Jiayi Li
Cotton
Candy Cult
Fiction, dressed as evidence.
How believable can
an invented history become?
A first-year graduate team experiment exploring how AI can make invented news and history appear credible, through the story of a fictional cult.
An artistic experiment in fiction, not evidence of audience deception.
- Format
- AI visual exploration + short film
- My contribution
- Story ideation · Midjourney images · Runway video generation
- Authorship
- Concept images: Jiayi Li
Final film: Team work with John Luo, Proud
Something sweet.
Something unsettling.
17 Midjourney concept images by me, grouped by visual theme. Pastel villages and ritual-like gatherings bring sweetness and unease together. These are concepts, not film stills.
The village
A familiar setting, softened into a strange confection.
Collective rituals
Repetition, gathering and the image of belonging.
Faces of the fiction
Costumes and characters suspended between tenderness and unease.
At the edge of a dream
More abstract encounters with the same imagined belief system.
The fiction in motion.
Our final film takes a different visual direction from my concepts. Created with John Luo and Proud.
Contribution & context
My contribution: story ideation, Midjourney concept images and Runway video generation.
