HELLO! | AI Animation Short Film Competition by Promise X Curio…

This short film is the journey of a boy drowning in loneliness, across a world that he feels no longer has a place for him. At his lowest point, among the remnants of the past in a landfill, he finds the answer to something he never realized: loneliness is not something that comes from outside, but something he creates himself. And it is there that he learns that sometimes, the courage to utter one magical spell can change his world

“Hello!” was created as a submission for the AI Animation Competition organized by Curious Refuge. The competition became a catalyst for me to explore how artificial intelligence could function not only as a technical instrument but also as a true storytelling collaborator.

The idea emerged from a period of reflection on human disconnection in the digital age. I wanted to visualize loneliness as an emotional landscape, showing how isolation often originates within rather than from the outside world. What began as a small visual experiment gradually evolved into a complete animated short as I discovered the expressive potential of AI-generated imagery.

The production process required balancing emotional intent with technological precision. Each stage from image generation to animation synthesis and post production was guided by an effort to preserve humanity within algorithmic creation. The result became both a technical study and a personal meditation on the intersection of art, emotion, and machine intelligence.

As a director, I am drawn to emotions that exist in silence, to the space between despair and hope. “Hello!” represents that moment of quiet realization when courage begins to surface. I wanted the film to feel intimate yet surreal, reflecting how our inner struggles often speak in the language of dreams.

My creative approach focused on translating emotion into visual rhythm. Through the use of visual metaphors, shifting tones, and soft dreamlike transitions, I aimed to capture the transformation from isolation to self acceptance. To me, “Hello!” is not simply a story about loneliness, but a reminder of how reclaiming one’s voice can reconnect us to the world.

Midjourney The foundation of the visual language. Every scene began here, translating written emotion into image. Through an iterative text-to-image process, the world of “Hello!” slowly took shape: fragile, poetic, and drenched in quiet melancholy.

KlingAI Used to breathe motion into still frames. This tool allowed me to animate emotional tension within each composition, letting the boy’s loneliness and fleeting courage flow in rhythm with the environment.

Minimax Hailuo Provided an alternate layer of animation, giving the film moments of unpredictability and surreal beauty. Its image-to-video output became a way to explore different emotional textures between scenes.

RunwayML Focused on crafting atmosphere and subtle motion. It helped merge fragmented sequences into a cohesive emotional continuum, adding a sense of dreamlike movement throughout the film.

Adobe Photoshop It is used for image retouching and visual refinement before the animation phase, ensuring consistency in tone, light, and texture.

Adobe Premiere Pro Handled the editing process, assembling all visual elements, syncing rhythm and sound, and defining the film’s emotional pacing.

DaVinci Resolve Used for final color grading and tone unification. This stage brought warmth, depth, and cinematic contrast that completed the emotional identity of “Hello!”.