IP & Short Drama
Fog, wind and rain, and raging fire each bring a turning point in the battle, telling the myth of the Yellow Emperor's war against Chiyou.
01 / Background
Episode 1 of “Ancient Myths: The Yellow Emperor vs. Chiyou” puts the Yellow Emperor, Chiyou, Xuannü, Kui, Yinglong, the Wind Earl and Rain Master, and the Heavenly Maiden Ba into one constantly shifting battle. The first job was to help viewers recognize each character and their divine powers: who creates the predicament, who brings help, and how those powers affect the armies. Only then does the film take viewers into large-scale battle.
The final storyboard has five acts: it sets up the union of the Yan and Yellow Emperors and Chiyou's revolt, moves on to breaking through the fog, then the onslaught of wind and rain, the reversal by fire and the auspicious signs after the war. The film uses gray fog, blue thunderstorms and red-white heat waves in turn, letting changes in the environment show changes in the battle; shots of characters giving orders and reacting are woven in to connect cause, action and result.
With so many characters, each needed fixed visual traits during generation. When locking the images, we first set the Yellow Emperor's dragon crown and golden robe, the Heavenly Maiden Ba's blue-green robe and flames, Yinglong's blue-green scales, and the Wind Earl's antlers, wings and fan, then required a consistent color tone within each act when finalizing the images. In the final film, a red identity label appears the first time each character shows up, so viewers quickly get to know these unfamiliar figures.
02 / Creative Highlights
First the fog hides where friend and foe are; once the Wind Earl and Rain Master appear, lightning, downpours and soldiers thrown into disarray deepen the crisis; then the Heavenly Maiden Ba's flames transform the whole sky. The effects land on the environment and the armies, so viewers can see what each use of divine power actually does.
After Xuannü appears, the film shows Kui, the drumhead and the south-pointing chariot in turn. Character introductions and close-ups of objects break “help” down into things you can see; the rows of war drums and the advance through the fog that follow turn tactics into action.
Yinglong gathering water is shown as a swirling torrent, while the Heavenly Maiden Ba's power expands from a close-up of her to flames and a red-white sky. The two kinds of motion and color are clearly distinct, so both are large-scale displays of energy, yet the story each tells never gets mixed up.
When a character first appears, a red vertical label sits beside them, kept separate from the dialogue subtitles so the two don't clash. Designs like the dragon crown, golden robe, blue-green robe, antlers and eagle wings also help viewers tell characters apart; the more characters there are, the more these constant reminders are needed.
03 / Scene Breakdown
A burning battlefield, two leaders and a map set out the background in just over ten seconds, then the film turns to Chiyou in the water with the Jiuli tribes, and finally lands on the plain of Zhuolu.
First an aerial view of the burning battlefield, then the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor in the same frame amid the firelight, with red vertical labels naming them both.
“The realm gradually becomes one” rises from an ancient map, then the camera sinks into a dark blue whirlpool where the horned Chiyou stands in the water.
Chiyou appears riding a giant beast at the head of the Jiuli tribes, and the image moves to the plain of Zhuolu beneath a golden sea of clouds.
Chiyou traps the Yellow Emperor's army in thick fog; Xuannü brings Kui, and the Yellow Emperor uses the Kui-hide drum and the south-pointing chariot to break out of the fog. The whole section is in cold gray-white.
The Yellow Emperor stands at the center of golden flames as the narration says “and waged an epic war against the Yellow Emperor.”
Soldiers grip their weapons and look around in the thick fog; they hear Chiyou shout “Xuanyuan” but can't see him.
Chiyou in black armor strides out of the fog, a great axe in hand: “Today, Zhuolu shall be your grave!”
A vertical beam of light falls into the dark mountains, and Xuannü appears with black wings spread, saying she has brought Kui from Mount Liubo in the East Sea.
Kui, crackling with blue lightning all over, steps onto the ridge as Xuannü says its “voice is like thunder and can tear through the fog.”
The Yellow Emperor gives the order: lightning races across a drumhead, the south-pointing chariot appears in the fog, and a row of war drums lights up at once.
Chiyou summons the Wind Earl and Rain Master, and the image turns into a cold blue thunderstorm. Yinglong gathers water to meet them but is pushed back step by step by the wind and rain.
