The Piano Man, Four Billy's, and One Remarkable Film.
Edition 12 - An example of a generative AI production process with wonderful outcomes.
4/1/24 - This article has been updated.
Turn The Lights Back On
This is an article I’ve wanted to write for a couple of weeks.
On an episode of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Billy Joel’s new song, “Turn the Lights Back On,” is featured and discussed in-depth. Zakaria interviews both Billy Joel and Producer/Director Freddy Wexler, the driving influence behind both writing the song and using artificial intelligence to make his music video creative vision come true.
Four Billy Joel’s
The essence is Billy Joel is highlighted playing the piano and singing this new song during four periods of his career. Throughout the song he continually physically changes via simple cut scenes as he evolves during four different phases of his career; the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and present day. The results are uncanny.
For the first three “Billy’s,” actors portray his character with attention to performance detail; mimicking his piano performance mannerisms as closely as possible. The song’s writer/producer portrays 70’s Billy, with others playing the 80’s and 90’s versions. And of course Billy himself portrays present-day Billy Joel. These actors’ portray Billy’s mannerisms of that era and age. Their actions trigger deep learning A.I. to output essentially a “deep fake” version of the scene, matching the actors’ movements and facial expressions with the assigned version of Billy Joel.
The interview itself is engaging, with Billy stating in a self-deprecating manner, “I didn’t sign-on to be an actor; I didn’t sign-on to be a movie star. I’m a piano player.”
Deep Voodoo
Deep Voodoo worked on the production using some proprietary tools. This self-described “Deep Fake Company” was founded and funded by the creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park,” Trey Parker and Matt Stone; having raised $20mm in funding.
Meet the four “Billy’s” around the 6:30 mark of the interview.
7:55 Freddy Wexler explains the project.
8:53 If you’re in a hurry, Freddy breaks down the generative A.I. production process in basic terms.
12:13 Surprisingly, A.I. on this project did not replace jobs, it created jobs. I don’t mean to sound like a homer but it’s an important fact. Wexler acknowledges both an upside and downside of A.I.
And of course, below is the final product. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Check it out for yourself, and feel free to share comments below. If you enjoyed this read, please smash the heart icon …
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Want more? Billy Joel diehards here’s a behind-the-scenes shoot with more footage and info of the project from Billy Joel’s site.
Many thanks,
-pb
What do you fine people think will be the next application of breakthrough video technology?