A vibrant Puerto Rican narrative of love, loss, and redemption. One man's journey through disappointment and self-discovery, told through traditional culture and modern beats
A story of disappointment, transformation, and colorful redemption
A beloved Sri Lankan baila hit reimagined as a Latin Tech-House anthem
This project is built around "රොසලිනා" by Nalin Perera & Marians — one of Sri Lanka's most iconic baila party songs. The original tells a hilariously relatable story of a man whose three girlfriends (Irene, Catherine, and Magilin) all leave him for different reasons, while he desperately clings to his beloved Rosalina. The song's infectious "Epa Epa Epa" chorus, its comedic energy, and its universal theme of romantic chaos made it the perfect foundation for a Latin-infused global club anthem. I transformed its baila bounce into a 2026 Latin Tech-House banger — Spanish guitar riffs, heavy 4/4 kicks, tribal drums, and Pitbull-style charismatic vocals that turn this Sri Lankan party classic into a summer festival smash.
From Sri Lankan baila party classic to global Latin Tech-House anthem
The reimagination preserved the song's irresistible comedic energy and storytelling — three women leaving one hapless man — while completely globalizing its delivery: translating the humor turned Sinhala colloquial storytelling into punchy English rap-flow that keeps the original melody structure ("I-rene / tha-ra-ha / u-na" → "Irene is acting shady"), restructuring the flow into rhythmic verse sections with Tech-House build-ups, a massive "Epa Epa" → "No! No! No!" drop chorus, a Dubai verse, and a tribal drum dance break, and reimagining the sonic palette from baila acoustic party energy to a 2026 Latin Tech-House Moombahton fusion — Spanish guitar riffs, heavy 4/4 kicks, deep sub-bass drops, and charismatic male vocals.
Crafting an authentic Puerto Rican narrative
"Rosalina" tells the story of a young Puerto Rican man experiencing romantic turmoil with three women, each representing different aspects of his life and choices. Set against the backdrop of traditional Puerto Rican interiors and contemporary nightlife, the project explores themes of guilt, disappointment, and the journey toward self-redemption. The narrative unfolds through 18 carefully choreographed scenes synchronized to a 124 BPM rhythm in 9B Camelot key, blending cultural authenticity with modern visual storytelling.
The project prioritizes genuine representation of Puerto Rican culture through meticulous attention to traditional dress, interior design, and social dynamics. Each female character wears authentic Puerto Rican traditional dress with region-specific patterns and colors, while the settings—from the old-style living room to the traditional front door area and kitchen—reflect genuine Puerto Rican domestic architecture and aesthetic sensibilities. This cultural grounding transforms the narrative from generic relationship drama into specific cultural story about identity, tradition, and modernity's intersection.
The story follows a clear emotional progression: guilt and frustration (living room scenes), attempted reconciliation and continued loss (departure scenes), isolation and consequences (salon and wallet scenes), and finally, the women's liberation and joy (dance sequences). The protagonist's journey from surrounded by disappointed women to alone with his regrets creates powerful visual and emotional contrast, while the women's transformation from accusers to liberated dancers suggests their freedom from his influence is the true resolution.
The creative arsenal behind Rosalina
24 images documenting the complete character and environment creation process
Iterative creation of culturally authentic personas
Image 1: Researched Puerto Rican traditional dress codes for young women. Generated reference image of headless figure wearing authentic Puerto Rican dress to establish garment structure and draping.
Image 2: Changed dress pattern to eye-catching colorful design. Generated side, back, and front profiles against white background for complete wardrobe reference.
Image 3: Generated complete figure with head, but ethnicity didn't match Puerto Rican characteristics—required refinement.
Image 4: Generated Puerto Rican ethnic woman's head with culturally accurate features, properly matched to the traditional dress.
Image 5: Created extreme close-up of face capturing full facial details, skin texture, and expression clarity for consistent character recognition across scenes.
Image 1: Used storefront display photo as reference—authentic Puerto Rican traditional dress photographed in commercial context, ensuring cultural accuracy.
