README.md

metadata

title: LLM Cinema
emoji: 🎬
colorFrom: green
colorTo: gray
sdk: gradio
sdk_version: 6.16.0
app_file: server_app.py
pinned: true
short_description: A small LLM writes, draws & directs original ASCII films
thumbnail: https://huggingface.co/proxy/conductorailabs-llm-cinema.hf.space/static/share.png
tags:
  - build-small-hackathon
  - thousand-token-wood
  - gradio
  - off-brand
  - field-notes
  - off-the-grid
  - llama-cpp
  - open-trace

🎬 LLM Cinema

A small model — Cinema, a fine-tuned MiniCPM3-4B — that writes, draws, and directs ORIGINAL short films in ASCII, and plays them right here in the page, streaming frame by frame. No video, no sound. Just imagination, one frame at a time.

Two ways to run it. This hosted Space generates live via a cloud endpoint so you can try it instantly in the browser. It also ships as a fully off-the-grid build that runs the 4B model locally through llama.cpp — no cloud, no API — see LOCAL_LLAMACPP.md.

From a single concept it writes a 9-beat, ~90-second film: it invents the story, draws every character in ASCII, picks the terrain (water shimmers, grass, snow, lava…), the weather and time of day, camera moves (pan / push / shake), and a feeling for each character — then stages and plays it on a little charcoal terminal.

🏆 Hackathon submission

Track: 🍄 An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood — something delightful that wouldn't exist without AI. Here the model is load-bearing: it writes the story, draws every character, and directs the staging. The whole thing runs on a 4B model (MiniCPM3-4B — under the ≤32B cap, and under the ≤4B Tiny Titan bar).

• Live Space: https://huggingface.co/proxy/conductorailabs-llm-cinema.hf.space
• Demo video: ▶ watch · direct mp4
• Social post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeff-middleton-10354b5_huggingface-llm-ai-ugcPost-7472422889783291904-7c9j
• Builder: ConductorAILabs — registered + joined the build-small-hackathon org.

Bonus badges

• 🎨 Off-Brand — fully custom gr.Server frontend (cinema-hall backdrop, ASCII projected through the screen, reactive lighting), well past the default Gradio look.
• 🔌 Off the Grid — can optionally run fully local (no cloud APIs) via llama.cpp; see LOCAL_LLAMACPP.md.
• 🦙 Llama Champion — the model runs through the llama.cpp runtime (serve_llamacpp.py).
• 📓 Field Notes — see FIELD_NOTES.md.
• 📡 Open Trace — the agent's scrubbed, secret-free build trace: traces/AGENT_TRACE.md.

Try it

• 🎬 Make a film — type any concept (or hit Surprise) and watch Cinema write, draw, and play an original film live.
• 🍿 Gallery — hand-picked films that replay instantly, even before the model wakes.
• 🔁 Replay the current film · ⛶ Fullscreen (mobile) for a cinema view.

How it works

• Cinema (LoRA-fine-tuned MiniCPM3-4B) emits a strict-JSON "movie script": title, logline, and shots (narration, cast, action, setting, camera, mood, dialogue).
• A from-scratch ASCII engine resolves each character (a sprite library + a draw-on-demand model for anything new), composes the scene with z-ordered occlusion, textured floors and set-dressing (sun/moon, clouds, stars, trees), then animates and subtitles it.
• A custom gr.Server frontend streams frames over SSE onto a cinema-hall backdrop, with reactive lighting that mirrors the on-screen action.
• Optionally, the director model can run entirely on your machine through the llama.cpp runtime (GGUF) — no cloud APIs. (This hosted Space uses a cloud endpoint for the live demo.)

Built for the Build Small Hackathon · the model & training pipeline stay private; this app is the demo.

Run it — off the grid (primary)

Everything runs on your own machine. The 4B model serves locally via llama.cpp, exposing an OpenAI-compatible endpoint that the app points at — no cloud, no keys.

pip install -r requirements-local.txt
# serve the local GGUF model (OpenAI-compatible, llama.cpp) on :8000
MODEL=./models/cinema-q4_k_m.gguf python serve_llamacpp.py
# then, in another shell, point the app at it and open the cinema:
export CLAUDEMOVIES_LLM_URL=http://localhost:8000/v1
export CLAUDEMOVIES_LLM_KEY=local         # any non-empty string; not checked
export CLAUDEMOVIES_LLM_MODEL=cinema
python server_app.py

Full setup (GGUF conversion + quantization, llama.cpp build) is in LOCAL_LLAMACPP.md. The Gallery plays even with no model running — films are pre-written — so the page always shows something instantly.

Hosted demo (optional fallback)

The same app can point at any hosted OpenAI-compatible endpoint via Space secrets (CLAUDEMOVIES_LLM_URL / _MODEL / _KEY) — nothing is committed to the repo. This is just a convenience for the live link; the off-grid local run is the real thing.