score all scenes gives the whole episode one music score.

GenreAuto (from story)True crime — drivingTrue crime — somberHorrorThriller / s… — 70Pick a genre. We used Telenovela, Latin melodrama.

Generate Show free — 72Generate Show stitches the scenes, voices, sound and score into one video. Free.

⤓ Download — 73Download it and watch the whole thing. This is where you catch what to fix.

Second pass: fixes after watching the cut

Generate this outfit's turnaround sheet now — 4 cr on Nano Banana 2. Location:… — 74Victoria was still in her press conference outfit at night in her study. Draw her a casual outfit sheet (4 credits on Nano Banana 2).

Redraw · 5 cr — 76Redraw the start frame so it shows the new outfit.

SETTING The frame shows a dry green dress; the words add wetness and wine that… — 78Before a re-shoot, the frame check compares your words with the start frame. Here it warns that the frame shows a dry dress and the words ask for a wet one. Fix the words, or re-shoot anyway.

Re-shoot anyway · 14 cr — 79Re-shoot the shot.

Speed0.5×0.75×1×1.25×1.5×2×3× — 81Speed changes how fast a shot plays. We slowed this one to 0.75×.

COMBINE EXISTING SHOTS Free Joins the shots you already have — 1 edited, 1 trim… — 82Combine the shots into the take.

Publish the episode

ShortCandy series — 87Choose the series on ShortCandy: Guadalajara, Tonight.

shortcandy.com/watch/guadalajara-tonight · first 10 free — 89It is live on ShortCandy. The first 10 episodes are free to watch.

What this cost

Watch Episode 5 on ShortCandy →

Everything below is what a subscriber would pay in credits to make this, at our list prices. It includes every mistake we fixed along the way. The finished cut runs 2:19. Video was rendered at 480p.

What	How many	Credits
Scene video takes (first attempt) (149 s of video)	8	401
Whole-scene re-takes (43 s of video)fix	2	114
Single-moment re-shoots (a beat redone inside a take)fix	13	190
Start-frame pictures for the beats	11	55
Voice lines	17	34
Music	4	16
Picture upscales	4	8
Total		818

That is about $17.27 of a Starter plan (900 credits for $19 a month). Fixing mistakes was 304 credits of it (37%), so plan for some re-takes.

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