Play Is the Highest Form of Research
We talk a lot about strategy and data, but sometimes, the best way to learn is just to play.
Recently, our CEO Ben Laifsky spoke at Tech Alley Henderson about a personal challenge he took on: creating a full cinematic movie trailer set in Las Vegas. The catch? He had to do it without a camera crew, he only had two weekends to finish it, and he had a strict rule not to make any team members (or lawyers) angry.
It was a lesson in using AI not just to automate work, but to create art. Here is a look under the hood at how the “AI Movie Trailer” came to life, and the actual recipe we used to build it.
The Job – Opening LVIMA’s Digital Technology and Planning Day
LVIMA.com is the Las Vegas Innovation Marketing Association. Since 2004, this has been the digital marketing association in Las Vegas. Ben and Autumn of Hunter Marketing are long time board members and in 2024 and 2025, Autumn served as president of the organization.
Each year, LVIMA’s flagship event is Digital Technology and Planning Day, a day of talks and interviews about the trends and technology that are coming to dominate our industry. This year’s event was held at Myron’s Cabaret with 150 of Las Vegas’ digital marketing community in attendance.
Autumn and LVIMA Chair Brandie Feuer assigned Ben with the job of opening the day. Since the event’s theme was Lights, Strategy, Action! Ben chose to make a movie trailer.
The AI Movie Making Process
Pick the Right AI Toolkit
You don’t need a Hollywood studio; you just need the right stack. For this project, Ben used a specific combination of tools to handle different creative layers:
- Gemini & V03: For brainstorming, scripting, and visual prompting.
- Eleven Labs: For voice synthesis and sound design.
- Suno.AI: For generating the soundtrack.
- Chat GPT & Dalle: For creating base images.
Create a Production Process and Get Organized
This is the part most people skip. To keep the AI consistent, you can’t just type random ideas. Ben organized the project into a “Shot Design” spreadsheet.
Every shot was broken down into a structured formula to ensure the video generation tool knew exactly what to do. The formula looked like this:
- Subject: Who or what is it?
- Ben featured LVIMA team members either with famous movie characters or AS famous movie characters.
- Context: Where are they?
- All of the action was set in Las Vegas.
- Action: What are they doing?
- Style/Camera: How is it shot (panning, dollying)?
- Mood/Lighting: Is it day, night, or shadowy?
Designing Sound With AI Tools
A great trailer starts with the audio. Before a single pixel was generated, Ben established the vibe.
- The Voice: We needed that classic “Movie Trailer Guy.” Using Eleven Labs, Ben prompted for a voice that was “gravely, resonant,” and “full-bodied” with a “measured, deliberate” pacing.
- The Music: To capture the Vegas spirit, he used Suno.AI to generate a song inspired by Nancy Sinatra—specifically looking for a “bluesy with horns” sound.
Building Image Assets – Combining Las Vegas, Cultural Icons and LVIMA Team Members
This was a fun process, but quite a long process. This involved creating the assets that would become the different segments of the video. What classic movie characters or scenes could be recognizably moved to Las Vegas? One fun inspiration was that “The Wizard of Oz” could be set in the Bellagio. Or a Forrest Gump-like character sitting in front of the Las Vegas Sign.
Ben took those inspirations and then added in team members where they either played some of the characters or, like with Autumn Hood, became the card dealer to a character that looked a lot like James Bond.
The final trick was to make sure that we didn’t upset the lawyers. We alluded to all of these characters we didn’t show James Bond. We showed the side of a man in a tuxedo wearing a Rolex. We didn’t show Godzilla, we showed a giant lizard foot. No one could claim we were trying to make money off of a copywritten character.
Creating Cinematic AI Video
The next step was to create video out of the assets. Each scene involved one or more video shots. Detailed notes were turned into prompts and after some trial and error, those prompts became the clips in the final video.
The last step was assembling all of these clips and assets and setting the audio track to create the final trailer.
The Finished Product – Presented On Stage at Myron’s
Ben opened the show. Seeing this ‘homemade’ work on the professional stage at one of Las Vegas’ iconic venues was a real treat. Ben got a great ovation from the crowd and it opened the event with an amused and enthusiastic crowd.
Lessons Learned From this “Guided Play”
The biggest takeaway from this experiment wasn’t technical—it was educational but fun. Ben structured the talk around three quotes that sum up the modern creative process:
- “Play is the highest form of research.” (Attributed to Albert Einstein) — We learned more about these tools by making a fake movie than we would have by reading a manual.
- “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein — The two-weekend deadline forced action.
- “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross — AI is unpredictable. Sometimes the glitches gave us ideas we never would have thought of on our own.
Presenting at Tech Alley Henderson
Ben presented this at Tech Alley Henderson to share a fun project. Many people are talking about Artificial Intelligence but few show their work. Tech Alley is a fantastic gathering where people share a passion for technology and startups. For information about Tech Alley, visit TechAlley.org.
You don’t need to be a video editor to tell a story anymore. You just need an idea, a spreadsheet, and the willingness to make a few “happy accidents” along the way.