Under thunderclouds, Chiyou shouts “Wind Earl, Rain Master! Help me destroy the enemy!” and the antlered Wind Earl in green robes enters with a red label.
The sky darkens, and the Rain Master reveals a pair of glowing blue eyes in the waves, labeled “Rain Master Pingyi.”
The sea churns into a giant whirlpool, then lightning strikes and soldiers struggle forward through waist-deep water.
The silver-white Yinglong circles amid lightning, rebuking the Wind Earl and Rain Master: “Stop helping the tyrant do his evil!”
The Rain Master mocks Yinglong for being badly wounded in the Battle of Banquan, and the camera pushes in to Yinglong's golden pupil, which reflects the figures stirring up the storm.
The Wind Earl waves his fan, thunder, lightning and rain fill heaven and earth, and Yinglong gradually can't hold out.
With Yinglong about to fall, the Yellow Emperor calls on his daughter, the Heavenly Maiden Ba. Firelight spreads from her across the entire sky, and the image turns from cold blue to red and white.
Xuannü cries “Oh no, Yinglong is losing!” and the Yellow Emperor raises his sword to the sky, reaching out to call the Heavenly Maiden Ba.
Flames rise around the Heavenly Maiden Ba in her blue-green robe, then the Wind Earl squints in the blinding light.
A mass of red light bursts through the blue clouds, and a horned figure gazes at the burning sky: “This scorching power is so mighty.”
From a close-up, the Heavenly Maiden Ba is gradually wrapped head to toe in flames, as dialogue and image build together to the climax.
The entire sky becomes rolling red-white heat waves, which then recede, leaving only a dark purple sky and lingering flames.
The wind and rain clear, and the two armies charge head-on. The Yellow Emperor leads a hundred beasts in a counterattack, and Yinglong and Chiyou fight the final battle.
Jiuli warriors charge down from the snowy mountains on giant beasts with a cry of “Charge!”
Standing beside Yinglong, the Yellow Emperor shouts “People of Xuanyuan, follow me!” and a pack of tigers runs through golden dust.
A giant figure in the firelight alternates with a white tiger lunging toward the camera, ending on a burning horizon.
Yinglong's face looms out of the storm as it tells Chiyou, “Your defeat is sealed.”
Chiyou's eyes glow blue as he raises his giant axe, and Yinglong, formed of white light, charges straight at him.
Chiyou swings his axe in resistance, lightning explodes, and the battle ends in a flash of white light.
Text on black sets out the records in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” and the “Records of the Grand Historian,” then the Yellow Emperor establishes his rule over the Central Plains and ascends Mount Tai, ending on a brightly lit city.
White text on black explains that the story is based on records in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” and the “Records of the Grand Historian,” along with Chiyou's fate after his defeat.
The Yellow Emperor stands above a sea of clouds gazing at the sun, then a red divine beast pulls a chariot through the mountains.
A hundred beasts follow to the sacrifice on Mount Tai, and divine beasts and the procession gather together in warm light.
On a mountaintop surging with auspicious clouds, luan birds fly between the clouds as the narrator says, “From then on, the flame of Chinese civilization has burned bright and unbroken.”
After the misty mountains of the Nine Provinces, the camera turns to palaces and city walls at sunset.
Streets light up at nightfall, and after the fierce battle, the world returns to peace.
04 / Storyboards & Final Frames
Arranged in the order of the final film: each shot first describes what it shows and what dialogue goes with it, followed by the final still used in the film.
Shot 1.1
An aerial view of a vast, burning battlefield with two armies facing off. Narration: “After the Battle of Banquan,”
Shot 1.2
The Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, each with their followers, bow to each other in the firelight, each with a red vertical identity label beside them. Narration: “Yan and Huang united,”
Shot 1.3
Dark blue water swirls into a whirlpool, with the horned Chiyou standing in it. Narration: “Chiyou refused to submit and lay in wait.”
Shot 1.4
Chiyou rides a giant beast with the Jiuli tribes behind him as gray fog rises in the background.
Shot 1.5
The plain of Zhuolu beneath a golden sea of clouds, establishing where the great battle takes place.