Image 2: Generated Puerto Rican woman wearing the referenced dress. Created all profiles (side, back, front) against white background for complete character consistency.
Image 3: Full facial close-up with maximum detail and clarity, establishing her unique features and expressions for scene-to-scene continuity.
Image 1: Fully AI-driven generation of Puerto Rican woman in traditional dress, synthesizing learned patterns from previous character development to create authentic representation.
Image 2: Generated comprehensive profile views (side, back, front) against white background, ensuring character can be consistently positioned across multiple scenes.
Image 3: Extreme facial close-up capturing unique beauty, expression nuances, and identifying characteristics for seamless integration across 18-scene narrative.
Image 1: Generated Puerto Rican young man in formal suit with half-unbuttoned shirt, conveying exhaustion and frustration—visual shorthand for end-of-workday stress and emotional turmoil.
Image 2: Generated side, back, and front profiles against white background, but only upper half visible—insufficient for full-body scenes.
Image 3: Re-generated all profiles showcasing complete full-figure imagery, enabling wide shots and full-body choreography in narrative scenes.
Image 4: Full facial close-up with emphasis on tired, guilty expression—capturing the emotional weight central to his character arc throughout the story.
Traditional Puerto Rican interior spaces
Generated old-style traditional Puerto Rican living room serving as the primary narrative space. Features authentic furniture, color schemes (warm earth tones, vibrant accent colors), decorative elements (religious imagery, family photographs, traditional textiles), and spatial layout typical of Puerto Rican homes. This space hosts the central confrontations and serves as the emotional core of the narrative— where accusations occur, guilt manifests, and the protagonist sits alone with his regrets.
Derived from the living room aesthetic, generated the front door interior area maintaining consistent architectural style, color palette, and design language. This threshold space becomes symbolically significant—the location of departures, the physical boundary between inside (domestic sphere, conflict) and outside (freedom, escape). The second woman's kiss-and-leave scene occurs here, transforming this architectural feature into emotional pivot point.
Also inspired by the original living room, generated traditional Puerto Rican kitchen space complete with period-appropriate appliances, tile work, and organizational aesthetics. The kitchen represents domestic labor, sustenance, the heart of home—making it particularly poignant location for the third woman's departure. Each background location carries specific emotional and symbolic weight within the larger narrative architecture.
The challenge of integrating characters with narrative intent
Initial integration placed all four personas in the living room setting, but the AI defaulted to fashion photography conventions—model poses, confident stances, stylized arrangements. The characters looked like they were posing for a campaign rather than experiencing genuine emotional conflict. The visual language contradicted the narrative intent: we needed tension, disappointment, and accusation, not polished presentation.
Refined the prompt to specify "sitting and standing" but the result still emphasized fashion-forward postures. While the characters were no longer uniformly posed, their body language remained too composed, too deliberately arranged. The AI interpreted "standing" and "sitting" as compositional directions rather than emotional states, producing aesthetically pleasing but narratively empty tableau.
Generated closer framing with characters appearing to engage in conversation, but the emotional tone read as pleasant discussion—friendly chat rather than confrontation. The proximity and engagement were correct, but the facial expressions, gestures, and overall energy conveyed warmth and connection. This directly contradicted the core narrative: these women are disappointed, frustrated, accusatory; the man is guilty, defensive, overwhelmed.
The breakthrough came from extremely specific emotional and postural keywords: "arguing," "frustrated man," "disappointed women," "accusing gestures," "defensive posture," "guilty expression." This final iteration successfully generated the intended scene—three women surrounding the seated man, their body language aggressive or withdrawn, his posture collapsed and defensive, facial expressions conveying the full spectrum of relationship breakdown. The close-up framing intensified the claustrophobic sense of being surrounded by accusation with no escape.
Lesson Learned: AI image generation interprets aesthetic instructions more reliably than emotional ones. To achieve specific emotional content, prompts must be hyperspecific about facial expressions, body language, gestural vocabulary, and the relationships between figures—not just their spatial arrangement but their emotional dynamics. Generic terms like "tension" or "drama" produce generic results; precise descriptions of how tension manifests physically produce authentic emotional scenes.
