lens wide open

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Production journal LensWideOpen

The film started from a what if? Can you create this character - a surreal image of human with lens and camera ? Once I found it was possible the idea grew .

Once that image came to life, the idea started to grow. Was there more than one? Who were they where did they meet ?
What does it mean to be an artist — to express, to connect, to see? As the imagery developed, the film became a journey about creation itself — about time, persistence, and voice. Would the AI tools understand what I was reaching for? Or would they resist?

I used AI image making as a kind of visual sketchbook — a way to ask questions And what is a recognisably beautiful piece of technology ? the answer is vintage cameras : they are tactile , manual , practical - ironically the opposite of ai…
Then next question , What time felt most evocative?
Where should it be set?
It became clear: Florence.
I lived there for four years with my family, and I know it- its texture and locations 
It’s also city built of artists, generations creating side by side.

I knew I wanted the film to feel tactile — grounded in vintage cameras, in the physical craft of image-making.
That’s the irony: AI excels at clean, polished perfection, but I was chasing imperfection — something human, grainy, handmade. The Process There was no script, no storyboard — just a meditation on those questions so it was a bit of discovery.
I edited as I went in Final Cut Pro, shaping the film like a documentary: building from the shots adding voice and music. I’d have to go away and come back see what it needed.
Then I’d rewatch, and refine — showing rough cuts to family and friends, absorbing their reactions, tweaking again.

Obstacles & Lessons

AI is both collaborator and obstacle.
Sometimes it misunderstands the simplest gesture — people moving backwards, holding objects wrong — because it doesn’t know experience.the physicality is great for surrealism but awful for grounded simplest things
Other times, it surprises me with something unplanned, an image that leads to something new .
That’s where the real discovery begins.
Patience is the key With new systems like Sora and google Veo 3, control has improved — consistency is possible now.
But even so, working with generative AI means sometimes letting go of control

Sound & Voice

Music was licensed - came from an Italian group Bottega Baltazar. 
I tried AI-generated music tracks, but they felt just slightly off and ethically hollow for this .
The voice-over was created with ElevenLabs, after many trials and refinements

Closing Reflection

Lens Wide Open is a film about the persistence of art through changing tools. I enjoyed the process and the freedom of expression with these tools.

Bruce Hunt director “LensWideOpen”

novhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njiQpNTOEHM2025

Built With

• artlist
• elevenlabs
• midjourney
• runway