Expanding on their 2023 motion experiment After Light, directors Julien Vallée and Eve Duhamel weave together live-action, CG, and a variety of AI tools for The Pulse Within, their short film which premiered at the Tribeca Festival.

Vallée Duhamel: “The film follows Sarah as she breaks free from the confines of her mundane existence. Through her surreal experiences and introspective moments, guided by an inner character who awakens within her, Sarah’s reality transcends into a realm where creativity knows no bounds. Using dance as her medium, she embarks on a journey that allows her imagination to shape her reality, and vice versa.
 

“We opted for an image-by-image approach for some of the scenes, applied to both live-action and CGI footage, which created a feeling of cell animation and emphasized the vibrancy of the visuals to reflect the character’s transformation and mutation.”

 
“To achieve this aesthetic, we employed a variety of animation and VFX techniques combined with different AI models. About 90% of the final images are based on footage we captured during our shoot in Montreal. We used a multitude of AI technologies including Stable Diffusion, KREA AI, Runway, and Luma AI, layering one on top of another to achieve the desired look.

“For some of the scenes, we opted for an image-by-image approach – with both live-action and CGI footage – which created a feeling of cell animation and emphasized the vibrancy of the visuals to reflect the character’s transformation and mutation. This came with a lot of trial and error, requiring us to keep the editing process flexible and going back and forth through it.

“We frequently revisited our edits when the output from these tools didn’t align with our expectations. We chose to retain some of the strange and intriguing frames where the AI outputs produced unexpected characters or anomalies. These frames highlight the effervescence of our protagonist’s transformation, adding a layer of intrigue and unpredictability to her own movements.”
 
 

 
Production: Sailor Productions, Runway Studio
Director: Vallée Duhamel
EP: Mathieu Dumont
Head of production: Joelle Raymond
Production manager: Martin Couture
DOP: Antoine Ryan
Edit & AI operator: Julien Vallée
CG/VFX (space & explosion scene): Mr. Flowers, Pipe Camera
CG (Fred characters floating scene): Vincent Ghiotti
Color grading: Simon BoisX / Arketype
Camera operator: Austin Grass
1st AC: Mathilde Lytwynuk
Gaffer: Mathieu LeFrancois
Key grip: Maxime Latraverse
Styling:: Tinashe Musara
H&M: Miles Petrella

Audio: Parallel people Collective
Music: Nick Chotkowski
Sound design: Daniele Devirgilio

Featuring: Lauri-Ann Lauzon

Special thanks: Christian Bach, Mathieu Arvisais, Hector Ayuso, Frederick Ross, Psyop, Mels Studios