Ducharme Roxanne
ABOUT
Adrift in the cold depths, a creature named Wynn discovers a jar filled with visions from above the water. Through these borrowed memories, he begins to craft his own, transforming darkness into light and finding a place to belong. “The Sea That Dreamed” is a poetic journey through memory, belonging, and the quiet hope that lingers beneath the waves. A surreal meditation on what remains when everything else slips away, the film reflects on how, even in moments of confusion or solitude, small things can guide us home. Selected by nearly 30 international festivals and winner of more than 10 awards, the film was also a double finalist in two categories at the 2026 Cresta Awards, a finalist at the AI for Good Film Festival in Geneva, and received an Honorable Mention at the Reply AI Film Festival in Venice.
SELECTED FRAMES — 8 OF 8
PROCESS
The story and narration came first. I developed the structure and voiceover with ChatGPT, then reshaped the writing through my own editing, rhythm, and direction. Before generating any imagery, I created the narration in ElevenLabs and a restrained, cello-based score in Suno. Together, they established the emotional rhythm and timing of the film. Visual development began in Midjourney with Wynn, the jar of eyes, the empty underwater world, and the contrasting visions from above. I generated multiple versions of each element, keeping only those that supported the quiet, worn storybook atmosphere. Selected elements were combined using Runway References, then refined and color-balanced in Photoshop. The greatest challenge was keeping Wynn recognizable. His gills, fingers, toes, tail, and proportions frequently changed between generations. Many otherwise beautiful images and clips were rejected because he no longer looked like the same creature, the movement felt artificial, or the imagery distracted from the story. Animation was developed through repeated testing in Runway, Kling 2.5, and Veo 3. I directed slow camera movements, gentle arcs, drifting parallax, and restrained character motion. For the final transformation, I layered separately generated pigment effects over the coral and flower animation, making color appear to seep through the water. The edit follows a deliberate progression from a cold, monochromatic sea to a vivid underwater garden. Months after completing the original film, I retained its narration, music, pacing, and structure but regenerated key visuals and animation with newer models for greater continuity, movement, and depth. The tools generated possibilities. My work was in writing, directing, selecting, rejecting, retiming, compositing, and shaping them until the technology disappeared behind Wynn’s journey.
Credits
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