Help & User Manual

Quick start — your first film

1. Open Settings, choose Create an account, enter your email and a password (or use Continue with Google).
2. Open the confirmation email and click the link, then sign in.
3. On Home, press Create with AI Director and describe your film in your own words.
4. Review the story, characters, world and storyboard the Director proposes. Edit anything you like — planning uses no production credits.
5. On the Approval step, check the credit estimate. Only press Approve & Start Production if you agree.
6. Open the project from Projects, watch progress on the Production tab, then use the Export tab to make and download an MP4.

Your account keeps your projects, scenes and credits private to you.

1. Open Settings from the left menu (Account group).
2. Choose Create an account. Enter your email address and a password of at least 8 characters, then press Create account.
3. Open the confirmation email from JONODI and click the link. You must confirm before you can sign in.
4. Return to Settings and sign in with your email and password, or press Continue with Google.
5. Forgot your password? Use the reset link on the sign-in form; you will receive an email to set a new one.
6. To set your display name, enter it in the account panel and save. It is used in your Home greeting.

Note: New accounts start with an empty private workspace and zero production credits.

Home greets you by time of day and gives shortcuts to everything you can create.

1. Use the left menu: Workspace (Home, Projects, AI Director, AI Assist, Characters, Creative Universes, Help), Studios (Music, Cartoon, Film, Social, Editor) and Account (Credits, Settings).
2. On small screens, open the menu with the menu button at the top.
3. Press Create with AI Director to start a new film, or pick one of the creation cards (Film, Cartoon, Music Video, Audio→Video, Image→Video, Social Video).
4. Your credit balance is shown in the menu.

Every new production starts in the AI Director. The creation cards on Home and the New buttons in each studio open it with the matching format.

1. Press a creation card or a studio's New button.
2. The AI Director opens on the Idea step. Continue with the AI Director section below.

Turns your idea into a full production plan in six steps: Idea, Story Plan, Characters, World, Storyboard and Approval.

1. Idea: describe the film. Choose genre, audience, duration, visual style, tone, and languages (search the list or type a custom language, including Nigerian Pidgin). Optionally set a cinema tradition such as Nollywood, Bollywood or Korean cinema.
2. Press the generate button. JONODI Intelligence writes the title, logline, summary, characters, world and scenes. If it fails, your idea is kept and you can press retry.
3. Story Plan: read and edit the title, logline and summary.
4. Characters: approve, edit, regenerate or add characters. Turn on Character Lock to keep a character's look consistent.
5. World: edit locations, time period and world rules.
6. Storyboard: add, delete, duplicate, reorder, edit or regenerate scene cards.
7. Approval: the 'Production Plan Ready' screen lists scenes, duration and estimated credits per category. Press Approve & Start Production to continue, or Edit Production Plan to go back.

Approving reserves production credits. Credits are only spent as each scene completes; failed or cancelled scenes release their reservation. Planning itself does not use production credits.

Note: Your unfinished plan is saved automatically and returns when you come back.

A beginner filmmaking guide plus private conversations where you can ask for help with ideas, stories, characters, scenes and screenplays.

1. Open AI Assist from the menu. The six-step visual guide explains how to make a film and links to the right page.
2. Start a conversation, optionally attach a project for context, and type your question.
3. Before a paid answer is sent, JONODI shows the estimated cost. Press approve to send it once.
4. Conversations are private to your account and remain after reload.

Paid AI Assist answers have a small cost shown before sending. They are separate from production credits. AI Assist does not edit your projects automatically.

Note: If paid assistance is not configured, the visual guide still works but chat is disabled.

Every approved plan becomes a project with its own workspace.

1. Open Projects to see all your productions with status, scene progress and version.
2. Click a project card to open its workspace.
3. Use the tabs: Story, Characters, World, Storyboard, Scenes, Production, Audio, Edit and Export.
4. Changes are saved to your account and protected so two devices cannot overwrite each other.

Characters is your library of recurring characters; Creative Universes keeps shared worlds and canon.

1. Open Characters to browse characters from your projects. Character Lock keeps appearance consistent across scenes.
2. Open Creative Universes to view shared worlds. Canon Lock protects established facts.

Note: Full series continuity (seasons and episodes) is not available yet.

Each studio lists your projects of that format and has a New button that opens the AI Director with that format selected.

1. Open a studio from the Studios menu group.
2. Click an existing project to open it, or press New to start one.

Note: Studios are organised views of your productions; they are not separate editing tools.

Note: Real music and voice generation depend on a connected provider and are not enabled for beta users. Nigerian Pidgin voice is not supported by the current voice provider and will be blocked rather than replaced.

Shows the scene order and lengths each production will open with.

Note: The full timeline editor (trimming, transitions, audio mixing) is not available yet. To change scene order, use the project's Storyboard tab.

Credits pay for media generation. The Credits page shows your balance, reserved credits and transactions.

1. Check your balance before approving a production plan.
2. When you approve, the estimate is reserved (held).
3. As each scene completes, its credits are spent. Failures and cancellations release the hold.

A five-second real video scene uses about 30 credits. Credit purchases are not available during beta; new accounts start at zero.

After approval, each scene becomes a generation job shown on the project's Production tab.

1. Open the project and choose the Production tab.
2. Each scene shows Queued, Processing, Completed, Failed or Cancelled.
3. Use Pause/Resume, Cancel, Retry (for failed scenes) or Regenerate. Each retry or regenerate is a new paid job and needs your approval.
4. Completed scenes show a preview. Clips labelled DEMO are placeholders, not real generated video.

Real video uses Runway Gen-4.5 and costs credits plus provider charges. JONODI never retries a paid job automatically.

The Export tab joins your real generated clips into one silent MP4 in your browser.

1. Open the project and choose the Export tab.
2. Check that every scene has a current real clip. Demo clips cannot be exported.
3. Press the export button and keep the tab open while it renders.
4. Play the result in the page, then press Download. Exports are stored privately in your account.

Note: Exports are silent (no audio) with simple cuts. Export uses no production credits.

Manage your account, saved workspace and read the beta privacy and capability notes.

1. Open Settings to change your display name, sign out, or import browser data you created before signing in.
2. Your projects, conversations, media and exports are private to your account.
3. Use a strong, unique password and sign out on shared computers.

Note: Provider settings are visible only to administrators.

Common problems and how to fix them.

1. Cannot sign in: confirm your email first, check spam, or reset your password.
2. Blank or stuck page: refresh the browser.
3. AI Director failed: your idea is kept; press retry.
4. Approve is blocked: you may not have enough credits.
5. Scene failed: no credits are spent for it. Retry only if you accept the new cost.
6. Export unavailable: every scene needs a current real clip.
7. Still stuck? Email peterodionjonathan@hotmail.com with your account email, project name and what happened.

Frequently asked questions

Does planning cost credits?

No. Production credits are only reserved when you approve a plan.

What does DEMO mean?

A placeholder used for testing. It is not real generated media.

Can I buy credits?

Not during beta.

Does the export include sound?

Not yet. Exports are silent MP4 files.

Can other users see my work?

No. Your workspace is private to your account.

Support: peterodionjonathan@hotmail.com