“the world is ending, and I want to keep it that way” is a surreal and symbolic visual poem that charts a journey into a mind on the verge of collapse. The film explores the unsettling comfort found in desolation and the profound inner conflict of a man who has learned to love his own prison. It’s a contemplative exploration of what it means to take a single step when the ground beneath you is already gone.
Concept
This 45-second short is a surrealist reflection on the cyclical nature of collapse and rebirth. Designed as a concise narrative odyssey, it challenges the fear of “the end” by reframing it as a necessary threshold. The film uses dreamlike, symbolic imagery to mirror the internal process of letting go of one reality to inhabit another.
Execution
The workflow prioritized cinematic movement and atmospheric texture. Although built on a txt2img to img2vid pipeline, the focus remained on narrative pacing. Every visual was generated to harmonize with the dialogue, ensuring a complete, high-impact story arc within a very tight runtime.
Director’s Note
The heart of this project lies in the dialogue. I spent the majority of the production iterating the script and experimenting with the speech model to find the perfect emotional cadence. By prioritizing narrative depth over pure visual spectacle, I aimed to prove that even the shortest AI films can deliver a profound impact.
Release Date
June 27, 2025
Runtime
00:00:45
Directed, Produced, Edited by
Taruma Sakti
Technique
txt2img, img2vid
Image Generation
Higgsfield Soul
Video Generation
Higgsfield Action
Audio Generation
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview TTS
Sound Effects
Epidemic Sound
Music
Ecosystem by Anna Dager, Jakob Ahlbom, Hanna Ekström
