Him — Creation Journey

Inspiration

The inspiration for Him grew out of my long-standing fascination with the genre of “cruel youth stories.”

Youth often feels pure, yet that very purity carries a disproportionate emotional weight. With this short film, I wanted to explore that contradiction:

A narrative that appears to be about love on the surface,
But underneath reflects themes of loss and the darker undercurrents of adolescence.

From the very beginning, I set out to experiment with cinematic language and rhythm different from my previous works—allowing space, silence, and subtle visuals to evoke emotion rather than expressing everything directly.

Production

Him became a full-scale experiment in AI-driven filmmaking:

Script & Storyboards

Began with a written script and hand-drawn boards to establish pacing and intent. Concept Frames
Used MidJourney 6.1 to generate key frames, locking in style and atmosphere. Dynamic Footage
Transformed stills into video using Dreamina (即梦) Video 3.0, ensuring each shot served the story while maintaining stylistic coherence. Iterative Design
With Dreamina Action, I refined details continuously—from character gestures to environmental textures.
This process felt like a creative dialogue with the tool itself. Final Touches
Editing, sound design, and music integration were completed with my teammates, ensuring a consistent rhythm and emotional flow.

Learnings

Through this journey, I realized that AI is not merely a generator:

It acts as a partner that pushes creators to think harder, test limits, and refine intentions.
Instead of providing easy answers, AI tools became prompts for deeper questions: Essence of Story? Efficiency vs. Sincerity? Human Emotion in Machine Visuals?

Challenges

The challenges were significant:

Visual Consistency: Required countless tests and revisions.
Avoiding Hollowness: AI outputs risked emotional emptiness, which I had to actively overcome.
Balancing Forces: The hardest part was finding equilibrium between: Technical Control vs Artistic Vulnerability

Despite these difficulties, it was also the most rewarding part of the process.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Winner of Best Film, Best Editing, Best Sound Design, and Best Horizontal Short at the Shanghai AI Short Film Festival 2025.
Official selections in multiple international AI and film festivals, showcasing the global recognition of the film’s innovative use of AI in storytelling.