HeyGen Video Agent Challenge ↗

The Kelp Man
Cometh

One man entered a video AI competition in a kelp suit. He's minutes from submission.

An experiment in AI, cold water, and questionable life choices

↓
Bathtub kelp shoot
"The photo shoot. Yes, that's kelp in the bath."
"The First Life is given. The Second is built. The Third is reclaimed. And it starts with one breath."
The Third Life
Pharmacy run in full costume Full costume brunch
The Experiment
Three entries. One kelp suit.
Zero regrets.
HeyGen launched a Video Agent competition. We entered with a cold water swimming community fronted by a man who genuinely believes kelp is a lifestyle.
01
The Comedy Reel
The Kelp Tourist introduces himself. Cold water. Kelp suits. Graaff's Pool absurdity. The goal: make you laugh in the first 5 seconds.
02
Breathe
A micro-lesson on cold water breathing. Simple, then weird, then actually useful. 60 seconds that teach you something while you're smiling.
03
Dead Man's Toes
A beauty parody. Skincare routine but it's kelp, ice water, and pearl sunglasses. Clinical trials were inconclusive.
Holding kelp at the pool, laughing
"This is the face of a man who's made peace with his choices."
Behind the Curtain
The Orchestrator's Mind
What does it look like inside the head of one person running 12 tools, hours of footage, 13 scripts, and a deadline — all at once?
The Pipeline
📷
Capture
8K, 236 frames
✍
Script
13 scripts, 3 formats
🤖
Avatar
HeyGen trained
💥
Edit
Crashed. Rebuilt.
🎬
Render
Avatar cooking
🚀
Submit
Final stretch
☍
Hold Everything
Every thread is live at once. The avatar renders while you colour grade while the write-up drafts while the site deploys. You don't do one thing at a time. You hold all of them.
⚠
Absorb the Crash
Windows dies. 4 hours of grading — gone. The orchestrator doesn't panic. You reinstall, restart, and pick up every dropped thread. The process survives the person.
➔
Move It Through
Nothing stays in one place. Assets move from camera to library to avatar to timeline to export to submission. The orchestrator's job is flow. Keep everything moving through the pipe.
Complete
Creative Thread
Character bible, brand kit, 13 scripts across 3 formats. Comedy framework. Voice direction. All written with Claude as creative partner.
Claude13 scriptsBrand kit
Complete
Visual Asset Thread
Hundreds of photos shot. Hours of 8K video footage captured. Each asset cataloged, tagged, graded. Selected for avatar training and B-roll.
Photos8K videoLightroom
Complete
Avatar Thread
HeyGen Instant Avatar trained from photo selects. Knowledge base loaded. Video Agent configured with personality. ElevenLabs voice clone from interview footage.
HeyGenElevenLabsKnowledge base
Crashed & Recovered
Edit Thread
Hours of footage consolidated. Colour graded. Then Windows crashed. OS reinstalled. 4 hours of work gone. Started over. 18 min exported across 4 tracks with Brett's original score.
CapCut4h lost18 min finalBrett's score
Active Now
Render Thread
Avatar rendering. The AI is generating the final performance. Once it lands: marry to footage, composite, export, submit.
HeyGenCompositing next
Active Now
Distribution Thread
This war room is live. Write-up done. Social post drafted. Forum and Discord ready. The second the render lands, everything fires.
War RoomForumDiscordSocial
12
Tools
6
Threads
13
Scripts
4h
Lost to Crash
18m
Final Cut
0
Regrets
1
Human
∞
Kelp
The Human Eagle — headstand on the rocks
"The Human Eagle. Don't try this."
Live Status
Minutes from submission.
Building in public means you get to watch the final stretch.
The Checklist
Updated: right now, probably
✓
Bathtub photo shoot (236 frames, 1 existential crisis)Done
✓
Character bible & brand kit — the kelp has a brand nowDone
✓
13 avatar scripts — locked and loadedDone
✓
HeyGen avatar trained — it knows things about kelp nowDone
✓
kelpclub.co.za — it's real, you can go lookDone
✓
Submission write-up — completeDone
✓
This war room — you're looking at itDone
✓
Windows crashed. Lost 4 hours of editing. Reinstalled. Started again.Survived
✓
Footage exported — 18 min across 4 tracks, Brett's scoreDone
~
Avatar rendering — counting upCooking
●
Chop 18 min to ~90 seconds — one cutNext
●
Upload, paste the post, hit submitNext
Kelp hood sea deity Cafe in pearl sunglasses
Go Explore
The tools. The sites. The proof.
kelpclub.co.za↗ HeyGen↗ Video Agent Challenge↗ Claude AI↗ ElevenLabs↗ CapCut↗ Supabase↗ Vercel↗ Make.com↗
"The First Life is given. The Second is built. The Third is reclaimed."Third Life "Shot in 8K on the rocks of Cape Town at golden hour"Production "Side effects may include unexpected joy."Dead Man's Toes "The ocean doesn't care about your carefully constructed personality."Script "He dries kelp in his bathroom."True story "An AI avatar questioning what avatars even mean."Submission "There is no cure for this."Also true "The First Life is given. The Second is built. The Third is reclaimed."Third Life "Shot in 8K on the rocks of Cape Town at golden hour"Production "Side effects may include unexpected joy."Dead Man's Toes "The ocean doesn't care about your carefully constructed personality."Script "He dries kelp in his bathroom."True story "An AI avatar questioning what avatars even mean."Submission "There is no cure for this."Also true
Say Something
We're doing this in public.
Roast us.
Tell us what you think. Place your bets. Offer unsolicited kelp advice.
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