Written and Directed by Andrew “Oyl” Miller. October 2026.
I've been wanting to test out some car scenes. And then the flying car stuff happened yesterday, and I figured what LinkedIn really needed was some more AI slop on the subject. And of course I set it all in Tokyo. If anyone knows Elon, please share. I might have found a few bugs. Happy Friday.
This piece was made in Luma with some references in Midjourney and the music with Suno. The clips are mostly Seedance 2.5. Uprezzed with Topaz Labs. #LumaCPP
Visual exploration and digital sketchbook
When I use Seedance 2.5, it’s helpful to have a character sheet like this to ensure character consistency. The model can see all of the angles and proper wardrobe. I also like to have a mix of full body shots and closeups of the face. I ask for various facial expressions, so the model doesn’t need to guess or invent too much when it comes time to generate.
An early render of the protagonist’s vehicle. Originally it was going to be much more cyberpunk Tokyo. I think I’ll come back to this design later. It’s giving me some ideas.
The first reference images I got with ChatGPT looked like this. It nearly made me stop trying all together. It didn’t look photographic. The colors were too strong and sweet. I couldn’t imagine a film happening here. So I kept going.
Then Luma’s Uni 1 took me here, which had a bit more atmosphere but still looked like a comp. If I can’t nail the setting and make it look filmic, I usually end up stopping the film.
Next I started mixing models. Feeding images from one model into MidJourney and tweaking it to run several times. Eventually, something showed some promise like this example. It’s a cool image and has some depth. But overall, it feels like a video game and not a film. Or like a blockbuster with really obvious CGI locations.
My mixing of models and leaning into MidJourney eventually got me here. Something that reminded me of my time living in Tokyo. The light from the street lights had the right tone and was affecting the surfaces in a realistic way. There was also some nice environmental haze going on that added a little bit of depth and magic.
This reference went a little too all in on the greens like early David Fincher, but I liked the taste and lensing of the image. The surfaces looked raw and lived in. Nothing too comp like sticking out here.
Then I got into some of Tokyo’s famous tunnels. With the distinctive orange lights and the speed blurs. Now I was starting to feel like this film could take place somewhere specific in Tokyo.
Once I trained MidJourney in what I was looking for, I started to go wider. And ended up with a series of tasty establishing shots that look right out of Tokyo at its most Blade Runner.
Then I dove into the city’s underbelly, where these drifters hang out, under the overpasses, bathed in that orange light and exhaust from their rides.