Why Nobody Cares About Your In-Betweening

In Japanese animation, the backbone of a film’s movement and expression lies in key frames—the defining illustrations that establish a scene’s tone, style, and composition. These key frames are created by the animation director, ensuring the film’s artistic and narrative vision is fully realized. However, to create fluid motion between these frames, lower-skilled animators—in-betweeners—are brought in to fill the gaps. Their job is not to define the style or essence of the work but to connect the dots efficiently, following the framework set by the director.

This same creative hierarchy applies when working with AI. You are the key frame artist, and AI is your in-betweener.

AI is not the director. It is not the visionary. It is not the source of originality. Just as an animation’s essence is dictated by the key frames, the foundation of any creative or analytical work must be established by human intuition, creativity, and experience. AI is simply there to fill in the blanks, refine the structure, and smooth out the process—but without clear direction, it will generate something generic, uninspired, and ultimately useless.

The Illusion of AI as an Autonomous Creator

One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it can think, create, or innovate independently. Many assume AI can generate a fully formed piece of work with a single prompt, but this is as flawed as expecting an in-betweener to dictate the essence of an animated film. If the key frames—the foundational ideas—are weak or undefined, AI will simply exaggerate that weakness by filling in with redundant, vague, or repetitive content.

When we ask AI to deliver a solution based on minimized problems, we are essentially treating it like an animator who follows conventions but lacks the ability to originate ideas. AI does not have lived experiences, intuition, or deep creative insights—it only follows learned patterns.

If you lack vision, if you lack creativity, if you lack life experience, AI will not compensate for that. It will only reflect it.

The Art of Restraint: The Image Economy of AI

In Japanese animation, there is a principle known as image economy—a strategy that prioritizes efficiency, ensuring that only the necessary amount of movement is used to convey an action. Unlike Disney’s traditional animation, which often emphasizes smooth, fully illustrated motion—such as a fully animated walk cycle—Japanese animators realize that they do not need to show every step for the audience to understand movement. Instead of animating every frame, they suggest motion through key frames, reducing the need for excessive in-between animation.

This same principle applies to working with AI.

The key to effective AI usage is knowing where to limit its involvement—to recognize when AI is overcomplicating an idea, adding redundancy, or veering into generic territory.

Just as Japanese animators eliminate unnecessary frames, you must eliminate unnecessary AI-generated filler. The goal is not to create an overwhelming amount of output but to emphasize the key frames—to highlight the most important aspects of your idea while minimizing unnecessary in-between work.

Live Action: The Difference Between a Camera Operator and a Cinematographer

The same concept applies beyond animation—live-action filmmaking follows a similar structure. In any film production, there is a camera operator and a cinematographer. The camera operator follows technical directions, ensuring the camera is pointed in the right direction and movement is executed correctly. But the cinematographer—the director of photography—is the one who brings artistic insight, storytelling depth, and dynamic composition to the frame.

Cinematography is a blend of artistry and science—it requires an understanding of light, color, movement, and emotion. A camera operator may execute the shot competently, but it is the cinematographer who sees beyond convention, framing the scene in a way that adds deeper meaning and dimension to the story.

The same is true with AI. AI is the camera operator—you are the cinematographer.

The Future of Work: Nobody Cares About the In-Between

As we integrate more advanced technologies into our workflows, the mundane, in-betweening aspects of work will become invisible. The focus will shift entirely toward ideas, insights, and wisdom. The value of work will not be measured by how efficiently one connects the dots, but by the ability to see things from new dimensions, to offer perspectives others cannot, and to contribute meaningfully to a team, a community, or a leadership role.

This is already evident in the way projects are executed. When a problem arises, the focus is always on problem-solution—the process that happens in between is rarely acknowledged. Whether in business, design, or leadership, people don’t ask, "How was it done?" They ask, "When will it be done?"

AI is simply accelerating this evolution. If you are only operating in the in-between, if your skills are centered solely on executing conventional tasks rather than offering original insight, you will be left behind. The world is moving toward innovation, contribution, and multidimensional thinking—not toward refining steps that technology can automate.

In the end, nobody will care about your in-betweening; AI will handle that. What will define success in the future is your ability to create the key frames that shape how the world moves forward.