Shot 2.1
The Yellow Emperor stands at the center of golden flames. Narration: “and waged an epic war against the Yellow Emperor.”
Shot 2.2
Gray-white fog swallows the battlefield as the Yellow Emperor's soldiers grope through it with weapons raised, looking around.
Shot 2.3
Chiyou's black-armored figure appears in the fog, holding a great axe. Chiyou: “Today, Zhuolu shall be your grave!”
Shot 2.4
Among his troops, the Yellow Emperor frowns and looks up, hearing Chiyou's voice.
Shot 2.5
A vertical beam of light falls into the dark mountains, then Xuannü appears with black wings spread: “I have brought Kui from Mount Liubo in the East Sea.”
Shot 2.6
Kui, crackling with blue lightning all over, steps onto the ridge. Xuannü: “Its voice is like thunder and can pierce the fog.”
Shot 2.7
A close-up of the Yellow Emperor, golden light on his face: “All troops, hear my command!”
Shot 2.8
Lightning races across a drumhead, and the south-pointing chariot appears in the fog. The Yellow Emperor: “Make drums from Kui's hide! Let the south-pointing chariot guide us!”
Shot 2.9
A row of war drums lights up with lightning in the fog all at once: “Break out of this chaos!”
Shot 3.1
Under thunderclouds, Chiyou glows blue all over: “Wind Earl, Rain Master! Help me destroy the enemy!”
Shot 3.2
Heaven and earth darken and clouds roll, as the antlered Wind Earl in green robes with a feather fan and the Rain Master hidden in the water appear one after the other.
Shot 3.3
The dark blue sea churns into a giant whirlpool as Yinglong gathers water for a counterattack.
Shot 3.4
In the downpour, soldiers struggle forward through waist-deep water.
Shot 3.5
The silver-white Yinglong circles amid lightning, with a red label beside it giving its origins: “Son of Maodu and Yujia.”
Shot 3.6
The Rain Master peers out of the waves with glowing eyes: “You were badly wounded at Banquan. What can you do to me?”
Shot 3.7
Yinglong's golden pupil reflects the figures of the Wind Earl and Rain Master stirring up the storm.
Shot 3.8
The Wind Earl waves his fan to gather strength, thunder, lightning and rain fill heaven and earth, and Yinglong gradually can't hold out.
Shot 4.1
Xuannü looks up toward the battlefield, worried: “Oh no, Yinglong is losing!”
Shot 4.2
The Yellow Emperor raises his sword to the sky and reaches upward, calling out.
Shot 4.3
Flames rise around the Heavenly Maiden Ba in her blue-green robe: “I fear no wind or rain; I will break them!”
Shot 4.4
The Wind Earl squints in the blinding light, and a horned figure stands with his back to the camera before a sky burned red: “This scorching power is so mighty!”
Shot 4.5
Her gaze resolute, the Heavenly Maiden Ba casts firelight into the sky, her face lit red by the glow.
Shot 4.6
The entire sky becomes rolling red-white heat waves, and the wind and rain are burned away.
Shot 4.7
After the rain stops, Jiuli warriors charge out from below the snowy mountains on giant beasts: “Charge!”
Shot 4.8
The Yellow Emperor stands beside Yinglong with his army arrayed behind him: “People of Xuanyuan, follow me!”
Shot 4.9
Tigers, bears and white tigers run toward the camera as firelight and flying birds sweep across the battlefield.
Shot 4.10
Yinglong's face looms out of the storm: “Chiyou, your defeat is sealed!”
Shot 4.11
Chiyou's eyes glow blue as he raises his giant axe: “The battle is not yet decided; we cannot both stand!”
Shot 4.12
Yinglong, formed of white light, charges head-on as Chiyou swings his axe in a last stand.
Shot 5.1
The Yellow Emperor stands above a sea of clouds, his back to the camera, watching the rising sun.
Shot 5.2
A red divine beast pulls a chariot through the mountains as a hundred beasts follow the Yellow Emperor to the sacrifice on Mount Tai.
Shot 5.3
Divine beasts and the procession gather together in warm light.
Shot 5.4
On a mountaintop surging with auspicious clouds, luan birds fly between the clouds.
