Directing duo Julien Vallée and Eve Duhamel veer from their signature production method of hands-on, in-camera effects to explore AI in After Light, a short film they describe as a “playful twist on dystopia”.

Julien Vallée: “We began After Light by mingling different pieces of unused footage from past projects with shots taken with a DSLR and a phone, to create distorted landscapes populated by strange characters, blurring the lines between reality and artifice.

“The journey soon drew us in, captivating us with the vast potential and complex intricacies of AI generative tools, especially Runway. It sparked an intriguing narrative, casting our characters into a novel and artificial existence that’s representative of the states of AI tools of today.
 

“After Light suggests that even though we may be losing parts of our intrinsic nature to artificial influences, we are also on the brink of a new kind of existence, one that we are just beginning to grasp.”

 
“While these tools are profoundly powerful, achieving a consistent style proved to be a significant challenge. Merging different tools to create a cohesive piece was no small feat. For instance, one scene featuring a man on a car floating in the ocean was crafted using Midjourney’s V5.2 zoom-out functionality which we layered with iPhone footage of a character dancing, composed together in After Effects.

“This composite was processed through Runway using a variety of image inputs and styles from our past projects. We then cherry-picked our favorite shots, merging them into a single scene that would have otherwise cost thousands to produce.

“After Light suggests that even though we may be losing parts of our intrinsic nature to artificial influences, we are also on the brink of a new kind of existence, one that we are just beginning to grasp.”
 
 

 
Production: Vallée Duhamel
Director: Julien Vallée, Eve Duhamel
Dancers: Maija Knapp, Kimberly Bittner Quinn, Myles Yachts, Darren “Outrage” King, Alex Tazz

Music: Canon “No Loss”

Toolkit: Runway, Midjourney, After Effects