Put together in a few weeks, this is my senior thesis film “Smoking Warrior.” The concept was initially conceived as a more plot heavy, Adult Swim/MTV type of short film, but the AI methodology I was experimenting with failed incredibly late in the game, and I had to pivot hard and fast.
The film is comprised of AI animation (Stable Diffusion 1.5, ComfyUI, AnimateDiff) on the main trio of characters, and Blender for the Dragon and Environments, then After Effects to bring it all together.
The result is rushed and rough. But it does prove to me that this process is possible. All of the characters were filmed in costume on a green screen and then converted into animation using an Ink portrait LORA. Having taken a break for a few months, I’m now working back into my AI research and experimentation. My goal is to return to my original idea and aesthetic and create a pipeline that will allow me to produce an animated pilot.