Shot 5.5
The mountains of the Nine Provinces are wrapped in mist. Narration: “From then on, the flame of Chinese civilization has burned bright and unbroken.”
05 / Script Excerpts
06 / Results
Completed Episode 1, a 3-minute-40-second landscape mythological short drama (1920×1080), covering the origins of the war, two predicaments, the reversal by fire and the peace that follows, with dialogue subtitles, character identity labels and notes on the myth's sources. Released on Kuaishou on October 8, 2024, as an entry in the Kuaishou Xingmang Short Drama “Xing You Ling Xi” AI Short Drama Competition, with more than 1,900 likes on Kuaishou.
Case Study
The Yellow Emperor's war against Chiyou is a story nearly every Chinese person has heard.
Actually filming it, the hard part isn't the story but the number of characters: the Yellow Emperor, Chiyou, Xuannü, Kui, Yinglong, the Wind Earl, the Rain Master and the Heavenly Maiden Ba. Eight mythical figures have to take turns on stage in a single battle.
“Ancient Myths: The Yellow Emperor vs. Chiyou” is a mythological short drama series planned in-house by Liandan AI Studio. This is Episode 1, running 3 minutes 40 seconds, with all video generated by Kling AI.
On October 8, 2024, the episode was released on Kuaishou as an entry in the Kuaishou Xingmang Short Drama “Xing You Ling Xi” AI Short Drama Competition.
01
The series is planned as multiple episodes, telling the ancient myths one by one.
But Episode 1 was a competition entry and had to hold attention as a short video. If the first few seconds have nothing to grab them, viewers swipe away.
So we set one requirement for Episode 1: it had to be a complete little story in itself, with a cause, a crisis, a decisive battle and an ending.
The Battle of Zhuolu fit perfectly: Chiyou rebels, first trapping the Yellow Emperor in fog, then summoning wind and rain to overpower Yinglong, until the Heavenly Maiden Ba's flames turn the tide.
We added one more touch at the start: after the Battle of Banquan, Yan and Huang united and the realm gradually became one. Two lines of narration in the opening explain where the phrase “descendants of Yan and Huang” comes from.
The final script has five acts and more than twenty storyboard shots, each spelling out the image, shot size, color tone and dialogue.
A burning battlefield, the Yan and Yellow Emperors side by side, an ancient map, then a dive into the water where Chiyou waits: the background is set out in ten seconds.
02
With so many characters, the biggest risk is the same figure looking different from one shot to the next, leaving viewers more confused the longer they watch.
We made character design references first and put them at the very front of the final-image document. Everyone generating images, using reference images or restyling followed these references.
The style was locked early too: a realistic, awe-inspiring mythic-epic texture, with no anime-leaning looks at all.
Then each character got a look you can recognize at a glance: the Yellow Emperor in a dragon crown and golden robe, Chiyou with ox horns and black armor, Xuannü with black wings on her back, the Wind Earl with antlers, green robes and a fan in hand, and the Heavenly Maiden Ba all in blue-green, surrounded by fire.
The last safeguard is the identity label. The first time each character appears, a red vertical label is placed beside them, such as “Wind Earl Feilian” and “Rain Master Pingyi”; Yinglong's label even gives its origins: “Son of Maodu and Yujia.”
The labels are kept separate from the dialogue subtitles below, so they don't clash. With unfamiliar mythical characters, viewers know who's who at a glance.
03
Mythical battles are easily filmed as a pile of effects: light flashing, fire burning, yet viewers can't tell how the battle has changed.
We gave each turning point a different weather and a different color.
Fog: gray-white. The Yellow Emperor's soldiers grope through thick fog, unable to see the enemy. The Kui drum and the south-pointing chariot appear, and the army breaks out of the fog.
Wind and rain: cold blue. Lightning strikes, soldiers wade through waist-deep water, and Yinglong is gradually overpowered by the storm.
Fire: red and white. The Heavenly Maiden Ba unleashes her power, firelight spreads from her until it covers the whole sky, and the wind and rain are burned away.
The shot of Yinglong gathering water was also revised once. During image generation someone suggested having Yinglong spit out a water ball, but we changed it to a swirling torrent: a round water ball looked too much like Western magic, while a whirlpool feels like the surging waters of Chinese myth.
