Science & Tech
We created the ending and cover visuals for the VACAT Awards concept film, using deep space, spacecraft and streams of light to push the imagination of AI creation further.
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01 / Background
The full film for the 3rd AI Visual Creativity Competition (VACAT Awards) covers a recap of the competition, creator introductions, and partnerships with platforms and universities. Our part was the ending sequence and the video cover: once the event information has been delivered, the film needs a final run of images that suddenly opens up the imagination and carries the theme “Defining the Next Wave of AIGC Creation” further forward.
For the ending we chose space travel. The spacecraft, giant planets, black-hole-like rings and orange-and-blue streams of light share one visual style, and a single spacecraft links the scenes into one continuous landscape. This page shows the full film of about 1 minute 50 seconds so you can see the context; the space ending we made starts at around 87 seconds.
02 / Creative Highlights
After the theme card, the spacecraft skims over a frozen surface and a ring-shaped megastructure, then enters radiating streams of light. Following the ship through one space landscape after another, viewers go from reading event information to feeling a voyage.
In close-ups you can see the ship's hull and blue engine glow; beside planets and vortexes it becomes tiny. The size contrast lets viewers feel how vast the universe is, rather than relying on words like “grand” to describe the future.
The ending keeps returning to cool blue light, bright orange bands and arcing rings, which appear along the voyage, at the edges of planets and in the closing background. The light guides the eye, ties the colors of each segment together, and finally frames the competition name.
03 / Scene Breakdown
The first part of the full film was made by the organizer: quick cuts of past winning works, a recap of the previous edition, and the new edition's tracks and partnerships with universities and overseas partners. We keep only two clips here for context; our part is the space ending from 86 seconds on.
After an alien-themed work, the title “AI Visual Creativity Competition · VACAT Awards” pops up, and the film shifts from showcasing works to recapping the competition.
Large green type reads “Defining the Next Wave of AIGC Creation.” In the next shot, the screen hands over to the space ending we made.
The ending starts here: the spacecraft first appears over an ice field, then plunges into blue-orange streams of light and flies past planets and through an asteroid belt. The whole way, we follow the same ship.
The ship flies past a frozen surface and a ring-shaped megastructure, and in the next shot plunges into radiating blue-orange streams of light. This frame also became the video cover.
The ship follows an orange band of light past a giant planet and a black-hole ring. When the camera pulls back, the ship is just a dot, and the scale of the universe hits at once.
In close-up you can see the hull and blue thrusters, with debris streaking past on both sides and a blue-and-orange vortex in the distance.
The ship flies farther and farther away, planets and rings fill the frame, and a final band of light remains to hold up the competition name.
A dark planet fills the frame and the ship streaks across it, almost too small to see; then rings and orange light spread across the lower half of the screen.
The ship flies toward the bright light at the center of the ring as gold and blue bands stretch out on either side.
The planet's arc and the band of light stay in the background as “3rd AI Visual Creativity Competition · VACAT Awards · Now Setting Sail” appears, and the film closes.
04 / Gallery
05 / Results
We produced the space ending and the video cover for the competition's concept film. This page shows the full film; the roughly 23-second ending is ours, including the spacecraft's voyage, the celestial landscapes and the end card.
Case Study
The 3rd AI Visual Creativity Competition (VACAT Awards) was releasing a promo film.
The first 80-odd seconds were packed: winning works, judges, platform partnerships, and campus and overseas exchanges.
After all that, the film still needed an ending that would hold the viewer's eye.
We made the last 23 seconds and the video cover: a spacecraft sets off from an ice field, passes through streams of light and planets, and finally brings the competition name onto the screen.
01
The first half of the promo is almost entirely text cards and event photos, one after another, laying out the competition's achievements and new features.
The last card reads “Defining the Next Wave of AIGC Creation.” If more text followed, viewers would just be reading information.
The ending had a different job: make people feel where this competition is headed, then land on the competition name.
We chose space travel. One spacecraft, from departure through the crossing to arrival, in one unbroken line.
As the green theme card closes, the picture cuts to the ship over the ice field, which then plunges into the streams of light.
