AI video · Case study
Migration: bringing hand-drawn characters and AI backgrounds into one film
This team drew its characters by hand, used AI to animate the world around them, and joined the two shot by shot.
Published · Reviewed
Watch original film ↗Publicly documented resultRoughly two-minute finished film; first released Hundred Film Fund-supported film
The 'first' claim and production timeline come from Runway's behind-the-scenes account. Grant amount, sales, platform receipts and profit are not public.
Check this resultRead the context and editorial assessment
Migration is especially useful for working backward from the finished film. Its characters are hand-drawn; generated and animated backgrounds are joined through compositing, shadows and sound. Runway also exposes drafts and unused tests, making the failures and changes visible.
01
Verified material
Watch the film, then open the making-of material
The director's Vimeo page and Runway's official page identify the same film.
The complete Migration film is available on director Jeremy Higgins's Vimeo page, which credits writing, art direction, animators, AI animation and typography. Runway embeds the film in its making-of page alongside storyboards, rough animation and production imagery.
The film lets viewers judge whether characters and environments serve one story. In the making-of material, hand-drawn figures, generated backgrounds, manual compositing and sound work have different roles; the film was not a one-prompt output.
Sources for this section: Jeremy Higgins: complete Migration film · Runway: behind the scenes of Migration
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Public account
From script to a blocked visual story
The team spent about two weeks blocking chosen story beats into boards.
Runway says Higgins and Evan Johnson began with a script, then spent about two weeks turning selected beats into storyboards. They kept the explorer's face and white outfit simple, inviting identification while letting changes in background colour carry the journey.
The team included a director and co-writer, three cel animators, a type designer, a sound designer and a screenwriter who handled AI animation. A roughly two-minute result still depended on distinct story, visual and sound roles.
Sources for this section: Runway: behind the scenes of Migration · Jeremy Higgins: complete Migration film
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Public account
Why characters were drawn while the world was generated
Hand animation and generation ran in parallel: animators created performance while the team searched through backgrounds.
Three animators spent nearly four weeks rough-animating the characters by hand. In parallel, Johnson prompted hundreds of background candidates; Runway says some individual backgrounds took up to about 200 images to settle. The article shows unused early backgrounds, so the search is visible.
The team assigned palettes and themes to scenes to help continuity, then animated selected backgrounds with Runway Gen-3 Alpha, including ambient wind and clouds. The model animated the world; the character performance remained hand-drawn.
Sources for this section: Runway: behind the scenes of Migration
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Public account
What was rejected and what changed
The official page preserves unused backgrounds and rough cuts; a printed-frame treatment was abandoned after tests.
Runway's making-of page exposes unused generated backgrounds and rough animatics. A background had to fit a scene's colour, space and continuity, not merely look striking alone. The team kept selecting and sometimes incorporated an unexpected model result, including the bioluminescent cave.
In the final week, the team tested printing every frame, drawing over it and scanning it back for a tactile look. The director felt the test weakened what made the hand-drawn characters and generated world work together, so he dropped that step. The article explains the decision, but does not publish every prompt or failed generation.
Sources for this section: Runway: behind the scenes of Migration
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Public account
How two visual methods became one film
The team manually added contact shadows and interactions before the final composite.
Once character animation and background motion were ready, the team composited them and hand-animated contact shadows and interactions. This helped the explorer feel present in the generated spaces rather than pasted over them.
The Vimeo credits identify sound and typography specialists. Runway does not expose multitrack audio or edit files, so their participation is documented, but exact music prompts, voice models and mixing settings are not.
Sources for this section: Runway: behind the scenes of Migration · Jeremy Higgins: complete Migration film
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Evidence still needed
Fund support without disclosed accounts
Runway confirms fund support without disclosing this film's award amount or returns.
Runway calls Migration the first released film supported by its Hundred Film Fund. This documents a funding relationship, but the making-of page gives no film-specific grant, budget, licensing income, client orders or profit. The fund's overall size is not this film's payment.
