Presence — Creative Experiment #003
Opening Sparks • The Seed Poem
The spark for this short film came from a poem Kari and I wrote together in real-time online. Each line was a turn-based co-creation, synthesizing vulnerability, reframing fear as gratitude, and transforming connection into artifact — a living experiment in healthy relational dynamics. The interplay of voices created a crescendo of awareness and relational sacredness, a poem that is both reflection and enactment of healthy attachment dynamics.
Here’s the original co-created poem:
God’s Gift — Kari & Steve (2026)
[him]
Presence.
You are the tide and I am the flame.
[her]
Rhythmic waves calm and lull
Rhythmic sparks energize and awaken
[him]
I gaze into the depth. So deep.
Unquenched. Safe. Calm.
[her]
Eternal expansion does not frighten you or I
But gives permission for our whole beings to be
[him]
Alive. Alive. We are alive.
Seen. Understood. At peace.
[her]
Confidence in moving forward
Gratitude for the past
[him]
Presence is not earned.
It is a gift.
[her]
Divine intervention calculates and coordinates
The precision of the timing and impact of this gift
[him]
I feel it. You feel it. It is sacred.
It is eternal.
Lab note: The poem’s structure — alternating voices and rising emotional crescendo — immediately suggested a visual and musical improvisation, a direct translation of presence into imagery and sound.
Tools & Trinkets • Software and AI Stack
This was a low-budget, high-imagination experiment, improvised entirely in real time using AI and open-source tools:
- Poem: Kari & Steve
- Music generation: Producer.ai — prompts and lyrics written by ChatGPT, three segments
- Video generation: Grok Imagine — 30 surreal, paradoxical, vertical clips
- Video editing: Kdenlive
- Operating system: Linux Mint, three-monitor desktop setup
Lab note: Designing the visual prompts in advance with ChatGPT helped unify the color palette, lighting scheme, and motifs, giving the improvised footage a cohesive, ethereal feel.
Mixing & Matching • Music & Visuals
The structure followed the poem’s natural emotional and relational arc:
- Intro: Alternating “voices” implied through visual and musical motifs
- Instrumental segments with layered effects: Call-and-response echoes, overlapping textures, dynamic crescendos
- Outro: The final image evokes a return to presence, closing the circle of awareness
All clips were improvised in sequence — nothing was pre-recorded or meticulously timed. Every choice was intuitive, responding directly to the poem and the emerging visuals.
Lab note: Improvisation was the engine of discovery. Every layer — music, visuals, and sequencing — emerged organically, reinforcing the poem’s relational pulse.
Image Layering • Visual Storytelling
The visual strategy relied on two intertwined layers:
- Paradoxical motifs: floating stones, inverted water, melting flames, mirrors, mist, sparks — recurring anchors to unify the piece
- Human presence: implied gestures, reaching hands, subtle shadows, connecting to the poem without literal storytelling
Lab note: Each vertical shot is roughly 6 seconds — enough to linger but short enough to maintain momentum. The constraints of the format encouraged improvisational experimentation and bold visual choices.
Iteration & Discovery • Editing the Story
Every component — music, imagery, sequencing — was produced in real time, iterating on intuition rather than technical planning.
- Music: improvised in one segments using Producer.ai
- Visuals: surreal and paradoxical, generated entirely in Grok Imagine
- Video editing: layered, composited, and arranged in Kdenlive in the same session
Lab note: Improvisation replaced planning. The final crescendo of voices and imagery mirrors the immediacy and presence of the co-writing process itself.
Time in the Lab • Duration & Workflow
- Total shots: 30 surreal vertical images
- Working hours: 2
- Completion: fully improvised and online in the same session
What Did It Cost? • Budget Breakdown
- Grok Imagine: Free, with daily limits; creative workaround for batch generation
- Producer.ai: $8/month for 600 iterations
- Kdenlive & Audacity: Free, open source
Lab note: Initially, ChatGPT suggested cliché visual metaphors. I insisted on avant-garde, paradoxical imagery, with shots designed to feel alive, uncanny, and symbolic:
- Juxtaposition: Combines natural elements in impossible ways
- Paradox: Breaks expectations of time, gravity, and physics
- Symbolic storytelling: Flame, water, and tide motifs recur in unexpected forms
- Cinematic rhythm: Shots last ~6 seconds, overlapping with music to reinforce emotional pacing
Closing Reflections
Creating PRESENCE was more than turning a poem into a short film. It was a living enactment of co-creation — a demonstration of relational mirroring, emotional synthesis, and shared presence. Each improvisation, each clip, each musical layer became part of an alchemy of collaboration, transforming ephemeral turns of dialogue into a visual and musical meditation.
Sometimes, if you embrace the unknown and follow intuition, a co-written poem can manifest as a sacred short film in a single afternoon.
— Steve Teare
Master Alchemist