I’m excited to finally present BANISHED, the film that follows KITSUNE and a project that pushed me even further in consistency, world-building, and forging a deeper connection with the subject. Somewhere between Monte Cristo and The Pied Piper, this is a story where good and evil aren’t so easily defined. It’s a tale of vengeance (almost), but more than that, it’s a story about facing your own demons. About the Film Growing up, I never really found my place. I was the kid listening to grunge, alternative, and later metal—always feeling like I didn’t quite fit, always searching for people who got it. Even beyond music, finding my spot was always hard, and I know I’m far from being alone in that. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to this story—to create something that echoes that feeling of being on the outside, looking in. For those asking—yes, this is 100% VEO2 (text-to-image) for the shots, Eleven Labs for voice, Udio for music, MMaudio & various sound libraries for atmosphere, with Screenflow, Photoshop, and a mess of tools in between. A few hundred hours, lots of workarounds, plenty of patience, but also a lot of interesting “ah-ha” moments. As a side note, a few days ago, I saw a discussion about how cinema doesn’t look like cinema anymore, and how the push for hyper-preserved details in deep blacks and bright whites, new CGI workflows, combined with a lack of risk-taking from studios or directors, has flattened the identity of modern films. Art direction has always been the biggest part of my artistic life, and if there’s one thing I value in AI, it’s the ability to take risks, blend aesthetics, experiment, and find something new. pic.twitter.com/

— Bill Maursky (@BMaursky) BANISHED 📗🐦‍⬛ (@banished)