We Made an AI Rap Video! Here’s What We Learned
We Made an AI Rap Video! Here’s What We Learned
What do you get when you cross rap lyrics written by ChatGPT with a music video powered by artificial intelligence? A highly amusing – and only slightly cartoonish – AI rap video glimpse into life at Hunt + Hawk.
We got an idea that something was coming in Byron Bay.
Our Brisbane-based team headed down there in the week before Christmas to celebrate the end of an action-packed year and spend a couple of days resting and relaxing in the sun.
It was around the dining table of the luxurious Villa Riad that we first had an inkling that something unusual was coming.
We’d heard talk of an AI video, but as our long-standing Multimedia Producer Luis Roberto Díaz Flores explained in Byron Bay, it wasn’t quite at a level that he and Design Director, Angelo Alcasabas, were confident of showing the rest of the team.
Little did we know that behind the scenes, Luis and Angelo were creating something that would ultimately leave us all in stitches.
Sonya Vanjicki wanted us to do a video as a fun thing for all of us to enjoy at the end of the year – but she wanted it to be a surprise for the rest of the team” Angelo said.
“I think we knew there could be something done with AI so we’re like, oh, we can write a song. Especially since Luis had tried making one only a few months earlier,” he added.
That song was a simple AI project that Luis had been playing around with – which didn’t necessarily produce an end product, but which sparked the idea to use AI to create a rap-style video showcasing the entire Hunt + Hawk team.
“The idea was to make a video that went along with the song Angelo created,” explained Luis.
“And during that process, I was like: why don’t we just use AI to create the whole thing?”
It was Angelo who used ChatGPT to create the lyrics for the AI rap video, before feeding those lyrics into song-creation tool, Udio.
“The art of the prompt – and having to refine it and refine it to a point where you’re satisfied is key, because changing one word can change the whole outcome,” he explained.
“So I think across all the AI, the prompt is the first step. And trying to do it and re-do it and tweak certain things, you kind of go through a whole journey.”
It was a painstakingly slow journey, at times, for both Angelo and Luis.
“With the song in particular, I really went on a bit of rollercoaster of learnings,” Angelo said.
“It required different iteration after different iteration.
“Luis and I were experimenting as we go, and hoping it would deliver the desired end result.”
That use of AI came first in the form of ChatGPT – which was transformed from a Large Language Model churning out reams of stolid content into a freestyling, rhyme-spitting machine.
Numerous iterations were something Luis also encountered, with our Multimedia Producer explaining that it often took “between 20 and 30” different attempts to get the team’s AI avatars to perform the way he wanted – despite each frame lasting only a second or two.
But it was a crucial software update, weeks into the project, that changed the outcome entirely.
“With the first version I created and shared with Angelo, I didn’t have access to a tool released that week in Hailuo called Subject Reference,” Luis explained.
“Before that was released… all the prompts were text-to-video, and there was no easy way to refine those descriptions.
“But after the update, I could just submit a photo of each team member to create a video character.
“I still had to use text-to-video prompts, but being able to upload photos to Subject Reference really simplified the prompts and helped consolidate the look and feel of everything,” he added.
Once the program had created more lifelike avatars, it was a case of prompting the software to make them act in a way that matched the music and lyrics created by Angelo.
But even then, it wasn’t easy.
Both Angelo and Luis agreed that uploading real photographs was the key to unlocking Hailuo’s true potential, as it allowed the program to create far more realistic avatars of each team member.
If there’s a recurring theme from putting together a 95-second AI-powered music video, it’s that these things take time.
Alongside a range of other projects, Angelo and Luis both spent hours experimenting with the software – with Angelo using ChatGPT and Udio to create the lyrics and music respectively, while Luis concentrated on refining the prompts needed to piece the video together in Hailuo.
But aside from the sheer amount of trial and error involved, there were other factors to consider.
“But that’s kind of the context – it’s AI, so it’s supposed to be fun.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Luis, who says he was on the edge of this seat when the whole Hunt + Hawk team first watched the video.
“I was obviously intrigued – and a little bit terrified – because I don’t pretend to take agency of how other people look,” he said.
“I wanted to do it in a way that was humorous, but obviously also not offend anyone,” he added.
Both creatives say they were generally pleased with how the video turned out – but would probably have spent a little longer perfecting things if they’d had more time.
As for our audience’s reaction?
It was one of our most successful pieces of LinkedIn content in months, attracting thousands of views, driving engagement, and generating comments from a diverse range of clients and well-wishers alike.
“I trusted everyone would see the humour in it and not get too caught up in it, but it could perhaps trigger some insecurities… because you just don’t know how people are going to react seeing an AI version of themselves,” Angelo explained.
AI videos are just of the many strings in our creative bow here at Hunt + Hawk.
We’ve got a team of in-house creative experts on hand to help with every element of your creative process.
Whether you need a hand making your own AI video, or you’re simply looking to elevate your branding, sales, or marketing, we’re always here to help.
Drop us a line to find out how we can help take your creative higher.