Hope’s Oasis is a concept I began back at SCAD. Originally, I imagined a little robot boy stranded on a tiny asteroid, forced to build a giant solar panel that looked a little like a tree so he could charge his batteries. It was a cute idea that never went anywhere.

But over the years, the idea shifted in two significant ways. First, I wanted a story about nature, and a tree girl made more sense than a robot boy. Second, I decided this was a good time to experiment with another concept, a human/AI collaboration. Rather than previously made videos, where the creators use AI to make sub-standard art, I want to involve AI as much as possible but still produce something that actually looks good, and is enjoyable. It would require far more collaboration between both humans and AI, meaning the creators would still have to get their hands dirty and overrule the AI if the direction wasn’t right.

With these ideas in mind, the main goal of this is to create a touching and emotionally powerful film that is neither fully human nor fully AI-derived, but an attempt to see how much we can use AI as a tool to excel our work without hindering us or diminishing our creative input.

Synopsis:

The sole survivor of a shuttle that crashed into an alien world must spend her days trying to survive while nurturing the only other living thing that survived the accident, an experimental plant. When the plant grows to be something more than she was expecting, the pair must fight against time to save themselves.