In how many days and how much budget did China’s Liu Jiyu make his AI short film? Which AI filmmaker of Hollywood praised Liu Jiyu’s film and offered him a job? Which film was inspired by Liu Jiyu’s viral short film ‘Zombie Scavenger’? What did Liu Jiyu say about going to America despite getting offers from Hollywood?
A 29-year-old boy from China has done such a wonderful job with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that he got a job offer directly from Hollywood. Liu Jiyu, a resident of Xinping County in south-western China’s Yunnan province, made a short film in just 10 days and with a modest budget of 3,000 yuan (about Rs 42,000). According to Chuncheng Evening News, Liu released his AI film ‘Zombie Scavenger’ on Chinese social media platforms on May 9.
This film, which started as a small passion project, became a worldwide hit within no time. The very next day, Hollywood’s famous AI filmmaker PJ Accetturo praised the film online. “This is one of the best short films I’ve seen in years,” Accetturo wrote. He further wrote, “If anyone can find this director, please link his social media. I would like to hire him, but I can’t find him. I think he is a Chinese creator on Douyin (China’s TikTok-like platform).”
After this praise, there was tremendous interest in the film among the people and ‘Zombie Scavenger’ was viewed more than 60 million times worldwide. Eventually, Internet users passed Aceturo’s message to Liu, who responded politely. Liu said clearly, “I don’t know English. I want to concentrate on my work in China.”
Despite this big offer from Hollywood, Liu said that at present he has no intention of going to America. However, he also told that he has talked to Aceturo’s team several times through letters. The team has asked them to contact them if they wish to make advertisements or films in America. Liu was quoted as saying, “I have no plans to go to America right now. To me, they are like my friends in America.”
This three and a half minute short film has been designed in a special ‘atompunk’ style. It tells an emotional love story between a robot and a model doll. Liu said that he got inspiration for this project from Disney’s famous science-fiction film ‘WALL-E’ released in 2008. The most surprising thing is that Liu made this entire film single-handedly within 10 days. Their expenditure was only on software subscription and AI-generation tokens.
Liu has no previous connection with technology or art. He graduated from a technical school in combustion engine driving and maintenance. Before becoming a wedding photographer, he worked as a train driver for three years. His journey into AI filmmaking began earlier this year when his parents asked him to create a promotional material for the opening ceremony of their family hotel. This small work that started for the family soon became a new career for him.
Liu also shared the technology behind his cinematic AI output. He explained that successful AI prompting requires emotional and logical clarity. “My prompt formula is: movement plus motivation plus mood, not just telling the AI what movement to do,” Liu said. The intellectual property rights for the film ‘Zombie Scavengers’ have already been awarded to a Chinese film company, with Liu overseeing the main narrative direction of the story. Despite his overnight fame and international recognition, Liu says he is staying grounded and focused on learning. Liu said, “I don’t like to get carried away by small successes. I will continue to study.” He further said, “I am looking forward to my next project and hope that this one too will pass the test of the public.”