Following on from.......

[OneWorld]

........the astounding success of my last video - 45 plays here's a new release.....The Shanghai Shuffle

My new instrumental/video

All images and clips done using free AI resources.

The clips could be more 'seamless', eg flow better, and it can be seen that some of the movement is odd, but hey, free AI, not as if I can ask for my money back

This will take you right there
http://theboxroom.atwebpages.com/TheSha ... EB2026.mp4

or YouTube - The Shanghai Shuffle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GgLBmTkh_c

I have also put it on some free webspace for those that want to avoid YouTube Ads pestering.

Well, I might as well do this as sit on the sofa chunnering at Homes Under the Hammer gobbling up sell by date cream cakes from the convenience shop, slurping tea and thinking "Is this as good as it gets?"

Actually doing a tune takes up too much time, I should be hoovering and sending the meter reading to the Gas Board, they can wait, when I feel a tune coming on I have to leap into action and sweep all else aside.

[aekoi]

The answer is..... get a smart meter

Really liked the music and the video. Can you tell us more about what tools you used to make the video please?

[OneWorld]

The answer is..... get a smart meter

Really liked the music and the video. Can you tell us more about what tools you used to make the video please?

Why, does the gas coming out of a smart meter cost less? I got a smart meter for the electric and the electric that comes out of it is the same price, thanks anyway.

I am a beginner as making vids is concerned, I wonder whether they look naff but to my surprise comments have been encouraging.

I use the following, a caveat by the way, check what use can be made of the media produced. All of which I have used is free. I would buy into a subscription service but I am still trying to evaluate and make an informed choice before I commit to paying.

meta.ai - I only discovered meta.ai a short while ago. It is the most intuitive and free although the vids are only a few seconds long. You can upload your own pic for animating, or create a vid from a text description, the more descriptive you are, the more convincing result. The results are as you have seen, and my have noticed than when some dancers do a 360 spin, the head looks as if it comes out the exorcist. I don't have a Facebook account but I sort of dropped on meta and I could use it straight away. I would really like to try Seedance 2 which is getting really good reviews, I can understand why Hollywood is having an attack of the vapours.

There is quite an impressive select of open source, all of which is free to use and very highly regarded too. However they require a degree of configuration. Some offer the opportunity to work offline but the software requires quite powerful computers and all seem to demand an nVidia GPU with at least 6gig of RAM. I use one f those Mini PCs for my general 'office pc' and it has AMD GPU.

Pexels free has quite a comprehensive selection of free to use videos and pics, many are uploaded by the creators and they ask for a donation, which is fair enough. The videos come in groups, eg several clips relating to he same video.

Canva - similar to Pexels Free and the same goes for freepik

For editing I use the highly regarded KdenLive. Again, Open Source and well supported. To do more convincing videos one needs to do Masking(useful for removing the background in a pic/video) and in my setup, Masking needs a plugin which needs an nVidia GPU.

Like learning a DAW, you are sort of learning to build a house as you lay each brick, sometimes you happen upon something and remark to yourself "I didn't know I could do that" but then don't know how I got there.

Of course have your audio track ready for use, although Kden, in common with any other video editor I would think, has audio editing facilities, so it is easy to chop and shunt, but beyond that I leave the audio alone. If you import video, it is easy to ungroup image and audio. ONe of the most tiring things is getting things in sync, when bringing in a clip of video, which come from a variety of sources, it might not slot in as expected so quite a bit of arranging the furniture is needed.

Thanks for your comments

Here's the link to my first proper video attempt - Rain is Sometimes Welcome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyX_3m4uroE

[aekoi]

Thanks for this detailed response.

At the moment my YouTube videos are simply recorded live as I tweak my modular set up during a live take of whatever track I'm recording. Sometimes I'll drop in separate footage of me playing along on guitar too. I'm definitely keen to add more varied content though so I'll check out the utilities you mention.

I watched the Rain one a few days ago, liked that too.

Re my smart meter comment - it's just so you would save time reading the meter

[OneWorld]

Thanks for this detailed response.

At the moment my YouTube videos are simply recorded live as I tweak my modular set up during a live take of whatever track I'm recording. Sometimes I'll drop in separate footage of me playing along on guitar too. I'm definitely keen to add more varied content though so I'll check out the utilities you mention.

I watched the Rain one a few days ago, liked that too.

Re my smart meter comment - it's just so you would save time reading the meter

Yes I knew about the smart meter thing, I was just being a gas bag

Right. I looked at your website and thought for a minute how could one include other content and it occurred, have dancers coming in as each instrument is added. In an ideal word you could have them dancing superimposed over the new instrument being patched, or dancing amongst the cables - whatever.

So with your implied permission I thought I knock together a little vid. Bear in mind the timing etc of the vids won't be exactly in sync to the music but I did the vid to illustrate a point. Also bear in mind I am working with free resources with limitations and as mentioned I can't do masking, no nVidia GPU.

I have posted the vid on some free webspace I have and there file sizes are an issue - it's free so I can hardly ask for my money back.

