Spiral
An AI filmmaking tool built around revision loops, not one-shot prompts.
What it is
Most AI video tools assume filmmaking is linear: prompt in, video out. Real work isn’t like that — it’s revision, where every change ripples into everything downstream. Spiral is a design for a tool that works that way from the start, and shows its reasoning as it goes so your judgment stays in the loop.
How it works
Edits move through a typed dependency graph with three cascade modes — auto-propagate, flag-for-review, hard-invalidate — and a “converge” step that gathers unresolved changes, works out their consequences, and walks you through settling them. “Locks” (style, character, motif, voice) are injected into every downstream prompt so the film stays coherent. Text operations are free and automatic; anything that costs money to generate is explicit and user-triggered.
Decisions
- Show the system’s reasoning at each step — the director stays the director.
- Consistency as a primitive (locks), not something you re-prompt for.
- A hard line between free iteration and paid generation.
What broke / what I’d do differently
Seven prototype iterations in plain HTML/CSS/JS before the mechanics felt right. What’s unproven is the production build — turning a single-user design into a multi-user system.
Where it stands
Still a design, not a product — but it’s how thisness and Samudra Manthan got made, and both link back here.