Shroke

A film by Dirk Wonhöfer

Explore the film

The film

A film by Dirk Wonhöfer.

A father sails into Hades to rescue his daughter.

An epic family tale set in the world of gods, ghosts, and pirates.

An independent, English-language film in production.

Watch the scenes Read the story

Shroke film poster featuring a skeletal pirate captain in a black and gold hat and coat, with glowing blue eyes and the red Shroke title. — Shroke — character poster.

The story

When the gods banish Valeria to Hades, her father Shroke refuses to leave her there. The ghost pirate captain sets sail to bring his daughter home.

At his side is Valeria’s daughter, Ava, who longs to find the father she has never known. Theodore fled to the end of the world, unable to face becoming a father. Now Ava is searching for him alongside her grandfather — the man who hates him.

See scenes from this world

Aboard Lucy

Shroke and Ava’s journey.
Select a still to see it in full.

The characters

Meet the family at the centre of Shroke.

Valeria’s father and Ava’s grandfather. When the gods banish his daughter to Hades, he sets off to rescue her.

Why he's a ghost pirate? Well - watch the movie!

Valeria at 20, on her journey to the realm of the Fates.

Age 20

Age 5535 years later

Valeria

Shroke’s daughter, Theodore’s wife and Ava’s mother. She defies the Fates to save her unborn daughter’s life.

For this, the gods banish her to Hades.

Theodore

Valeria's husband and Ava's father.

Ava smiling, from her early character sheet.

Ava

Valeria and Theodore’s daughter. She travels with her grandfather, Shroke, while searching for the father she has never known.

Scenes from Shroke

Three scenes from the ongoing production. These are working versions.

Shroke and the British fleet

British warships surround Shroke. Their commander threatens to open fire.

32 seconds · Work in progress

Valeria saves Ava’s life

Valeria reaches the realm of the Fates and pulls her unborn daughter’s life thread out of reach of their shears.

1 minute 11 seconds · Work in progress

A family conversation

Shroke and Ava talk about family while the fighting continues around them.

1 minute 3 seconds · Work in progress

A Fate stands among the golden threads in the hall of the Fates.

Making the film

By Dirk Wonhöfer

Why I’m making Shroke

I’m making Shroke because it’s the film I really want to see. I have scenes in my head, and I want to see them on screen.

Now with AI, I can just create a video out of the stories my head creates all the time anyway. Before AI, I wrote those stories down with words. I still do this, but now I feed those words into AI, and the scenes in my head become movies I can see myself. How crazy is that? And how cool.

You can be an actor in Shroke, if you like to - just let me know!

How I build each scene

I’m learning how to make films with AI as I make Shroke. I keep trying out scenes and ideas I haven’t seen done this way before. That means experimenting with prompts until the result matches what I have in mind.

I build each scene step by step: generate a version, make changes, then generate it again. I keep working on it until the scene is the way I want it.

An early character sheet for Ava, still labelled Valyria, showing smiling portraits, different angles and a full-length view in a dark pirate coat. — Ava — an early character sheet, still labelled Valyria.

Developing a character

The characters are developed using photographs of real people as references. This early sheet for Ava still carries the name Valyria and brings together the face, expressions, different angles and costume. References like these help keep a character recognisable across scenes.

The Admiral in a navy and gold uniform aboard a ship.

Take part in Shroke

Interested in becoming a character in the film or helping with the production?

Get in touch with Dirk. Introduce yourself and tell him how you’d like to take part.

dirk@ai-engineering.ai

How does casting work?

Photographs can serve as references for a character in the film. Start with a message about your interest. Dirk can then discuss the role, the photographs needed and how they would be used.

Should I send photos now?

A short introduction is enough for the first message. You can discuss photos and the details of taking part directly with Dirk.