I downloaded your vid from YouTube as a background

I started a new project in kDen and imported the clip I'd downloaded

I used existing vids as the characters, I had tried to create new character with meta.ai but the results weren't what I was looking for.

However if I could have used meta.ai I could have specified the character being on a plain background, this helps edit things if there is no masking available. Having the masking means the character can be selected from a background almost at the touch of a button instead of having to manually trace around a character. But as mentioned, I did the vid to illustrate a point.

So, where were we?

I'd imported your vid to use as the background

I imported the characters, they become 'clips' in the Project Bin

Each character is assigned its own track(just as we do in a DAW)

Then each character can be worked on independently, moved about the background, efx applied to the images.

ANyway, hope this is of use to you and I'll delete the vid I did as it was without explicit permission, though as mentioned implied and it allowed me to demonstrate what steps I went through.

http://theboxroom.atwebpages.com/Jam_Job_Fin.mp4

[Drew Stephenson]

Listening now

[OneWorld]

Sorry about the duplication Admin, I think the Forum Submit hadn’t initiated when in fact it had.

[zenguitar]

Sorry about the duplication Admin, I think the Forum Submit hadn’t initiated when in fact it had.

I've removed the duplicates for you

Andy

[Folderol]

Interesting work, but not really for me I'm afraid.

[OneWorld]

Sorry about the duplication Admin, I think the Forum Submit hadn’t initiated when in fact it had.

I've removed the duplicates for you

Andy

[OneWorld]

Interesting work, but not really for me I'm afraid.

Thanks and don't be afraid - I won't hurt you as being considered 'interesting' is complimentary, certainly better being that as opposed to being dull and mundane

[aekoi]

Oneworld - thanks so much for what you have done, I will have a loom later once back home.

[OneWorld]

Oneworld - thanks so much for what you have done, I will have a loom later once back home.

Thanks, what I did took about an hour, just to give an indication. By the way, I am really impressed by your setup. Whatever people say, yes software instruments can result in very impressive results, but the hardware, well, just does the trick, it's good stuff you're doing. At first instance, one might think certain focussing, such as the vids you have focus o the kit, and nothing wrong with that of course.

But one might think 'out the box' take a walk in the countryside(ok that a cliche) but yes take a walk, embrace the ambience whilst having your tracks playing and I'm sure ideas will develop and hopefully morph into entertaining vids. And of course, urban landscapes can be equally inspiring, nowhere(well nowhere except a morgue maybe musically inspiring ) should be considering uninspiring. As with the audio alone, it isn't the kit that produces the creative seed, but goes a long long way to expressing the creativity in a way that is worthy of the inspiration. Best of luck and I am keen to see anything that might result from your forays into video.

I am currently working on a tune, but although I have a vague idea for a vid, I can think of the beginning and end, but the meat in the sandwich escapes me - and no it's not a tune about Greggs

[aekoi]

Hi again Oneworld. I did like the spinning dancers that you added to my video, and I like the idea of superimposing landscapes/urban footage also. I am a keen photographer and I enjoy the visual medium almost as much as the musical, however I fear I may just triple my workload if I put as much effort as you clearly do into making videos. So for now I think I'll just let folk gawp an my modular set up and the occasional tweaks I make during these performances.

Thanks again for pointing me in the direction of these great resources, I will definitely be exploring them when time allows.

[awjoe]

Nice one - I enjoyed it. I've always liked bell and glass and bonk and klong tones doing that sort of dactylographic sixteenths thing. This is really listenable and deserves more listens. Youtube is a heartbreaker.

FWIW, my favorite dance bit was the slo-mo prancing maidens in red jumpsuits. You could probably easily get away with longer segments for those dance clips.

[tacitus]

Son’s bus videos on YT tend to get few views but he posted a couple of minutes from one where a bus driver was arguing with a Range Rover driver who’d parked his tractor in the bus bay. It got well over 100k views. Short, shouty stuff obviously works. Not sure how that would apply to music vids, but what would I know - I still use email and forums?

[OneWorld]

Nice one - I enjoyed it. I've always liked bell and glass and bonk and klong tones doing that sort of dactylographic sixteenths thing. This is really listenable and deserves more listens. Youtube is a heartbreaker.

FWIW, my favorite dance bit was the slo-mo prancing maidens in red jumpsuits. You could probably easily get away with longer segments for those dance clips.

Exaltations to you

I am using free AI resources and the clips allowed are only 5 seconds, but I am stumbling around and getting slips longer, but on META for example, I extend a clip but it changes the characters facial appearance, slightly but noticeable enough.

Additionally, when a character does the obligatory twirl, sometimes the head is stationary but the body goes through 360 degrees, looks like something out of the Exorcist. But it is a good way of learning. I would buy into a resource but I don't want to end up wasting money with some fakir whose product promises much but delivers little

One project I have begun on is bringing a band I was in some years ago 'back to life' so to speak. However that is a major challenge, the only images we have a grainy pics taken in bad lighting. It is an interesting endeavour though, especially when there is the ability to re-mix, re-arrange the audio, eg done with synths as opposed guitars etc