Bones of Yew is a cinematic short film set during the Hundred Years’ War, following a pagan peasant archer whose connection to the land and the ancient yew tree stands in quiet resistance to the rising tide of faith and war. Combining AI-generated visuals with historical accuracy and emotional voiceover, the film reimagines medieval England through the eyes of the common man — those whose hands tilled the earth and pulled the longbow.
Developed by filmmaker Toby Hyder and the team at XO Link, the film uses volumetric capture, LoRA-trained character consistency, and photoreal generative imagery to tell a story of nature, belief, and resilience.
Directed, Produced & Generated by Toby Hyder
Starring Matt “Silverback-Tarzan” Lewis
Featuring Keith Higinbotham
Original Score by Jordan Hudson
Violin – Tchi-ann Liu
Featuring ”La Vergues Astrea” by Bill Vine and vocals Paulin Bundgen
Co-Edited by Toby Hyder, John Bird
Production Manager – Ava Oppenheimer
Makeup artist- Meagan Edwards
Stylist – Ava Oppenheimer
Carol Weapons Master + Longbow training
Mick – Archery Consultant
Sound Recordist & Dialogue Editor – Antonio Granieri
Voice Coach + Direction Keith Higinbotham
Sound designer – John Bird
Colourist – John Bird
Data capture
Data capture Lead – Toby Hyder
Camera – John Bird
Drone – James Gadd Bradley Cox
XOLink scan provided by Visual Skies
Ross Dannmayr / Joe Steel / William Jackson / Dora Schluttenhofer
AI Integrations: Chat gpt Luma Photon Google Imagen 3
XOLink
This film was partially generated using “Flux Schnell”, licensed under the Apache 2.0 license / Runway Kling / Google / Veo2 / Runway Act one / Heygen / Hedra / Magnific / Topaz Labs
Discover more inspiring AI films on : www.shaike.ai