02
Before starting, we were given a set of space images showing the look we wanted: black holes, planets, and orange and blue streams of light.
We had GPT analyze these references and reverse-engineer prompts in Chinese and English, then organized them into a template:keep the base style fixed, change only the subject and composition.
The base style: a deep-space background, cool blue light interwoven with orange-red streams, an ultra-wide angle, motion blur, and a very small spacecraft in frame as a scale reference. The subject rotates among a black hole's accretion disk, giant planets, interstellar portals, space stations and wormholes.
The images this produced all share the same color and light, like one family, while the scenes differ, so nothing jumps when they are cut into one continuous voyage.
We also compared several image models: some were more realistic, others more fantastical. This ending called for a dreamlike universe, so we went with the more fantastical direction.
03
Open on a close-up of thrusters firing, and viewers don't yet know where the ship is or where it's going.
So the first shot is wide: a frozen surface, a ring-shaped megastructure and a ringed planet in the distance, with the ship skimming past in front. Viewers see this world clearly first, and in the next shot the ship plunges into the light.
This shot also became the video cover. It needs no text; on its own, it reads as a film about imagination and the future.
In the shots that follow, changes in the ship's size carry the sense of scale: in close-ups you can see the hull and blue thrusters; beside a planet, the ship is just a dot.
The camera pulls back and the ship becomes a dot on the band of light.
04
Once the stills were locked, we generated video from first and last frames: given the opening and closing image of a shot, the model fills in the motion between them.
In the generation prompts we specified sound effects only, no background music. That way the footage could go straight into the edit without stripping out music and re-adding effects, saving a step.
In the final film, every shot moves forward: the ship flies deeper into the frame and the light streams pull the same way, so the scenes join into one unbroken voyage.
The ship doesn't appear in the last shot. The planet's arc and the band of light remain on screen as the background for the competition name.
The ship disappears into the light, and the band of light stays to hold up “3rd AI Visual Creativity Competition · VACAT Awards · Now Setting Sail”.
05
For the organizer, the promo gained an ending people remember after watching, plus a cover that works without any text.
For us, it was a fast segment job: about 3 hours from receiving the reference images to delivering the ending.
The speed came from a fixed workflow: break down the references and set a prompt template; batch-generate stills and pick the ones that connect; then join them into continuous motion with first and last frames.
The same approach works for event openers, brand film endings, launch-event big screens and other occasions that need a stretch of high-quality visuals on a tight schedule.
FAQ
We first used GPT to analyze the reference images and reverse-engineer prompts in Chinese and English, organized them into a template with a fixed base style and interchangeable subjects and compositions, and batch-generated 16:9 stills. We then turned the stills into video from first and last frames and cut them into one continuous voyage.
Yes. In this film, our ending follows right after the theme card “Defining the Next Wave of AIGC Creation,” uses the ship's voyage to push the theme forward, and leaves the band of light as the background for the competition name, “VACAT Awards · Now Setting Sail.”
For this project, it took about 3 hours from receiving the reference images to delivering the roughly 23-second ending. Timing depends on the number of shots and whether the style already has references.
Yes. The video cover for this project came from the first shot of the ending: the ship skimming past the ice field and a ring-shaped megastructure, in 1920×1080 landscape.
Approach
Our approach to the space scenes: analyze the reference images, distill prompts in Chinese and English, then generate images with different subjects and compositions. Every image keeps the deep space, orange-blue light streams, wide angle and a small ship for scale, while the subject shifts among black holes, planets and interstellar portals, so the visuals stay coherent while the landscapes vary.
With the stills locked, we tested first-and-last-frame video and the motion of the ending, checking the aspect ratio, the ship's size and how the light streams connect. What makes the ending work is continuous motion and size contrast: however striking a single image is, it has to become a voyage viewers can follow.
In the final film, the ship carries through high-speed travel and celestial landscapes, and the band of energy light is left as the background for the competition's end card. The shot breakdown on this page is timed to the full film; the earlier event recap is there only for context, and our part was just the ending and the cover.
More Work
Ideal for brand launches · public-sector communications · cultural-tourism campaigns · IP transformation · event openers · earnings visualization · social campaigns · AI workflow development
