Studio Dave · South Coast, UK

Filming stuff, pushing pixels and directing AI.

25 years of directing, producing and delivering for broadcast, live events and global brands. Now with an AI crew that puts blockbuster-style film within reach of a corporate budget.

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Same storyteller.
New crew.

I didn't pick up AI and decide to become a film maker. I've been one for 25 years: titles for TV documentaries, films for global corporate communications teams, live events, interviews and people stories.

What's new is my crew. It now includes a team of AI agents that don't get tired and don't need catering, and they let me deliver cinematic work that used to need a VFX house, in days rather than months, for a fraction of the budget.

What they can't do is tell the story. That's still my job.

Where I stand

Let's be straight about AI.

AI in film is a sensitive subject, and it should be. There are real questions about how these tools were built and what they mean for the people who make films for a living, many of them people I've worked alongside for years. I'm not going to pretend those questions away.

So, to be clear: AI is not a replacement for human craft, and I don't sell it as one. It just predicts text, images and motion. It is no match for real cameras filming real people. It is currently no match for CGI, VFX or motion graphics artists. It can, however, extend what is possible for a small team on a budget. Deciding what's right for a story, the client and the audience will always be a human job, and on my films that human is me.

I have been watching and experimenting with AI for the last 5 years, and in the last 2 years things have accelerated very quickly. It's also not going away. The tools are now good enough to put things on screen that were unimaginable on the budgets most clients actually have. For a lone freelancer, an agentic AI crew multiplies what one experienced person can do, and the possibilities feel endless. I've chosen to adapt: to learn the tools properly and use them openly, with every frame checked by a person and every generation logged and reported.

Not everyone will love the pivot. I'd rather be honest about it than quiet.

David Garvin in a director's chair on set

Every frame gets a human ‘sniff’ test.

AI can generate a thousand shots. Choosing the right one, and knowing why, is a human job. On every film I make, a person with 25 years behind the camera and in the edit chooses the treatment, writes the words, directs each shot and cuts the film. Nothing moves to the next stage until you've signed it off.

The human in the loop is me.

How it works

What 25 years actually buys you

Anyone can type a prompt. Not everyone can turn a nervous brief into a film the board signs off, the audience remembers and the budget survives.

I listen first.

Years of interviewing and briefing mean I find out what you really need the room to feel, not just what's on the brief.

I manage the people, not just the pixels.

Stakeholders, legal, brand, agencies, the people on screen. I know how approvals actually happen.

I tell you the truth about time and money.

Realistic expectations up front, sign-off before spend, and a cost report at the end. No surprises.

I deliver.

A long track record of successful, on-budget work for broadcast, events and multinational organisations.

What I do

AI Film

Conference openers, leadership messages, origin stories and character-led films built around your message and your people.

Heritage

History brought back to life for museums, galleries and historic sites.

Broadcast

Title sequences, show branding and supporting graphics for TV documentaries.

Corporate film

Writing, directing, shooting, interviewing, editing. With or without robots.

Featured

Client work · AI film

The conference opener

90 seconds of photoreal sci-fi on a 30 m wide LED screen for a global pharmaceutical client. Blank page to a complete first edit with sound in under two days.