The Unread Poem
Animation 2 of 5 From " Silent Screams of War " Series
A story of love, sacrifice, and honor, a story that transcends the boundaries of life and death. It’s the story of a soldier, a son, a man who loved his family more than anything else in the world.
He was not just a man in uniform. He was a son who lost his mother, a child who saw his father fall on the battlefield. Yet, he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps, to serve his country, to risk his life for the sake of others. His love for his family was so profound that it extended beyond the confines of life itself.
He carried with him a letter, a poem he wrote for his mother when she passed away. A poem that was never read, never heard by anyone until he found himself on the battlefield, facing the inevitable. As he read the poem, he was transported back to the days of joy, of innocence, of love. He remembered the tree house, the fruits they picked, the video games they played. He remembered her laughter, her warmth, her love.
But then, the scene shifted. He was standing at her funeral, tears streaming down his face. The world as he knew it had collapsed. The one person who had always been there for him was gone. Yet, he found the strength to carry on, to live for her dreams, to honor her memory.
In his poem, he made a promise. A promise to be like his father, a soldier who died on the battlefield. A promise to carry on his father’s pride and honor. And as he read the last lines of his poem, he knew he was ready. Ready to face whatever came his way, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.
And then, there was a blast. The soldier, fell. But he did not fall in vain. He fell with honor, with pride. He fell knowing that he had fulfilled his promise. He fell knowing that his love for his family, his honor for his father, his memory of his mother would live on.
Process: A 3D animation was created, which was used as input for ControlNet for Stable Diffusion Deform. Music was composed using Splash Music Pro, and narration was done using Elevenlabs AI.
Sound design by Pegasus
This animation was born from a memory. As a kid, I saw an ad on tv of a soldier, dust-covered and weary, dying on a battlefield and recording his last message for his family, telling them how much he loved them. That image has haunted me, stayed with me, over the years🖤
After finishing the script, I blocked out the animation in Unreal Engine, using simple assets to represent the soldier and his surroundings🖤
Then I used Deforum Stable diffusion to transform that 3D Animation into a visually captivating shortfilm and also to provide this timelapse like effect to it 🖤
I composed the poem, and ChatGPT helped me refine its structure and word choice. For the audio, I captured my own voice and then used Elevenlabs speech-to-speech editing to enhance it🖤
Dive deeper into this short film by listening to my audio reflection, where I discuss the inspiration behind the work
