Web3, The Metaverse, Crypto, NFT’s… we all hear these worlds nearly on a daily basis. The world is evolving at rapid pace and artists are joining. Whether it was Justin Boretta teaming up with Aaron Penne for their Generative Art and music project, or Steve Aoki spearheading the NFT movement in the dance music community, it is clear to see that technology and the music industry are now linked more than ever.
There’s another artist who’s enjoyed immense success over the past 30 years. Whether that be the frontman of a Hungarian pop group, one half of legendary trance duo, or producing beautiful progressive and trance music under his solo project, Shane 54 managed to continue to pioneer new ways for people to experience his music.
What do we mean by that? Well, he’s using AI technology to create music videos and the result is jaw dropping.
“I’ve been making animated music videos for over a year now: I did some for other artists just as well for my own music. Oddly enough my first ever animation got shortlisted for “Best Animated Music Video” at the Hungarian Music Awards in 2021. (I didn’t win, but THAT would’ve been a miracle I guess)
The past few months spent exploring AI image creating technologies. I quickly got sucked into it: became part of a hot new movement in art, which naturally lead me wanting to use my newly found art in my music videos..
When he started, it took months of experimenting – and failing. Nothing was working the way he envisioned it.
“The first problem with using a brand new technology like this, is EVERYTHING looks fantastic and fresh. You create awesome visuals. Then – as soon as your tool’s new version comes out – your previous works all of a sudden start to look less cutting edge. Then it’s outdated faster than you could say ‘Björk’.”
Then he realized, with a separate app for animation, he could avoid the cliches that were so easy to fall for when creating AI videos.
“The idea was to create every single element of the video with MidJourney (my current favourite AI tool), creating a collage that is coherent like no other. THEN animate it. Even though it was a stupidly simple idea, the impact it had on my work is unbelievable…
I truly was able to create my own, unique world with a lion-headed king, magic carpet, castle in the sky, and anything I could think of. Using the right keywords and modifiers makes the images look well-textured / aged, so very little post processing needed in the end: it was lightning fast, and visually provided me literally everything I wanted.”
Although he does not think himself to be a filmmaker in a traditional sense, he is undoubtedly creating a new visual experience to pair with music that has an absolutely unique look, and a story to tell.
“The worldwide AI community is pioneering an art form that’s so new and groundbreaking, that most of the old rules and labels don’t apply here. New methods and techniques getting released on a weekly basis, and it’s not an exaggeration. I’m extremely happy to be a part of this movement, giving me the opportunity to fuse music, art and filmmaking the way I always envisioned. It’s unbelievable really.”
This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Shane 54 Is Pioneering A New Way To Make Music Videos With AI Technology