Its practical lesson is to write and board the story, decide which layers need hand work and which can be generated, then leave time for compositing and rework. A sustainable business case would still require contracts, rights, budgets and receipts that are not public here.
Sources for this section: Runway: behind the scenes of Migration
A BitShovel exercise · not the maker’s tutorial
Place your own drawn character in a generated world
BitShovel designed this small trial from Migration's published animatic, unused backgrounds, subtle environmental motion and contact shadows. Draw your own character's action, make a setting from assets you may use and composite them in one space. This is our exercise, not Jeremy Higgins's frame-by-frame files or a funding application method.
Before you begin
- Bring a simple character you designed and can draw, a setting idea you may use and an eight-to-twelve-second micro-story. Do not copy the film's explorer or official making-of imagery.
- Have tools for boards, backgrounds, subtle background motion and layer compositing. Cap background candidates per shot, motion tests at two and time and spend at an affordable level.
Assign performance and world building
Write where the character travels and how their feeling changes, then divide it into arrival, pause and departure. Give gaze, walk or hesitation to your drawn character and wind, cloud or light changes to the setting, stating what each layer contributes to the story.
- Keep
- A one-page story card, three-beat role split and target duration.
- Check
- Without the generated background, is there still character action? Without the character, does the space still carry atmosphere? Reassign work if both layers merely duplicate each other.
Test rhythm and space with an animatic
Draw three to five key character poses and placeholder settings, then time them in a rough animatic. Mark foot contact, eyeline, foreground and background before adding polished generated images.
- Keep
- A timed animatic and a map of character-to-ground contact points.
- Check
- Do the placeholders convey movement direction and pause? Are foot positions or screen direction jumping? Fix the board first if so.
Keep the backgrounds you rejected
Set a palette and spatial rule for each beat, then generate or draw a few backgrounds from authorised inputs. Place candidates alongside the same animatic and log selected and rejected versions with reasons. Keep a surprising effect only if it serves the character's mood.
- Keep
- Candidate comparisons, selected settings and reasons for rejecting alternatives.
- Check
- Do horizon, palette and entrances connect as one world across the beats? Reject a beautiful still that breaks continuity.
Animate the setting lightly and add contact
Test one gentle setting motion, such as wind or cloud, logging input and no more than two results. Keep the character performance in your own drawn layer. When compositing, add foot shadow, occlusion and lighting contact so the figure does not float like a sticker.
- Keep
- One animated setting, a drawn character pass and a first composite.
- Check
- Does the setting motion distract from the person? Does the contact shadow follow the feet? After two drifting attempts, use a still setting or shorten the shot rather than retry endlessly.
Review the full clip and its real cost
Edit the three beats to roughly eight-to-twelve seconds using permitted sound, or test silently first. Ask two people unfamiliar with it where the character went and when the feeling changed; record confusion, unused assets, labour time and tool spend.
- Keep
- A first cut, two comprehension notes, rejected assets and a production cost log.
- Check
- If viewers cannot follow the journey, fix the animatic; if the character floats, fix the composite; stop when time or spend reaches the cap. A grant or feature-film quality cannot be inferred from this small trial.
Make one final choice: Do not generate while the animatic fails. Reject backgrounds that fragment the world, and correct shadow and occlusion when person and setting do not meet. Expand only when story and composite pass a small comprehension test, with labour, rights and cost re-estimated.
This BitShovel exercise draws on public making-of material, not Migration's actual production settings. Runway documents fund support, animatics and unused backgrounds, but not this film's grant amount, complete generation history or profit. Those business outcomes cannot be assigned to a reader's trial.
Sources and limits
Where the material comes from
- Jeremy Higgins: complete Migration filmOriginal film and credits from the directorChecked
Watch the film and check director, Runway Studios production and credited roles.
- Runway: behind the scenes of MigrationOfficial production accountChecked
Script, team, boards, hand animation, generated and unused backgrounds, compositing and Hundred Film Fund support.