The Guns Are Close to Home
A Short AI Film & Original Song
This project has been nearly a year in the making.
It started as a simple idea: What if we used our creative skills—not for profit, not for a client—but to respond to something bigger? Something that’s tearing the world apart.
My collaborator Colin Weinmaster wrote and produced an original song with live musicians and a studio-recorded vocal by Gillian Thomson. It’s haunting, powerful, and honest. We had originally experimented with AI-generated vocals, but they felt hollow—so we went real. And it made all the difference.
One of the strongest visual metaphors in the video is the red line of blood, drawn through the sand by children. It appears early and threads through the entire film. It represents war, loss, and the false borders that divide us—territories, ideologies, beliefs. Watch for it. It carries the weight of every scene.
Created entirely with AI tools like DALL·E and Runway, it’s a blend of art direction, storytelling, and editorial design. It’s not perfect. But it’s something. Something we made to say: these wars are getting worse. And the world’s attention is thinning.
We chose to frame the film in a 1:1 square format—a claustrophobic box. It’s meant to feel tight. Trapped. Because that’s what this world can feel like when war is no longer distant. When the guns are close to home.
There are no politicians in this film. No enemies. Just children—of all backgrounds—left to inherit a world on fire. It’s a poetic warning. But it’s also a love letter to the idea that maybe, just maybe, they’ll be the ones to rebuild.
This wasn’t done for clicks. Or cash. It came out of our pockets, and it came from the heart.
Please watch. Share it if you feel moved.
Thank you for being here. And if you have ideas or thoughts, drop me a line.
Vocals
Gillian Thomson
Keys & Programming
Colin Weinmaster
Drums & Guitar
Allan Rodger
Bass
Billy Mendoza
Music, Lyrics & Production
Colin Weinmaster
Art Direction & Video
John Halliday
Visuals Created With
DALL·E & Runway