Former tech journalist Erika Rawes, along with a family of tech enthusiasts, turns brief AI-generated clips into a roughly 45-minute sci-fi courtroom drama.
Erika Rawes, a former technology writer, and her relatives have finished Dimitri’s DMT Defense, an original science-fiction courtroom film made using a mix of classic storytelling, family teamwork, and early generative-video tools.
Instead of producing the movie from a single text prompt, the Rawes family built a 45-minute feature. They developed the characters, constructed scenes and visual elements, generated individual video clips lasting between eight and twenty seconds, and stitched them into a full story through extensive editing, audio work, and an original composition.
The main characters were modeled after the filmmakers’ own facial features, enabling family members to appear throughout the animated film in altered roles.
“To create this movie, we designed characters using our own faces as references, built scenes and visual assets, and used early generative-video technology to produce clips between eight and twenty seconds long,” said Rawes. “We then assembled those clips, added dialogue, sound and original music, and edited—then edited again—until we had a film we we’re proud of.”
Rawes, who previously worked as a national technology journalist, wrote and directed the film and also served as its story editor. Her husband, Robert Rawes, produced the movie and worked as its AI audio engineer. Their daughter, Maya “Mack” Rawes, wrote and performed the original track titled “Lost Feelings for a Friend.” Their son, Erik Lane, worked as the AI design engineer and design editor.
Dimitri’s DMT Defense centers on 21-year-old Dimitri Spirit, who stands accused of killing his friend after a mysterious, seemingly impossible event. Without a conventional weapon and with evidence that defies normal explanations, the case turns into a courtroom mystery involving altered perception, emerging science, and the possibility that what the defendant witnessed came from somewhere beyond their known reality.
The project was made during a time when generative-video tools remain extremely experimental. Achieving consistent character appearances, emotional continuity, visual logic, and synchronization forced the filmmakers to repeatedly regenerate, replace, rearrange, and edit individual shots.
“The technology did not independently make the movie,” Rawes said. “It gave us a new kind of raw material. The storytelling, performances, structure, sound, music and final decisions still had to come from people.”
The film also reflects the deeply personal nature of the production. Family members contributed their likenesses, technical skills, and creative work, turning Dimitri’s DMT Defense into both a science-fiction experiment and a family-made independent film.
Production Credits
Writer, Director and Story Editor: Erika Rawes
Producer and AI Audio Engineer: Robert Rawes
Original song by: Maya “Mack” Rawes
Generative AI Design Engineer and Visual Editor: Erik Lane
About Dimitri’s Defense
Dimitri’s DMT Defense is an approximately 45-minute courtroom science-fiction film about a young man accused of a murder while using the drug DMT. Created from hundreds of individually generated and edited video clips, the film combines family performances, original music, AI-assisted visual production and traditional narrative filmmaking.
The film Dimitri’s DMT Defense is currently available on YouTube.
Erika Rawes
Erika Rawes
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