the duel beneath the world tree is a 15s cinematic short film set in a mythological world: a raccoon ronin and a fox monk face off beneath a monumental tree suspended above the clouds.
for this personal project, the goal was to build a complete mini-universe, from character design to final edit, using generative AI workflows to reach a feature-film look in 1 day.
the challenge was to keep two anthropomorphic characters perfectly consistent across 15 shots, fast action, extreme macro details and epic wide landscapes, while keeping a cohesive cinematic tone from first frame to last.
the project
• led full creative direction and world design, creating two original characters with complete turnaround sheets (full body, back view, close-up and profile), a mythic environment of floating islands, megaliths and a giant world tree, and a warm orange palette against stormy cold greys.
• built a structured storyboard pipeline, breaking the story into a 15-panel three-act sheet with shot types, timecodes and scene notes, to lock the narrative rhythm and camera language before any animation.
• generated and directed the animation in higgsfield, using the storyboard and character references as keyframes to keep fur, costumes and props consistent through fast action, impacts and camera moves.
• finished the edit in premiere pro, with sound design, fade to black and a final « to be continued… » card as a wink to anime classics.
key learning
a strong storyboard is the real engine of AI filmmaking: locking characters, shots and pacing upstream makes it possible to direct generative tools with precision and keep a coherent cinematic vision from concept to final cut.
#higgsfield #claude #premierepro
