The Day They Turned Off the Dark

Three children who hate the dark have come together. But what happens when they turn off the dark? A universal story of conquering bedtime, one sleep at a time.

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Inspiration

My (then) 4 year old daughter asking me not to turn on the dark, it set the clogs in motion...

The story grew into a universal metaphor about fear, imagination and community, told through a style that mixes hyper-real AI claymation with the warmth of a classic British children’s tale. I wanted to see whether modern AI tools could deliver something handcrafted, emotional and textured — a short film that feels like it belongs on a bookshelf or on BBC Christmas Day, even though it was built with entirely new digital methods.

What it does

It creates a fully formed children’s story world using a unified AI visual pipeline. The film blends hyper-real claymation, cinematic lighting and controlled camera language to deliver an emotional short that looks handcrafted while being built with new digital tools.

How we built it

Developed a strict style bible (claymation realism, ARRI Alexa 35 emulation, bold colour work, atmospheric haze). Generated stills with MidJourney v7 and motion with Runway/Kling, keeping everything locked to the same visual rules. Iterated prompts scene-by-scene to maintain model consistency across characters, lighting and textures. Cut, graded and sound-designed the film like a traditional short to keep it grounded and story-first. Gave it VO that matched the tone, style and pacing.

Challenges we ran into

Maintaining exact character and lighting consistency across different AI models. Achieving “stop-motion realism” without drifting into glossy CGI. Preventing style drift: every prompt needed precise control to keep the claymation world coherent.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were featured in the School Newsletter, we were also Shortlisted for Best Animation at the Red Rocks AI Film Festival in Utah.

What we learned

A world of possiblity has been revealed.

What's next for The Day They Turned Off the Dark

More stories, more fun, bigger worlds and a new wave of original storytelling.

Built With

  • elevenlabs
  • kling
  • midjourney
  • premiere
  • seedream
  • topaz
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