18 scenes choreographed to 124 BPM in 9B Camelot
Cinematic drone shot begins at cloud level, slowly descending toward a Puerto Rican neighborhood. Camera finds specific house exterior, then continues movement through window or transition effect into interior matching the generated living room. Establishes geographic and cultural context while creating seamless exterior-to-interior transition that grounds the narrative in specific place.
The protagonist sits alone in the living room, posture collapsed, face expressing guilt and internal conflict. He appears to be thinking about his mistakes, replaying events, confronting his role in the situation. Camera slowly pushes in toward him, tightening frame to emphasize isolation and internal turmoil. Multiple shot variations provide editing flexibility for pacing emotional beats to music. (124 BPM sync)
Same emotional state and cinematography as Scene 2, but relocated to front door area interior. Visual variety maintains viewer engagement while the repeated emotional beat emphasizes the inescapability of his guilt—it follows him room to room, space offers no refuge from internal accusation. Location changes reinforce that this isn't momentary feeling but pervasive state.
Third iteration of the contemplative guilt sequence, now in kitchen setting. The repetition across three distinct locations creates visual rhythm that mirrors the obsessive nature of guilt—thoughts that loop regardless of external environment. By the third iteration, viewers understand this is his constant state, not momentary reaction.
Three women surround the seated man, gestures and expressions accusatory. They blame, argue, point— their body language aggressive while his is defensive and collapsed. Camera movement closes in on the confrontation, intensifying claustrophobic sense of being trapped by consequences of his actions. This scene visualizes what Scene 2-4 internalized: the accusations he hears in his head made external and physical.
Women discuss the protagonist's wrongdoings while he stands nearby at nightclub/party setting, frustrated and unable to defend himself. They're evaluating him in his presence, treating him as object of discussion rather than participant in conversation. The party setting—typically celebratory— becomes arena of judgment, social space transformed into court of public opinion.
Three women dance together happily, synchronized to 124 BPM in 9B Camelot. Their joy is palpable and infectious—this is liberation, freedom from the drama and disappointment he represents. They move together in solidarity, their shared rhythm suggesting mutual support and independence from him. Club setting emphasizes their choice to be in public space, visible, unburdened.
Continuation of the liberation dance theme, now in party setting with different lighting and atmosphere. Multiple shots generated provide editing variety while maintaining the essential message: these women have moved on, found joy independent of him, created their own narrative where he's no longer central character. Their synchronized dancing embodies collective strength. (124 BPM, 9B Camelot sync)
Woman 1 argues with the man in living room, their exchange heated. She leaves him disappointed and frustrated—her departure is decisive, final. Multiple shot variations capture different angles and emotional beats of the confrontation and exit. This is the first concrete departure, transforming abstract tension into narrative consequence: she chooses to leave.
Woman 2 appears at front door with luggage and bags—her departure is prepared, considered, not impulsive. The man follows, pleading, asking why she's leaving. She turns to him, kisses him (moment of tenderness amid finality), opens the door, and exits. The kiss complicates the narrative—it's not pure anger but sad recognition that love isn't sufficient reason to stay. The threshold becomes literal and symbolic boundary she crosses.
After Woman 2's departure, he remains by the front door, processing what happened. Frustration mixes with disbelief and loss. This quiet moment of realization—she actually left, this is real—provides emotional caesura between the departures, allowing the weight of consequences to register before the narrative continues.
Woman 3 argues with him in kitchen, then leaves, her departure making him disappointed and frustrated. By the third departure, pattern is established: regardless of location or specific dynamics, the result is the same—they all choose to leave. The kitchen setting (domestic heart of home) makes this final departure particularly symbolic of domestic life's complete dissolution.
Woman 1 dances sensually and confidently to 124 BPM, 9B Camelot in the living room—the same space where she argued with him. Camera moves from distance to close-up, capturing her movements and beauty. Multiple shots emphasize her reclamation of this space, transforming site of conflict into space of personal expression. She's no longer defined by relationship with him.
