Inspiration
The film "Old News" is a short, existential reflection on the fragility of the human ego and the constant struggle to manage life’s inevitable pain and transience. It explores the feeling of being overwhelmed by the mundane, where inner struggles become so familiar they feel like "old news" – an eternal return of anxiety and self-doubt.
The inspiration came from a desire to visualize the heavy, often inarticulable, feeling of existential fatigue. I wanted to create an external representation of what it feels like when one’s inner world collapses, but the outer world continues as normal.
What it does
"Old News" offers an immediate, emotional dive into the protagonist's (internal) state during a brief period. By using shifting, sometimes disharmonious, AI-generated landscapes and characters, the film conveys a sense of disintegration. It serves as a reminder that behind the facade of everyday calm, intense, personal battles may be raging.
How we built it
We used ComfyUI, Google Imagen, MiniMax Hailuo Video and Final Cut Pro
Challenges we ran into
No challenges, just fun.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I'm most proud of having created a work that, despite its short length and experimental production method, manages to evoke a strong, genuine emotion in the viewer. The project proves that AI can be used not only to create technically impressive visuals but also as a means for deeply personal and existential storytelling.
What we learned
I learned the importance of minimalism in prompting. Instead of overloading the AI with details, it was more effective to focus on emotions and textures (e.g., “harsh grain”, “heavy shadow”, “dead air”) to achieve the expressionistic result I sought. Furthermore, the process emphasized that AI is an instrument that requires the same—or even more—human direction as traditional tools.
What's next for OLD NEWS
No idea, I will just keep making these short form "films". Have a nice day.
Built With
- comfyui
- finalcutpro
- hailuo
- imagen
- minimax
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