The second entry in the three-part Prompted series explores surreal film imagery inspired by the French and Italian New Waves. Presented entirely in black and white, the reel evokes the high contrast, pronounced grain, intimate compositions, and physical texture of 16mm and 35mm film.
Rather than constructing a continuous story, the piece presents fragments from an imaginary art film: solitary figures in private rooms, mirrored compositions, synchronized gestures, and subtly impossible events such as a teacup suspended in midair. The images suggest relationships and emotional histories without explaining them, allowing mood, juxtaposition, and visual ambiguity to provide the connective tissue.
This is the kind of experimental film I would have wanted to make in film school if I had possessed the budget for the cast, locations, production design, film stock, processing, and multiple setups it would have required. Generative tools allowed me to revisit that creative impulse without stripping away the traditional film sensibility behind it.
I developed a master-prompt system in ChatGPT that established the period, monochrome palette, contrast, grain, lighting, wardrobe, composition, and overall image quality before producing variations on individual ideas. I then explored image-to-video motion with Google Veo, particularly Veo 2’s Frames workflow, while also testing the capabilities of Veo 3.
The edit treats the resulting clips as cinematic fragments rather than technology demonstrations. Rhythm and visual association connect the images, creating the impression of scenes recovered from a surreal 1960s film that was never made.