A recent personal experiment. I’ve always been interested in Death as a character, so I put him somewhere unexpected: a coffee shop.
This short was about testing tone, continuity, and treating the moment as completely real, within AI. No winks. No spectacle. Just Death, in line, trying to blend in.
Created with @higgsfield.ai
Edited with @adobe
I’ve spent my entire career in film and advertising. Making images. Obsessing over craft. Arguing about lenses. Pretending a 1% color shift matters (it does!).
AI is… a little intimidating.
Not in a doomsday way. (Yet. We’ve all seen Terminator.)
More in a “cool cool cool… I should probably understand this before my kids do” kind of way.
I don’t have answers. But after a career built on storytelling, I do feel a responsibility to lean in. So I decided to experiment using the one dataset I actually trust: memories with my kids. Moments I’d be genuinely upset to lose. If AI is shaped by what you feed it, that felt like a good place to start.
Did it create something new?
Did it just remix my feelings back at me?
Still unclear.
I brought my background in cameras, lensing, composition, and direction into the prompts—pushing for human emotion, imperfection, and restraint. What surprised me most was how familiar the process felt. It slowed me down. Made me notice motion, texture, and the messy parts of memory I usually rush past while chasing the next thing.
And I’ll admit it—I had fun.
Slightly confusing. Slightly uncomfortable.
But fun.
I’m not here with conclusions. I’m here learning in public, asking better questions, and trying to stay curious. After all these years of making images, that still feels like the job.
This piece was created using @GooglePhotos , @ChatGPT , @Higgsfield.ai (primarily Nano Banana Pro for imagery and @Klingai_Official for motion), @AdobeVideo for touch-ups, @SunoMusic for music, and @AdobeVideo for the edit. I also wanted to see how this footage responded to a traditional color grade, so my good friend @_jonesbrandon helped dial it in.
Hope you enjoy it.
Ask questions. Stay curious.
We made a short film called CHANGES about an advertising call. Using AI. Which means this post will probably get notes.
The entire piece was built with emerging AI tools and then directed like a traditional scene.
But the real idea behind it is simple:
What if production could keep up with the way ideas actually evolve?
Anyone who’s been on a creative call knows the moment.
Someone says, “Just one more thing…”
And the room shifts.
In the old model, that moment meant friction.
New timelines.
New costs.
New limitations.
With new tools, that moment can become momentum.
Because the instinct to refine, tweak, and explore is part of the process.
Technology evolves.
The meeting still does too.
Enjoy the call.
Welcome to @ritual_labs
What if you could watch the pitch before you buy the production?
That’s one of the ways we use Ritual Labs.
For an active brand pitch in the energy space, we built a cinematic pre-viz system to bring the world, tone, and narrative tension to life before cameras ever roll.
Because the future of production is being able to see the idea before you have to bet on it.
We made a short film about brushing your teeth for our friends at @getmouthology .
If you have kids, you know is less of a routine and more of a nightly variety show.
There’s singing.
There’s negotiating.
There’s toothpaste where toothpaste should never be.
The idea behind this piece was simple: brushing your teeth isn’t a sterile, perfect commercial moment. It’s chaos. It’s music. It’s kids pretending their toothbrush is a microphone. It’s parents wondering how a two-minute task somehow takes twelve.
So we made the toothpaste the narrator.
A tiny pop-punk witness to the beautiful mess of family life.
This was also an experiment in building a film with emerging AI production tools while still directing it like a real scene. Chasing human moments, imperfections, and the stuff that makes family life feel real.
Because honestly…the mess is kind of the point.
We’re proud to introduce Ritual Labs, a new creative technology venture from our award-winning production company, @ritualfilmco . Built to give brands more creative leverage across every phase of production, Ritual Labs develops story systems that combine world-class storytelling with AI to scale imagination and keep brands in continuous production.
Welcome to a new production state.
We’ve all been there.
The noisy neighbor.
The thin walls.
That one sound that somehow only starts when you’re finally ready to sleep.
How would Death deal with it?
Episode 2 of DAVE puts him in a very human situation: frustration, restraint, and the quiet moment where you decide whether to let something go. Or not.
This one was built using @higgsfield.ai , @elevenlabs.ai , @google Nano Banana Pro, and @klingai_official . All in service of something small, grounded, and character-driven. No spectacle. No winks. Just Death, in bed, trying to get some rest.
People seemed to like Episode 1, so I’m going to play in this world a little longer and see where it goes.
So now the real question is:
What’s next for Dave?
@dannyyourd has spent his entire career in film and advertising. Making images. Obsessing over craft. Arguing about lenses. Pretending a 1% color shift matters (it does!).
To him, AI is intimidating but also something to be experimented with and to understand. Because after a career spent in storytelling he feels a responsibility to lean in.
He’s ready to discuss all that and more at Outlook 2026 - AI: Somewhere Between Hype & Panic.
Follow the link in our bio to the upcoming events tab to learn more and register!
AI isn’t the point. Curiosity is. This is me messing around, exploring ideas, breaking things, and letting my imagination go wherever it wants. No brief, no client, no end goal. Some of it hits, some of it misses, and that freedom is the whole reason to do it.
I see AI as a tool for play and discovery, not shortcuts or answers. It’s a space to move fast, get strange, follow instincts, and surface ideas I wouldn’t have found otherwise. This is process out in the open. No rules. Just seeing what happens and having some fun.
Created with @higgsfield.ai
We’ve spent the last couple years building work we’re deeply proud of. Projects that stretched us, collaborators who inspired us, and stories that reminded us why we do what we do. Today, we’re excited to share our new two-minute sizzle reel: a look at the moments, people, and partnerships that shaped Ritual this past year.
At Ritual, story is more than a deliverable. It’s the grammar of how we see the world, the way we make sense of who we are and imagine what’s possible. This reel is a small reflection of that belief: that story can expand us, move us, and, if we’re lucky, connect us.
Thanks to every client, director, crew member and friend who helped make this work real.
Story isn’t just told. Story is a Ritual.
