How AI Shaped the Production Design of 'Con Job' and Pushed the Boundaries of Filmmaking

By Ian Niles & Guy Harry

As filmmakers, we are always looking for new ways to push creative boundaries, especially when faced with the typical limitations of independent film production. For our latest project, Con Job, we decided to experiment with something that’s still relatively uncharted territory in indie filmmaking: artificial intelligence (AI).

Con Job is a dark comedy that follows two greedy, selfish, money-hungry individuals as their scheme spirals out of control. And even more, this film was shot at just two locations, despite taking place at many more. For this production, we integrated AI into one of the most challenging and costly aspects of indie filmmaking: set design and prop creation.

While AI is making waves in visual effects and editing, its potential in crafting physical environments and props remains largely untapped. By leveraging AI, we overcame budget constraints, accelerated our creative process, and achieved a level of production design that would have been out of our reach using traditional methods.

This article takes you behind the scenes of Con Job to show how we integrated AI into our workflow. You'll see the challenges we faced, the benefits we uncovered, and how AI sparked ideas we might not have considered otherwise. More importantly, we'll explore what this means for the future of indie filmmaking and how it could level the playing field for creators working with limited resources.

AI didn't replace our vision—it expanded what was possible. Here's how we did it.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The Realities of Indie Set Design

In independent filmmaking, set design is where creative ambitions collide with financial constraints. For Con Job, our challenge was stark: create visually striking, character-driven environments that served our narrative without compromising our vision.

The Fancy Mansion

For Con Job's final scene, we needed a fancy setting to show our main character's newfound wealth. We got lucky and scored a luxurious Hamptons mansion for one day of shooting. The catch? We couldn't change much about the place. Our job was to make this borrowed mansion feel like it belonged in our movie's world.

We hit on a great idea for a visual joke that would do just that. We decided to add a ridiculous portrait of our main character posing with a lion to showcase something ridiculous that he spent his ill-gotten gains on.

To create this outrageous portrait, we turned to AI. Using Midjourney, we generated an image that looked like an old-fashioned painting from the 1800s, featuring a man sitting proudly next to a large lion. Then, we used Photoshop to put our actor's face on the AI-created figure. To finish it off, we had it printed on canvas, making it look like a real painting.

The result was a hilariously over-the-top portrait that not only filled an empty wall but also became a running gag.

The main character in front of his portrait, and the original portrait as generated by Midjourney.Comedy Movie LLC

Portrait from Midjourney Comedy Movie LLC

Turning a Bedroom into a Panamanian Hotel Restaurant

We needed to create a convincing Panamanian setting without ever leaving our primary filming location. This is where our creative use of set design, props, and AI came into play and allowed us to transform a bedroom into a turn-of-the-century hotel restaurant in Panama.

We started with the physical elements. We brought in fake trees to suggest a tropical environment and set up a table with authentic props. We even sourced D'Elidas Habanero Hot Sauce, a staple in Panamanian cuisine, to add a touch of realism. For the character's drink, we recreated a seco sour—a popular Panamanian cocktail—using pink lemonade, a lime, and a salted rim. These small details helped sell the illusion of being in Panama.

But the real magic came from our use of AI in creating the historical ambiance. We used AI to generate an old-looking promotional poster for our fictional hotel, complete with period-appropriate design and typography. This gave our set an instant sense of history and place.

We didn't stop there. AI also helped us create a series of pictures that we hung on the walls, each one telling a piece of our fictional hotel's history. These AI-generated images provided a rich backstory for our location without the need for expensive prop creation or location shooting.

The result was transformative. After color correction in post-production, you'd never know this scene was filmed in the same location as other scenes in the movie. Achieving this level of detail and historical accuracy would have been far more challenging and expensive without the assistance of AI.

A behind-the-scenes look at the Panama set Comedy Movie LLC

The final Panama set Comedy Movie LLC

Leveraging AI for Prop Design

While AI played a role in set design for Con Job, it was equally transformative in the creation of props and visual assets.

A Branded Line of Nutritional Supplements

One of the characters in the movie runs his own supplement line, and we needed unique branding for his products. Rather than starting from scratch, we used AI to help design the logos for his supplement bottles. By feeding creative prompts into the AI, we generated multiple logo concepts in a matter of seconds. While we still fine-tuned these assets in Photoshop, AI gave us a strong starting point that saved us significant time.

Bear Creatinine, a fictional nutritional supplement that was a key plot device. The logo was designed by AI based on parameters that we input.Comedy Movie LLC

Instagram Post from Everest

Another example of our AI-assisted prop creation was an Instagram post featuring one of our characters at Everest Base Camp. This prop emerged from a seemingly throwaway line where the character mentions meeting a girl during a trip to Everest, and we used AI to bring it to life.

We first used AI to generate an image of a couple at Everest Base Camp. Our prompts to the AI were specific, ensuring that the background looked authentic and matched the context of our character's story. There is even a subtle satirical element, showcasing the extreme overcrowding at Everest in recent years. Once we had this AI-generated base image, we turned to Photoshop to integrate our actor into the scene. We superimposed our actor's head onto the figure in the picture, personalizing the image and cementing the illusion.

The final step was to transform this composite image into a convincing Instagram post. We formatted the image to mimic the familiar layout of the platform, complete with a caption, likes, and comments that aligned with our character's personality and the story he was telling. This attention to detail in crafting the social media elements added an extra layer of authenticity to the prop

The fictitious Instagram post and the AI generated image that served as the base.Comedy Movie LLC

A Family Portrait that Evokes Nostalgia

Another example of AI’s impact came when we needed a family portrait for one of the characters from his childhood. Instead of asking the actor for personal family photos (which would have required clearances and complicated logistics), we used MidJourney to generate a portrait from scratch.

To evoke the late '80s or early '90s aesthetic, we wanted to have the portrait have the same energy as a day spent at a fast food restaurant, with the characters photographed next to a character with same kind of slightly unsettling energy as Grimace from McDonald's or Barney the dinosaur—not these characters specifically, but an original creation that hit similar notes.

The AI delivered beyond our expectations and sold the image completely, making it both believable as a family portrait and also giving it an extra element of humor due to the bizarre central character.

The AI-generated childhood photo with an original mascot characterComedy Movie LLC

AI as Inspiration for the Movie Poster

In addition to the props and set design, AI also helped inspire the final poster for Con Job. We used AI to generate an early concept image, which we then sent to professional poster designers at Champ & Pepper to build upon. The AI-generated concept gave us a strong foundation, and the talented team at Champ & Pepper brought that vision to life.

We want to give a special shout-out to Jeff Pestell from Champ & Pepper, who has been instrumental in creating the posters for every movie we’ve done. He’s next-level in his work and always delivers amazing results.

AI Generated poster for the movie. Comedy Movie LLC

The final original poster.Comedy Movie LLC

Embracing the Future of Filmmaking

The production of Con Job has been a testament to the transformative potential of AI in indie filmmaking. By integrating AI into our workflow, particularly in set design and prop creation, we've discovered a powerful tool that enhances creativity, streamlines processes, and stretches limited budgets.

Our experience with Con Job has shown that AI is a game-changer for indie filmmaking. It allows us to dream bigger, create more efficiently, and bring to life visions that might otherwise remain out of reach. As we continue to explore and refine these technologies, the future of indie filmmaking looks brighter and more creative than ever before. The key lies in seeing AI not as a replacement, but as a powerful collaborator in the artistic process—one that expands what's possible and pushes us to new heights of creativity.