Harder Than My University Essays

Inspiration

This project was inspired by the universally relatable anxiety of modern romance—the internal struggle of crafting a perfect, meaningful text message. We aimed to visualize the intense, internal drama that happens before a message is even sent, comparing the mental effort to tackling a difficult university essay.

What it does

"Harder Than My University Essays" is a concise, cinematic short-form narrative that visualizes the universal internal monologue of anxiety, overthinking, and subsequent resignation inherent in digital-age communication. The film functions as a poignant, humorous commentary on modern dating habits and social media interaction.

How we built it

This film was built showcasing a powerful and accessible AI-driven workflow that blends visual generation with nuanced sound design:

Visuals (Video Generation): We utilized Veo 3.1 Fast to generate the cinematic and stylized shots—from the student environment to the wine glass sequence.

Narration (AI Voice): The internal monologue and voiceover were created using ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs brilliantly executed the subtle character moments, such as the moments of sigh, reinforcing the authenticity of the persona.

Post-Production & Assembly: Filmora was used for final assembly, integrating subtitles for accessibility, and adding depth through its integrated free stock music library.

Challenges we ran into

The primary challenge was technical fidelity balanced against accessibility. We utilized an older, cost-effective version of Veo 3.1 Fast which offered unlimited generations but resulted in less effective lighting and occasional character inconsistencies. This lack of visual effectiveness was compounded by the fact that we had not yet mastered advanced consistency techniques (the "nanobanana" technique). This required meticulous post-production and iterative prompting to maintain visual quality and narrative flow.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of successfully translating a subtle, internal struggle into a visually compelling, minute-long film using advanced generative AI tools. We achieved an emotionally authentic character performance using AI voice synthesis and demonstrated a resourceful workflow that overcame model limitations through clever editing and creative intent.

What we learned

We learned the crucial trade-off between accessibility and fidelity when using older generative models (Veo 3.1 Fast) and the necessity of advanced post-production and meticulous iterative prompting to compensate for model limitations. This project taught us how to integrate AI tools as specialized, directed collaborators rather than just autonomous generators.

What's next for Harder Than My University Essays

We plan to submit this film to other short-form and AI-focused film festivals to maximize its reach. We will also develop the core concept into a longer series exploring different facets of modern digital dating anxiety, applying the advanced consistency skills we've since mastered.

Built With

• english
• veo3.1