Concept worlds

Four worlds for Vera, the lead character in my short film Afterimage, each designed as a complete look. For each world I wrote a premise, generated the frames in Midjourney, then edited them down as I would edit a photo shoot.

Four worlds, 88 frames, 2026

The Machine That Dreams

An android dreaming she is human

The Becoming

Skin to chrome to mercury to light

The Ornate Dream

A masquerade that turns into a duel

The Neon City

Rain, neon and corridors of light

I used the four worlds to test whether Vera stays recognisable in very different settings and styles.

Frames I cut each had a specific problem, such as the wrong scale, the wrong light or a moment the story did not need.

None of the four became the setting of the film. The continuity rules I used in the final film came from these tests: scale, translucency, reflection and one controlled colour.

First explorations

Before the four worlds, my first idea for the film was about a small girl in a dark house, with a frayed red ribbon and an adult hand reaching for hers. I made these first frames in July 2026.

A child's hand on a cold, fogged windowpane, face behind the glass
A small girl at a bare wooden table, window behind her, symmetrical
A girl half-turned in a doorway, red hair, window light
Hands holding a frayed red ribbon
Close-up of the frayed red ribbon coiled on the floor
An adult hand reaching into frame from the dark, cold light
An adult hand and a child's hand almost touching, window light
The girl turning, her figure breaking into gold dust
A fallen sock and a glass marble on wooden boards
1 / 9
An empty doorway with a shaft of warm light on the floor

Afterimage

Next