Depths

Inspiration

Depths began as an exploration of calm. I wanted to create a world that felt peaceful, hypnotic, and slightly otherworldly — something that could quiet the mind rather than overstimulate it. The film draws from a deep-sea dreamscape where organic forms — reminiscent of x-rayed coral and bioluminescent fungi — pulse and drift in quiet harmony. The visuals feel both microscopic and vast, like glimpses into ecosystems that sit at the edge of perception. Light, texture, and movement come together to create a world that feels alien but strangely familiar. The intentionally pixelated, dust-like texture adds a subtle cyberpunk atmosphere, hinting at the tension between digital artifact and natural form. By blending AI-generated imagery with careful, intentional shaping, I wanted Depths to sit somewhere between the organic and the artificial — an ambient, sensorial experience made to offer a brief moment of calm in an increasingly chaotic world.

What it does

Depths pulls the viewer into a dream-like, meditative space. It’s not a traditional narrative — it works more like a feeling or a breath. The film uses drifting movement, textured visuals, and ambient sound to create the sense of an otherworldly underwater environment. The experience is meant to be peaceful and immersive, giving the viewer a moment of quiet in a very loud world.

How we built it

The visuals began as still images generated in MidJourney, where I refined the shapes, lighting, and textures until the world felt cohesive. I animated these frames in Runway to create the slow, drifting motion that defines the film. The soundscape was built in CapCut, using licensed music from Artlist that I edited and layered to reinforce the sense of calm and depth. The final shaping came through a simple edit — smoothing transitions, adjusting colour and pacing, and keeping the overall rhythm gentle and consistent so the piece felt like one continuous breath.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges was keeping the intentional glitchy, textured aesthetic intact. Most AI models want to smooth everything out by default, so a lot of the process involved fighting against that “clean-up” tendency. I had to regenerate, re-animate, and refine frames repeatedly to preserve the noisy, pixel-dust look that gives the film its atmosphere. Balancing that rough texture with smooth, calm motion was also a delicate part of the process — too much glitch and it became chaotic, too little and it lost the character I wanted.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What I’m most proud of is the feeling the film creates. Every time I watch Depths, I feel at peace, and it means a lot to know that something so short can hold that kind of emotional power. The film has also begun to find recognition on its own terms. It was selected as Short of the Week by the Chroma Art Film Festival, became a Finalist at the East Village New York Film Festival, the AI Film Awards in Cannes, and Derapage in Montreal, and was a Semi-Finalist at the Neu Wave AI Film Festival in Los Angeles. For a one-minute experimental piece, these acknowledgements reinforce that quiet, meditative work has a place in this emerging space.

What we learned

Depths reinforced that AI works best when it’s used slowly, intentionally, and with a clear emotional goal. I learned that abstraction can be just as powerful as narrative when the tone is strong. I also realised that AI shines when it’s pushed toward the beautifully artistic and slightly weird — the kinds of visuals and textures that feel imaginative rather than literal. The glitchy, organic look of the film only happened because I protected the strangeness instead of letting the models smooth it away. In the end, the process showed me that AI can feel warm, human, and expressive when guided with the right boundaries.

What's next for Depths

I’d love to expand this world into a longer piece, or even create a small series of meditative films designed to help people feel calm when they’re overwhelmed or stressed. The reaction to Depths has shown me that there’s space for quiet, emotional AI-driven work, so I’m exploring how this visual language could grow into a fuller experience — something people can return to when they need a moment of peace.

Built With

• capcut
• midjourney
• runway