Contact
ORIGINAL

FIRST WAVE

First contact, retold as a homecoming: one diver held from the seafloor to the portal.

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Role
Director
Format
Afrofuturist short
Runtime
0:24
Year
2026
Made with
Luma Ray 3.2 (created with Luma · @LumaLabsAI · #LumaCPP)
Status
Released with a full Luma Creative Partner Program rollout
A diver kneels on the seafloor as light falls from the surface onto a glowing artifact.

Brief

What if first contact never came from above, and had been waiting beneath the sea? A lone diver finds an artifact that turns out to be a mirror. The wave isn’t an invasion. It’s a return.

Director’s statement

Most first-contact stories are about fear. I wanted one about recognition, a homecoming with an Ubuntu throughline. The craft problem was continuity: one character, one palette, one mythology that holds from shot to shot so the world feels inhabited, not generated. Every shot is keyed by light falling from the surface. If a frame broke the world, it didn’t make the cut.

Three decisions

  1. The diver looks up beside the monolith as glowing figures stand behind her.
    01

    Hold the diver.

    Same face and suit from seafloor to portal to the spectral figures behind her.

  2. A lone diver descends through deep blue water as shafts of light fall from the surface.
    02

    One light.

    Shafts from the surface key every shot.

  3. Title poster: a lone diver floats upward through deep blue water toward light from the surface.
    03

    The credit is part of the design.

    The poster carries “A Xander Love Film / Created with Luma / Ray3.2” inside its lockup.

Sequence

A lone diver descends through deep blue water as shafts of light fall from the surface.
00:00:00.5
A diver kneels on the seafloor as light falls from the surface onto a glowing artifact.
00:00:03
A column of blue light spirals up from the artifact beside the kneeling diver.
00:00:07
The diver kneels beside a cracked, rune-carved monolith and lifts off her cap.
00:00:12
The diver looks up beside the monolith as glowing figures stand behind her.
00:00:16

Outcome

  • Released with a full Luma Creative Partner Program rollout.

Authorship Ledger

Human-authored
Concept, direction, selection, edit
Machine-generated
Footage generated with Luma Ray 3.2
Disclosure
“Created with Luma” on the poster and end card

How I work with AI

Credits & disclosures

A Xander Love Film
Director
Xander Simms
Created with Luma · Ray 3.2 · @LumaLabsAI · #LumaCPP
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