Paranoya

Inspiration

This piece was created for a Ukrainian promo group SVET with whom I’ve already completed four audiovisual perfomance. The inspiration came from one of the musicians and main organizers: a water-themed performance that evolved into the idea of a hybrid creature — a fish-human caught behind a membrane. Her “gills” and alien physiology became the core metaphor for feeling trapped in an environment that is not her own. The soundtrack, titled Paranoia, intensifies her struggle.

What it does

The work materializes paranoia as a living being pressed against a trembling membrane. Through layered physics and tactile visuals, the creature attempts to break free, turning inner tension into physical form and synchronizing with the emotional pressure of the music.

How we built it

The piece was created through multiple iterative stages of AI-driven visual generation and manual animation. We built dual-layer membrane physics: a gelatinous inner shell and an external film that stretches, warps, and reacts to touch. Iterations focused on refining the creature’s movement, the pressure patterns on the membrane, and the timing synced to the musical track.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part was simulating double physics: a gel-like internal explosion inside a second membrane without breaking visual consistency. Getting both layers to react naturally to pressure was extremely demanding. Some iterations lacked internal gel residue or perfect deformation — but once the membrane began to convincingly stretch and “breathe,” the project finally clicked.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We achieved a convincing tactile effect of a creature trapped behind a responsive membrane — something difficult both technically and narratively. The hybrid character design turned out expressive, and the visual rhythm now supports the emotional arc of the track Paranoia.

What we learned

We refined our approach to prompt-building for complex physics and discovered new methods to handle multi-layered deformation in AI animation. And we learned, once again, that iteration is everything — even when we immediately forget how many prompts it took.

What's next for Paranoya

The piece will be shown on a 10×8-meter screen in Kyiv at the music event as a VJ drop on November 30, at the venue “Art Platform Zavod”, city of Kyiv (Lesnaya/Chernihivska).

Built With

• higgsfield