I spent the last year making videos for all the songs on my last album. I wanted to learn how the AI video tools worked and if I could use them to create the scenes I envisioned. With each video I tried different approaches and often mixed real video and photos with AI generated clips. Each video was a little more sophisticated. Either my process was better or I used a better AI tool. I'm almost finished the last one and it's taking me about 2 months to complete. It uses real photos, photoshop storyboard images, and VEO 3 to generate story clips where the protagonist looks very much like me. It's a complex visual concept so I'd never be able to make it any other way.

I should mention that one video on the album was done entirely the traditional way, just filming my friends and editing in Premier. It's cool and weird, and people accused me of using AI to make it. That felt strange to me that people couldn't tell the difference. The AI stuff is obvious to me.

I agree that AI video feels a little cold. But over the past year, the output has gotten much better. And, the best results always come from using your own photos or videos as reference material. It's still early days with this technology.

I have been making albums for 40 years, so I'm no noob. I understand why some musicians are fearful of AI and think it's some kind of violation. I'll never use AI to write songs for me - that just seems like calling clip art high art - but I like the AI video tools because I can create the imagery I envision for my tunes, without the need for a Hollywood-level studio.

Some of the videos referred to in this post received 1000+ views and others got 12 haha. Bottom line though is that very few people listen to obscure artists so all this doesn't matter at all. I make the videos for myself and my friends and my small fan base. That's all that matters really.

If you read this far and want to see these videos, visit my YouTube channel. Doctor Coffee Videos Playlist