Ascend

Inspiration## Inspiration

Bright anime aesthetics, sky-city exploration, and ethics of “engineered worlds”: agency vs. systems, memory, and choice. We wanted a gentle portal adventure with wonder first, dread second.

What it does

Ascend is an animated intro-chapter to a parallel city where physics can be bent. It establishes the rules (gravity slip, time nudge, matter “phasing”), introduces Alex & Luna, and seeds the bigger arc without resolving it.

How we built it

Lookdev / keyframes: FLUX, Krea, Imagen, Ideogram (style refs), curated refs via Freepik/FAL Animation / video gen (primary): Veo, Kling, Runway, Luma (alt passes) Character / motion aids: Seedance (pose/motion cues), WAN/LTX Studio (shot planning), Q1-Ref (consistency) Dialogue / lipsync (as needed): Pixverse LipSync, AI Avatar/OmniHuman (temp previs) Edit & finishing: CapCut; Topaz Upscale (cleanup) Audio: ElevenLabs TTS/SFX, ThinkSound (layers) Pipeline goal: soft anime look, clean edges, readable motion in 9:16; stable character style across tools.

Challenges we ran into

• Keeping a cohesive style across different models and shots
  
• Readable motion & silhouettes in vertical (9:16) without clutter
  
• Portal FX (flicker/strobe) that feel magical, not harsh
  
• Balancing “intro” pacing with a clear hook

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Consistent sky-bright anime look and character continuity
  
• Working “phasing” effect that reads in 9:16
  
• A repeatable Veo/Kling ⇄ FLUX/Krea/Higgsfield pipeline
  
• Sponsor-aligned tool usage (e.g., Veo, ElevenLabs)

What we learned

• Hook → reveal → reaction beats hold attention best in vertical.
  
• Shorter virtual lenses + bold silhouettes boost clarity in 9:16.
  
• Light SFX + subtle music beds carry emotion better than heavy scores.

What's next for Ascend

• Season 1: story development as vertical drama (9:16)
  
• A teaser trailer cut + micro-drama moments for socials
  
• Deeper portal mechanics (rules, limits, cost) and Luna’s backstory

Built With

• capcut
• dreamina
• elevenlabs-tts/sfx
• fal
• flux
• freepik
• hailuo-2
• higgsfield
• imagen
• kling
• krea
• luma
• runway
• thinksound
• topaz-upscale
• veo