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NewsMaterial3 min readDisconfirmAI Editorial

Kazuhisa Nishikawa, Technology Columnist at PC Watch: Using Component Libraries to Let AI Make Choices for Stable Motion Graphics Video Production

In a PC Watch column, Kazuhisa Nishikawa demonstrates a method for creating motion graphics videos: first pre-building hundreds of components such as text layouts, animations, and backgrounds using Remotion, then having the AI only make combination choices rather than writing code from scratch. This transforms the uncertainty of generative AI video into deterministic rendering, while also helping to control token consumption and result volatility per request.

2026-10-26 05:04 GMT+8

Kazuhisa Nishikawa, a long-time columnist for the Japanese tech media outlet PC Watch (part of Impress Corporation), published a practical record on October 26, 2026, detailing how he produced a Halloween-themed music video using code rather than generative AI video models. The core of his method is not to have AI write all animation code from scratch, but to pre-build a set of components and let the AI be responsible only for selecting and combining them.

Remotion is a video rendering tool based on React that captures web page frames one by one and stitches them together using ffmpeg to create an MP4. Its advantage lies in determinism: the program renders exactly what it decides, eliminating the randomness inherent in generative AI video where every output can differ.

Nishikawa found that although AI models (he used Claude Code calling Sonnet 5.5) are quite familiar with the Remotion API and can write animation code according to instructions, asking AI to generate entire segments of animation code from scratch presents two problems: high token consumption and long processing times, and instability where slight shifts in coordinates and styles occur after each modification.

His solution was to pre-construct a component library, turning text layouts, animations, backgrounds, decorations, icons, and overall atmosphere into reusable parts.

The key shift in this approach lies in the role of AI: moving from writing animation code line-by-line to selecting and combining pre-built components, with the program deterministically rendering the selected results.

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Nishikawa used ACE-Step 1.5 to generate a J-pop style Halloween song and DeepSeek V4 Flash to write the lyrics. He then provided PARTS.md, the prompt description, the audio, and the lyrics to Claude Code, which automatically wrote scenario.json and called the rendering script to output the MP4. When the same prompt was given to DeepSeek V4 Flash, the resulting video style was noticeably different—he described Sonnet 5.5 as leaning towards a 'harder' feel, while DeepSeek V4 Flash appeared slightly more lively, consistent with their impressions during typical conversations.

However, the author acknowledged unresolved boundaries in this workflow: lyric alignment with the timeline is currently approximate, and whether text obscures faces still requires manual or another AI's visual inspection.

Finally, Nishikawa highlighted a easily overlooked business detail regarding licensing: Remotion is free for commercial use by individuals, for-profit organizations with fewer than three employees, and non-profit organizations. However, companies with four or more employees require a paid license for business use.

The value of this practical record lies not in showcasing a new tool, but in presenting a transferable engineering mindset: when AI's free-form generation brings costs and volatility, using a deterministic rendering engine to handle execution and a limited set of components to handle selection can transform AI from a role of writing code from scratch every time into a component selector, reducing token consumption, improving stability, and sparing future users from repeating the same pitfalls.

Sources

  • pc.watch.impress.co.jpPC Watch↗
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