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Aha! Concepts × Daniels By Design · AI short film

MUSE Creative Awards 2026 Gold winner, 2 Golds and a Silver

WATCHER

An osprey watches Prince George's County, Maryland, from late afternoon to first light.

The first minute of the 3:34 film.

The big question

Can a film made with AI hold still long enough to make you notice?

Client

Aha! Concepts × Daniels By Design

Format

AI short film

Runtime

3:34

Recognition

MUSE Creative Awards 2026
Gold, Video: Short Film
Gold, Video
Silver, Video: Sustainability & Environment

What we did

Concept
Writing
Direction
AI generation
Narration casting
Edit
Sound design
Color grade

01 The ask

One instruction: pay attention.

An original film with Daniels By Design about a river in Prince George's County, Maryland, and the consequences close to home.

02 The problem

AI wants to show off. This film had to hold still.

Generated footage drifts toward big skies and stylized color. A film about noticing needed long, quiet shots of a place that looks real.

03 The move

Rules first. Pictures second.

Altitude, light and look were written down before a single image was generated. The osprey was checked against Chesapeake Bay anatomy. The script went from 5:31 to 3:34. The voice is a narrator from Baltimore.

The osprey's eye, the river reflected in it — The watcher

An osprey on its nest above the marsh — The nest

The river and the town from above — The river

Osprey character map: head, body, wing and talon views — The osprey

Character map of the driver: turnaround and hands — The driver

Character maps

A water tower above the trees at dusk — The water tower

A squeegee on a bug-covered windshield — The gas station

A quiet suburban street from above — The neighborhood

A Baltimore oriole on a branch — The oriole

A flooded parking lot from above — High water

The letters CH built from sticks, floating on water — Study 1

A second arrangement of the stick letters — Study 2

A third arrangement of the stick letters — Study 3

The WATCHER title card, the CH in sticks on the river — Final title

Title iterations

A dead tree against the lights of the waterfront at night — The waterfront

The edit timeline: picture, narration, sound and music tracks — The edit

The osprey's talons breaking through the water from below — Final shot

04 The film

Gotcha.

The last word of the film.Narrated by Michael Taliaferro

Script cut from 5:31 to 3:34. Forty-one shots, every picture generated, every finishing decision made by hand.

0% of the audio is AI.From the creative statement

MUSE Creative Awards 2026: two Golds, including Short Film, and a Silver.

Two gold and one silver MUSE Creative Awards statuettes

Deliverables

3:34 film in 4K, captioned 1080p version, title card, poster.

Credits

Directed by Anfon Ha
Written by Anfon Ha and Bryan Daniels
Narrated by Michael Taliaferro
Production Aha! Concepts × Daniels By Design

What are you making, and who needs to see it?

A few lines is plenty. You will hear back from a person.

[email protected]

Based in the DMV