Submerged

Synopsis

Secret Level created Submerged in under three days following Jason Zada’s TED 2025 talk on story world building, where the audience helped shape the story by selecting a genre (sci-fi), character (a beaver), setting (underwater), and object (a magic sock). Built entirely in Google DeepMind’s Veo 2, the short film explores themes of isolation, routine, and the courage to break free when everything feels lost. The team’s biggest challenge was making an AI-generated beaver feel truly emotive—and heartbreakingly real.