"With a mirror on the wall,this is how we fall. Find your self,be your selfish.
Slices of life, cascade down the everlasting staircase,only to be persued relentlessly by their very own reflections.
There is life outside,or is it? Find your self,be your selfish."
FIND YOUR SELF-ISH is an autobiographical and experimental CG film shot in first person. It explores themes of internal struggle and distress. The film is based on the filmmaker's own experiences with anxiety and addiction. The director experiments with cutting-edge AI techniques, to generate visuals that are being morphed with traditional 3D animation, enhancing the visual storytelling uniquely. The abstract narrative of the movie is driven by the sensations of the protagonist, which manifest themselves in visual distortions and an evolving environment. Without dialogue, there is a big emphasis on the visual narrative and intra-diegetic soundscape.
The movie embraces the aesthetics of generative AI, to distort the image in innovative ways and combines this technique with other experimental manipulation methods. This makes the lived experience of the protagonist tangible for the audience. The abstract storytelling and first-person perspective invite the audience to project their own experiences onto the narrative, which opens the movie to a wide range of interpretations. Even the characters are non-specific in their appearance and morph from one AI-generated person into another. The stunning visuals are complemented by an atmospheric synth soundtrack.
Note: This section consists of concept art, testrenders, technical aspects, previz animations and other work in progress material,showcasing the steady improvement of quality and general workflow behind the scenes.
data = {
"enabledSoftware": [
"Cinema 4D.exe", //main 3D software
"Blender.exe", //additional 3D software
"Redshift", //render-engine
"Stable Diffusion", //AI-DLM [link]
"Automatic1111", //webUi [link]
"sd-webui-control-net", //AI-NNM [link]
"sd-dynamic-prompts", //dynamic prompt extension [link]
"depth-map-script", //depth map generator [link]
"InstantMeshes.exe", //remesher [link]
"iRender.exe", //render farm for additional hardware [link]
"AfterEffects.exe", //compositing + VFX + post-edit
"Element.exe", //AU/LV2/VST/VST3 audio plugin host [link]
"ARMINATOR.dll" //CS-80 emulator [link]
"Audacity.exe" //custom foley refinement
"Premiere.exe", //sound design
"TopazVideo.exe", //video upscaling + interpolation [link]
],
"webpages": [
"textures.com", //cg materials (limited use *)
"polyhaven.com", //cg materials + HDRIs (limited use *)
"mixamo.com", //animations (limited use *)
"freesound.org", //foley sounds (limited use *)
"cttrax.com", //music (limited use *)
"sketchfab.com", //3d models (limited use *)
],
}
//* Includes limited use of website-sourced [animations;materials;
HDRIs;objects;foleysounds;music] alongside original creations.
The vast majority of the work was self-created.
Note: This section contains raw renders with camera angles and bright daylight that are not part of the final short film. As a result, some parts may appear lower in quality due to being optimized for distant camera viewpoints (LOD) and/or depth of field effects.
Find Your Self-Ish maintains a continuous shot throughout the entire short film, yet the narrative embeds a hard but seamless shift in the scenery. While certain aspects of the environment and overall layout remain consistent, there is a stark transformation in architectural style and atmosphere. The "historic" buildings appear in a state of partial decay, with large sections demolished to make way for imposing brutalist concrete structures, characterized by their raw and cold aesthetic. To simplify these contrasting environments, the images are split between the two of them.
Fragmented traces of the past, the beauty of the ordinary life.
A harsh, reconstructed landscape of brutalist forms, embodying a stark and oppressive modernity.