We made a film for Mr. Short Sale about a homeowner drowning in paperwork. We took the idea literally and set the entire film underwater. Since we generated it rather than shooting it, we had to figure out how to make the result feel believable.
Our first challenge was keeping the heroine consistent throughout the film. She had to look like the same woman in every shot, even as her expressions changed. We created a series of portraits showing different emotions, from fear and surprise to hope and joy, while keeping the framing and lighting consistent. These became the starting point for every scene.
We also needed to maintain visual consistency across the entire film, from her clothing and the overhead lighting to the way the water and paperwork looked. The six frames shown here are taken from the final cut, where you can see how these elements carry through from scene to scene.
Getting the movement right was another challenge. Underwater, the body moves more slowly and with greater resistance. Hair floats and reacts to movement, while air bubbles rise toward the surface. We needed all of these details to behave naturally for the environment to feel convincing.
We paid particular attention to her skin, preserving the pores, subtle variations in tone and natural asymmetry of her face. AI-generated skin can easily look too smooth or polished, and we wanted to avoid that. The audience needed to see a real person, not a demonstration of the technology.
Perhaps the most difficult part was getting her emotions right and keeping them believable throughout the film. We didn’t want exaggerated panic or screaming. What we were looking for was a quieter sense of despair, something you could read in her expression without the performance becoming overly dramatic.