StoryLLaVA: Enhancing Visual Storytelling with Multi-Modal Large Language Models

Li Yang, Zhiding Xiao, Wenxin Huang, Xian Zhong

Abstract: The rapid development of multimodal large language models (MLLMs) has positioned visual storytelling as a crucial area in content creation. However, existing models often struggle to maintain temporal, spatial, and narrative coherence across image sequences, and they frequently lack the depth and engagement of human-authored stories. To address these challenges, we propose Story with Large Language-and-Vision Alignment (StoryLLaVA), a novel framework for enhancing visual storytelling. Our approach introduces a topic-driven narrative optimizer that improves both the training data and MLLM models by integrating image descriptions, topic generation, and GPT-4-based refinements. Furthermore, we employ a preference-based ranked story sampling method that aligns model outputs with human storytelling preferences through positive-negative pairing. These two phases of the framework differ in their training methods: the former uses supervised fine-tuning, while the latter incorporates reinforcement learning with positive and negative sample pairs. Experimental results demonstrate that StoryLLaVA outperforms current models in visual relevance, coherence, and fluency, with LLM-based evaluations confirming the generation of richer and more engaging narratives. The enhanced dataset and model will be made publicly available soon.