Woman 2 dances sensually at the front door area—the threshold she crossed to leave. Camera movement from distance to close-up captures her choreography and confidence. Dancing at the exit point suggests she's not fled but triumphantly departed, not escaping but choosing. The doorway is no longer about leaving him but about her own movement through space. (Multiple shots, 124 BPM, 9B Camelot)
Woman 3 dances sensually in kitchen, camera tracking from distance to intimate close-up. Like the previous two, she transforms the space associated with him and conflict into arena of personal expression and joy. The three individual dances in three locations create visual triptych: each woman reclaiming her own space, moving to her own rhythm, beautiful and complete without him.
The man gets haircut at traditional Puerto Rican barber shop. He's disappointed with the result— another small loss of control, another thing going wrong. Camera close-up on his face then pulls back to reveal full scene. The bad haircut serves as visual metaphor for his inability to maintain even basic self-presentation, his life unraveling in both major and minor ways.
He checks his empty wallet while walking through crowded shopping mall corridor, worried and anxious. Camera close-up on the wallet then pulls back as he walks. The empty wallet visualizes financial consequences potentially connected to his romantic failures—resources depleted, nothing left to offer. The crowded corridor emphasizes his isolation: surrounded by people engaged in consumption and normalcy while he confronts scarcity and loss.
All three women dance together in unison, synchronized choreography to 124 BPM, 9B Camelot in house open area/outdoor space. They move with identical steps—visual representation of solidarity, sisterhood, collective strength. Camera moves from close-up to distance, revealing they're happy, liberated, complete. Multiple shots provide editing options for the climactic finale. Their unified dance is the resolution: not reconciliation with him but celebration of freedom from him.
From generation to final edit
All scenes upscaled from generation resolution to 4K using Topaz Video AI, with frame rate interpolation from source to 60 FPS. This technical enhancement ensures professional visual quality that matches contemporary music video standards. The 4K resolution allows for digital zooms and reframing in post without quality loss, while 60 FPS creates smooth motion particularly important for dance choreography where every movement beat should be clearly visible.
All footage edited in DaVinci Resolve with meticulous attention to musical synchronization—cuts, movements, and emotional beats aligned to the 124 BPM rhythm in 9B Camelot key. This isn't merely cutting on beat but understanding song structure: verses, pre-choruses, choruses, bridges each have distinct emotional qualities that should be reflected in scene selection and pacing. The dance sequences particularly benefit from frame-accurate editing where every body movement hits on or accentuates musical accents.
The editing process treated music not as background but as co-narrator: lyrical content informed scene selection, instrumental breaks provided space for visual storytelling without dialogue, energy shifts in the music mapped to emotional shifts in narrative. For instance, the women's liberation dances occur during high-energy choruses, while the protagonist's isolated contemplation appears during verses or stripped-down instrumental moments. This integration creates audiovisual synthesis where meaning emerges from the relationship between what we see and what we hear.
DaVinci Resolve's color grading tools unified the visual palette across all generated scenes, AI backgrounds, and character integrations. The color scheme—vibrant greens, warm yellows, passionate pinks, and dramatic reds—references both Puerto Rican cultural color preferences and the emotional spectrum of the narrative. Green suggests growth and the natural world, yellow embodies joy and liberation, pink represents romance and sensuality, red signifies passion and conflict. These colors were enhanced in post-production to create cohesive visual language that supports storytelling.
Project Reflection: "Rosalina" demonstrates the iterative nature of AI-assisted storytelling—the distance between initial generation and final vision requires patience, prompt refinement, and willingness to regenerate until the emotional and cultural authenticity is achieved. Technical excellence (4K, 60 FPS, color grading) serves the narrative rather than overshadowing it. The project proves that AI can help tell culturally specific stories when creators invest in research, iteration, and post-production craft, transforming generated assets into cohesive narrative that respects its cultural context while exploring universal themes of guilt, loss, and the possibility of redemption— even if that redemption belongs to those who chose to walk away.
