How to AI & Moving Image: 5 Examples of How Bavarian companies use AI

BR: Bavarian history comes to life with KI

On February 15, 2026, the “Frankenschau” on BR television brought a historical event to life in a visually stunning TV report that has actually only been passed down in photos and texts: the Nuremberg flood of 1909. Brown floodwaters rolled over the historic old town, and the Schöne Brunnen fountain rose out of the meter-high water on the main market square.

If it weren’t for the “generated with AI” overlay, the razor-sharp images could be mistaken for 120-year-old film footage. BR created the scenes with AI based on historical photos from the Nuremberg city archives. This is an impressive example of how BR sees great potential for AI videos in re-enactment, i.e. the re-enactment of events – as well as in the areas of knowledge transfer, future scenarios and satire.

The company: Bayerischer Rundfunk tells the story of Bavaria in moving images – with news, reports, documentaries, series and entertainment for television, the media library and social media. In October 2025, BR launched a test project to find out how AI can be used sensibly from the development of ideas to post-production and what ethical questions arise in the process.

The contact person: Franziska Schulze, Digital Development(LinkedIn)

BR and the Nuremberg City Archive cooperated to produce AI videos of the Nuremberg flood of 1909 / Image: BR

ProSiebenSat.1: brAInbox brings AI to the Seven.One Studios

With brAInbox, Seven.One Studios has created a central unit that brings AI directly into everyday production – for faster, better and more cost-efficient processes. The unit sees itself as a “do tank” for AI workflows and creative tech – and as a point of contact for all subsidiaries. The reason for founding the unit was the rapid development of generative AI and the international competition in which major players are investing heavily in their own AI units. At the same time, the aim was to prevent the emergence of isolated silo solutions.

The approach: “man + machine”. In a four-pillar model, brAInbox scouts new tools (AI Explorer), trains teams (AI Educator), integrates AI into existing workflows (AI Integrator) and continuously optimizes processes (AI Optimizer). AI is used along the entire value chain – from visual concepts in pre-production to generative imagery and AI-supported dubbing in post-production.

The company: Seven.One Studios is the production house of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and unites various production companies under one roof. These include Redseven Entertainment, Pyjama Pictures, Just Friends and the newest production studio studio flitz.

The contact persons: Christian Leitz von Ferrari, Head of AI Production(LinkedIn), Markus Untch, Director of AI Production(LinkedIn)

The task of brAInbox: Fast AI integration throughout the company, but without silo solutions. / Image: Seven.One Studios

Storybook Studios: From the concept drawing to the complete animation series

With Storybook Studios, a production studio emerged in Munich very early on that sees artificial intelligence not as a mere additional tool, but as an integral part of new production processes. According to its own statements, the company uses AI in every step of production to implement projects that could not be realized in the past for budgetary or personnel reasons.

Storybook Studios became known for the animation series Space Vets, which is considered an early example of AI-supported fictional formats. In such productions, however, AI is not intended to replace human creativity, but to enhance it. From the studio’s point of view, traditional skills are not becoming superfluous, quite the opposite, explains Team Lead Franziska Hansel: “We absolutely need them.” People are therefore still crucial for the art style, the story, the editing and also the creation of the AI workflows, just like in hybrid productions that combine AI with real acting.

Instead of relying solely on commercial tool providers, the studio also relies on local open source solutions and in-house developments.

The company: Storybook Studios is a subsidiary of the entertainment conglomerate PAL Next Group, founded in 2023. The studio’s explicit mission is to utilize the possibilities of generative artificial intelligence for the production of both established and new entertainment formats.

The contact persons: Albert Bozesan, Head of Creative Technology(LinkedIn), Franziska Hansel, Team Lead(LinkedIn)

Space Vets was the first AI-generated animation series and made Storybook Studios famous / Image: Storybook Studios

south&browse: Documentary storytelling with AI and responsibility

Doku-Manufaktur south&browse sees artificial intelligence as an opportunity to further develop documentary storytelling. At south&browse, AI is used in research, pre-visualization, post-production and also for synthetic reconstructions. The company is interested in telling stories the way they have never been told before.

One example is the “Deepfake Diaries” series for ZDF Terra X History. In five episodes, historical figures such as Rosa Luxemburg and Otto von Bismarck “tell” their own stories. A hybrid approach was used: actors provided the performative basis, while AI technology transformed their appearance into that of historical figures. south&browse wants to use the series to show how AI can be used in an editorially responsible way.

At the same time, south&browse draws clear boundaries: The journalistic, dramaturgical and ethical decisions must clearly lie with the people. In addition, the use of AI must be communicated transparently. For “Deepfake Diaries”, the debate about the technology was therefore part of the overall concept.

south&browse is currently working on a historical documentary that revisits a well-known historical case in the style of a true-crime format.

The company: south&browse is a Munich-based production company for documentaries and factual formats with clients such as ZDF, ARD, ARTE, ProSieben, RTL and Joyn. The company develops content with social relevance that touches people emotionally and opens up new perspectives.

The contact persons: Nikola Kohl, Managing Director and Producer(LinkedIn).

For a five-part documentary series, south&browse used a hybrid approach to turn historical characters into protagonists / Image: ZDF / projector23

explaino: Complex knowledge becomes understandable AI videos

Whether internal guidelines, product documentation or training content: Many companies struggle to communicate complex knowledge to their employees in a comprehensible and sustainable way. This is precisely where the startup explaino comes in – using AI to translate static documents or presentations into visually appealing, easy-to-follow explanatory videos.

What makes it special: The AI solution from explaino not only works at text level like traditional text-to-video tools, but also recognizes the underlying logic of content. On this basis, it creates structured storylines, animated scenes and suitable voiceovers. The result is videos that do not simply reproduce content, but visualize its meaning and processes in an understandable way. This is supplemented by interactive elements such as quizzes, multilingualism and integration into learning platforms. Questions based on the video content are answered by an integrated AI chatbot.

Using an editor – comparable to a “Canva for explanatory content” – the videos can be edited and adapted to target groups before they are published. An analytics dashboard later makes it clear where there are still gaps in the team’s understanding.

The company: The start-up from Traunstein sees itself as an operating system for knowledge transfer. The aim is to transfer complex corporate knowledge into scalable, visual learning formats and thus make it more sustainable.

The contact person: Florian Scherl, Founder and Managing Director(LinkedIn)

Explainer videos automatically generated with AI transform complex content into visual learning processes. / Image: explaino