Ostrich Widow Sees the World (Short Film) - Go on an Emotional Journey with an AI Ostrich

Can AI generate emotionally moving stories? I believe people should at least try to use AI to make meaningful movies so I created this short film to tell a story I could only tell using AI. Go on a heartfelt and strangely uplifting journey in this short film where an AI ostrich embarks on a world-traveling adventure to ease her grief and loneliness. From the Eiffel Tower to the Great Wall of China, from Dubai to Mumbai, the ostrich widow visits iconic landmarks around the world and even goes boating, skiing, and surfing.

🎥 🤖 How was this AI short film made?
I conceived the concept and story on my own then wrote prompts which I enhanced through a custom GPT trained on the best practices for the AI video generator I used (Hailuo AI MiniMax).
It started by generating a clip of an ostrich on a train looking out the window as Tokyo passed by. I really liked how it turned out and asked myself "Why would an ostrich travel the world?" I wanted an emotionally driven story and one evening two words jumped into my head: Ostrich Widow. The easiest parts were generating shots of the ostrich traveling. The hardest parts were the opening shots at the gravesite and the photos where the ostrich is looking at the photos and passports. AI helped me update "over the shoulder shot" (which always included a human's shoulder) to "over an ostrich's shoulder shot" which gave me the shots you see in this short movie. I'm really proud of the final shot

🎶 The music was generated with Suno 🎶

✍✨ SAMPLE PROMPTS (Comment if you want a specific shot, I'm running out of characters)

OSTRICH AT GRAVESITE
The scene opens with a wide, cinematic shot of the savannah, the horizon stretched low across the bottom of the frame. Endless golden grasses sway gently in the warm breeze, bathed in the soft, fading light of late afternoon. The sky above is vast, an expanse of soft blues and oranges, blending into a serene, open canvas that feels timeless. Slowly, the camera begins to pan down, revealing more of the quiet landscape until, finally, the silhouette of the ostrich comes into view. She stands before a small, solitary gravestone, her large frame still against the gently moving world around her. The engraved outline of an ostrich is visible on the stone, a simple and humble tribute. The camera holds for a moment on the scene, capturing the quiet dignity of the ostrich’s presence. There is no movement—just the soft rustling of the grasses and the profound silence of loss. The horizon stretches endlessly behind her, vast and open, but here, in this small space, the moment feels intimate, as if time itself has slowed to honor the weight of memory.

OSTRICH IN BED ALONE
Bird's eye view camera angle, a dimly lit bedroom, Laying down on the left side of the bed, an ostrich lies awake, its head resting gently on a pillow, eyes wide and reflective in the low light. The right side of the bed is poignantly empty, the covers undisturbed, a silent reminder of absence. The ostrich shifts slightly, its feathers barely rustling, the vast stillness of the night weighing heavily in the room. The camera slowly zooms in on the ostrich's eyes

AIRPLANE (I checked the box to use Hailuo AI's prompt enhancer for this one)
an ostrich sitting on an airplane next to other passengers as a flight attendant pushes a tray of drinks down the center aisle

EIFFEL TOWER
The camera gently drifts from behind the ostrich as it stands on a quiet patch of grass, gazing up at the Eiffel Tower. The bird’s large frame is still, its head slowly tilting, neck arching slightly in contemplation. The Eiffel Tower rises majestically in the background, filling the sky, while the ostrich remains grounded, small in its shadow. A soft breeze ruffles its feathers, and the only sound is the distant murmur of tourists, their laughter and voices blending into the background, as if in another world. The camera moves ever so slightly closer to the ostrich, capturing the subtle shift in its posture — curious, yet lonely, as it stands apart from the crowds around it, taking in the grandeur of Paris, alone.

FINAL SHOT
a framed photo of two ostriches with the Eiffel Tower in the background of the photo. the frame photo is sitting on a desk next a Tiffany lamp under a window. the window shows the african savannah outside. The camera pans from the framed photo to the window and through the glass we see only two ostriches: a mother ostrich and a baby ostrich running joyfully through the tall grasses of the savannah. cinematic

#aianimals #aishort #aishortfilm #aicinema #aistorytelling #ostrich #ostriches #ostrichegg #futureoffilm #hailuoai #minimax #TravelShortFilm #AnimalStory #WorldTraveler #OstrichWidow #LifeAfterLoss #CinematicAI #WholesomeContent #ExploreTheWorld #travelvlog #traveling #travelblog #travelvideo

[dandingles]

Never thought I would be so invested in the life of an Ostrich 🔥

[TashaCaufield]

This is SO awesome 😅🥰... And the seatbelt on the plane was just... precious ☺️... Bravo 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[joshkar]

Do you use any greenscreen or chroma key not sure what it is called but overlayung the ostrich animations on some scenes ? Or straight minimax only? I see a soft glow around the bird here abd there so i wondered