03/30/2026
I turned a photo series into a video using AI (VEO 3)
I already had a photo series in mind for my first Google Veo experiment. AI is weird and unsettling, so I decided to lean into that. Years ago, I created a photo series titled The Electric Head, which follows a man with a head made of electricity through his daily life (swipe to see the original photos). I achieved the effect by attaching lights to my head and spinning it around during several-second long exposures. Light on concept but big on fun, it has always been one of my favorite projects.
Because of the sequential nature of the series, I used the photos as a storyboard for a video using the latest version of Google’s Veo generator. I fed them into the model with prompts for blocking and camera movement to generate the clips, then brought everything into Premiere for color correction, sound mixing, and final assembly.
And boom, I made myself some “AI slop.”
I kid, of course. I developed the concept, shot the original source material, navigated the generator to produce high-quality outputs, and edited the final piece for pacing. The end result is a direct product of my own creative choices.
Not going to lie: this was fun. Seeing my photos come to life was incredible. It’s a tool, but not a precision one. And it takes a lot of “divining” to get exactly what you want out of it. Having fun exploring the possibilities.
Check out the original photo series at www.dylanchilds.com/the-electric-head
