IO83

He escaped a dying Earth searching for freedom. On IO83, he’ll face the truth: even paradise has its own darkness.

Comment

Inspiration

Greatly inspired by cinema from the 80s to the present day, mainly in the SciFi style such as:

  • Interstellar
  • The Fifth Element
  • Blade Runner
  • Ghost in the Shell
  • Stranger Things
  • Dune
  • Altered Carbon
  • Tron
  • Matrix
  • Elysium
  • Prometheus
  • Equilibrium
  • Black Mirror
  • Minority Report
  • Alita

But also by video games, such as:

  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Fallout
  • Prey
  • Horizon
  • Halo
  • Borderlands
  • Starfield

What it does

It's a hybrid format between a music video and a saga, a strong narrative with a story told in the style of silent cinema, no narration, no voices.

This first episode of the IO83 saga tells the story of a disillusioned human, Kaito, who doesn't feel like he belongs on Earth. Far from accepting humanity's flaws, he no longer wants to be part of it and dreams of adventures far from this planet where he feels trapped.

In parallel, we follow two other characters, Myo and Aeron, on the planet IO83, which isn't so different in appearance from Earth but is home to the most advanced people in the universe, the iOtians. A pacifist people whose ego and will to act are shared among all, with no domination, no currency, everything is naturally balanced because they all look after one another thanks to their extremely pronounced empathy.

But planet IO83 has given refuge to a new people, the Kahi Koans, for whom peace for the greater number cannot exist without a firm framework and some necessary losses. This is where Myo and Aeron come in, as the first foundations of a challenge to the Kahi Koans' power.

How we built it

The film was made entirely using image-to-video. Once the storyboard for each episode was defined and the characters, locations, and vehicles created via Midjourney with DALL·E 3, I followed this process:

Video

  • ChatGPT: prompt optimization for Midjourney
  • Midjourney: creation of each shot to animate
  • Midjourney Edit: improvement of certain details
  • Magnific: texture enhancement
  • GIMP: editing of certain Magnific flaws
  • ColourLab AI: color grading homogenization
  • GIMP: blending of homogenized visuals with originals (for a more natural look)
  • ChatGPT: prompt optimization for Kling
  • Mainly Kling 2.5 and VEO 3 / Minimax / Wan / LTX: visual animation
  • Topaz Video: 4K rendering and fluidity optimization

Audio

Music

Music composed and mixed by me, 100% human made.

Sound Design / FX

Sound design mixing various sound libraries and homemade creation.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge is that I'm not a director, I'm a music producer, so I had to draw on all the references I'd accumulated throughout my life to try to offer something of quality despite my lack of experience and skills.

The second biggest challenge, by far, was consistency. The characters' faces, their clothes, the vehicles, the locations... the problem being that I wanted Midjourney's visual signature, which is more cinematic than others in my eyes, while maintaining a consistency that Midjourney struggles enormously to preserve. At the time of the work's creation, Nano Banana, Seedream, etc. didn't exist yet, so changing angles or visuals while maintaining character consistency was really complex.

The last major challenge was AI limitations. I had to readapt some scenes, some passages, because the AI couldn't do what I was asking, and when you combine these problems with a limited budget for the 3 episodes, you end up with a phenomenal puzzle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating a saga without being a director and offering a viable work despite its flaws, managing to finish the project despite thousands of obstacles during the creation of the episodes, and capitalizing on an experience that will serve me for future episodes.

What we learned

That willpower prevails over everything else, that the value of money is completely changing with AI, and that small artists without budgets can finally bring to life projects that are close to their hearts.

I also learned a lot about how to talk to AI, and I'm eager to see the next developments to improve the filmmaking, character actions, prompt-following precision, and the film's final rendering.

What's next for IO83

New episodes: episodes 2 and 3 are coming out this November, and the following ones will arrive in the near future when AI has reached a new level to offer an even stronger experience to the audience, allowing for finer and more precise filmmaking in line with my intentions, and by taking a real step back from the first 3 episodes to improve my work.

Built With

  • none
Share this project:

Updates