This way, viewers don't need to remember every line; just watching the colors go from gray to blue to red tells them how many times the battle has turned.
Flames rise around the Heavenly Maiden Ba in her blue-green robe, the firelight illuminating her face, then the Wind Earl squints in the blinding light.
04
This episode doesn't rely on narration alone to tell the story; the characters have plenty of dialogue with each other.
Chiyou says “Today, Zhuolu shall be your grave,” Xuannü cries “Oh no, Yinglong is losing,” and the Heavenly Maiden Ba says “I fear no wind or rain; I will break them.”
Each line was first voiced for its character, then Kling's lip-sync feature was used to make the character's mouth move. When a face was too small in the frame and the lip-sync didn't match, we switched to a shot where the face was clearer and ran it again.
The voices were also treated per character: the Heavenly Maiden Ba got an echo to sound ethereal, and reverb was added overall so the voices seem to ring out beneath the vault of heaven.
Sound effects like war drums, dragon roars, wind and rain, and fire were gathered scene by scene from the script. For lightning, we deliberately chose sharp, explosive sounds that make you feel struck by thunder.
Xuannü cries that Yinglong is losing, and the Yellow Emperor raises his sword to the sky to call the Heavenly Maiden Ba, with lip movements matching the dialogue.
05
Once the great battle is over, the film doesn't end right away.
First comes a passage of white text on black explaining that the story comes from records in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” and the “Records of the Grand Historian.” However fantastical the myth, viewers know where it comes from.
Then come five postwar images: the Yellow Emperor establishing his rule over the Central Plains, leading his people up Mount Tai, all lands submitting, all peoples uniting, and auspicious signs descending from heaven.
For the ending, we switched to shots of China in its glory: the Nine Provinces in mist, palaces at sunset, and finally brightly lit streets. The narration closes on “From then on, the flame of Chinese civilization has burned bright and unbroken.”
After the misty mountains, the camera turns to palaces, city walls and the lights of nightfall.
06
From script to release, this episode took about two weeks.
Images were first generated in Midjourney and upscaled to 2K, then all video clips were generated with Kling AI; voice-over, lip-sync, sound effects, subtitles and identity labels were added in the edit.
For us, it leaves behind a method for filming mythological stories with many characters:
Pick one complete conflict, then give each character a fixed design reference; use weather and color to make changes in the battle clear; label each character on their first appearance; let characters speak their lines, and close by citing the sources.
History and culture, mythological IP, cultural tourism promotion: any subject with “many characters, an old story, and viewers who need to recognize who's who first” can use this approach.
FAQ
Make character design references first and put them at the very front of the final-image document; all image generation, reference images and restyling follow them, and images within the same act share a unified color tone. In the final film, a red vertical identity label is added the first time each character appears, so viewers recognize them faster.
About two weeks. The script and story structure were written in late September 2024; the storyboard and final stills were locked, video generated and voice-over and lip-sync done in early October; the edit was finished and the episode released on Kuaishou on October 8.
The still frames were generated in Midjourney and upscaled to 2K, and all video clips were generated with Kling AI; voice-over, lip-sync, sound effects, subtitles and character labels were done in the edit. The final film runs 3 minutes 40 seconds in 1920×1080 landscape.
Yes. For this episode, each character was voiced first, then Kling's lip-sync feature made their mouths move; when a face was too small in the frame and the lip-sync didn't match, we regenerated with a shot where the face was clearer.
Approach
The final storyboard sets out the image, dialogue, color tone and required motion for each act together. Character references were made first when locking images, and additional images then refined key turning points such as the wind and rain, the Heavenly Maiden Ba unleashing her power and Chiyou's resistance. Yinglong gathering water was drawn as a swirling torrent and whirlpool, closer to the surging waters of Chinese myth.
Sound effects such as war drums, dragon roars, wind and rain, clouds breaking and fire were prepared alongside. Dialogue was voiced per character and lip-synced with Kling's lip-sync feature, and dialogue subtitles and character labels were added once the picture was locked. All video in the film was generated by Kling AI.
More Work
Ideal for brand launches · public-sector communications · cultural-tourism campaigns · IP transformation · event openers · earnings visualization · social campaigns · AI workflow development
