An afternoon with Albert Irving

On a rainy afternoon, Albert Irving (A.I.), an elderly jazz enthusiast, decides to test a music-generating AI.

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An Afternoon with Albert Irving

Inspiration

The project began after a heated conversation with friends who were strongly opposed to artificial intelligence.
I was trying to explain that without a human starting point, AI cannot create anything spontaneously — it only extends human intent.
That paradox — the misunderstanding between man and machine — became the core idea of An Afternoon with Albert Irving.

The film tells the story of an old jazz lover, skeptical about AI, who tries to generate a piece of music using an online AI tool.
What he gets instead is a literal interpretation of his prompts — visualized through robots, musicians, and even an alien bassist.
It’s both humorous and melancholic: a reflection on how human imperfection feeds creativity.

What it does

An Afternoon with Albert Irving is a jazz music video entirely built from AI-generated visuals and animation.
It humorously explores the gap between human intention and machine execution.

The video illustrates how each poorly phrased “prompt” transforms into a surreal or absurd image.
Through its characters — chrome robots, an alien bass player, and a lonely jazzman — the clip celebrates both the beauty and the chaos of human–AI collaboration.

The result:

  • A unique blend of retro-futuristic imagery, Pixar-style animation, and jazz club atmosphere.
  • A narrative about creativity, misunderstanding, and technological poetry.
  • An original jazz composition, entirely played and mixed by the artist, with AI used only for audio restoration.

How we built it

Music and Sound Design

  • Tools: Logic Pro, Reaper, and Voice.ai for track separation and restoration.
  • Music fully composed and performed by the artist (recorded between 2008–2013).
  • The only AI involvement: cleaning and remixing old stereo tracks.

Visual Production

  • Storyboard created in August 2025 using Midjourney (pencil-drawing style).
  • Image generation and animation with Midjourney V7, Kling 2.1, Nano Banana, Minimax Hailuo AI, and Magnific.
  • Image-to-video workflow for precise control, with manual inpainting and Photoshop touch-ups.
  • Real-time editing in DaVinci Resolve (24 fps, 1280×720p).

Key Techniques

  • Combined start frame and end frame to simulate movement and camera transitions.
  • Manual timing adjustments for synchronization with live-recorded jazz.
  • Use of fictional “AI interface” overlays for comedic inserts.
Element Details
Duration 4:45
Shots ~100
Format MP4, H.264, AAC
Resolution 1280×720p
AI Tools Midjourney V7, Kling 2.1, Nano Banana, Magnific
Audio Tools Logic Pro, Reaper, Voice.ai
Intellectual Property Fully owned by the author
Music Title No Bad Day

Challenges we ran into

  • Character consistency across shots: maintaining identical robots and environments was difficult.
  • Musical synchronization: matching hand movements to instruments was often inaccurate.
  • Misinterpretation of terms (e.g., brush sticks became paintbrushes!).
  • Balancing jazz’s fluid improvisation with the mechanical precision of AI visuals.
  • Limited ability of AI video tools to render realistic “playback” of musicians.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a complete jazz short film using only consumer AI tools.
  • Kept a consistent visual and musical identity throughout (retro-futurist robots & warm jazz).
  • Blended storytelling, humor, and technology in a way that feels human.
  • Created a fictional jazz group — Albert Irving (A.I.) — as a symbolic bridge between human and machine creativity.

What we learned

  • Prompt writing is a new form of artistic language.
  • AI does not replace creativity; it tests it.
  • Combining multiple AI tools (Midjourney + Kling + audio restoration) gives flexibility but requires heavy manual iteration.
  • The best results come from treating AI as a collaborator, not a shortcut.
  • The relationship between humans and algorithms mirrors that of jazz: improvisation, adaptation, and surprise.

What's next for An Afternoon with Albert Irving

  • Develop a mini-series exploring different music genres and “AI misunderstandings.”
  • Experiment with video-to-video models for smoother transitions and motion realism.
  • Create an immersive live concert version, mixing projections and live performance.
  • Publish an artbook featuring key frames, prompts, and storyboard sketches.
  • Continue using AI not as a tool of automation, but as a mirror of human imagination.

Annex — Key Prompts

(kept in English for technical accuracy)

Show prompts **Robots & Characters** - Robot bass : `A chrome robot dressed in a 50s style costume...` - Robot drums #1 : `A rusty metal jazzman robot that plays the snare drum with brushes...` - Robot drums #2 : `A robot made of steel. The robot plays the drums in a white futuristic recording studio...` - Robot guitar : `A skinny very shiny copper robot with a hat. The robot plays the guitar...` - Old man : `A Pixar style character of a 75-year-old afro-American man with white hair and glasses...` - Alien bassist : `An alien bass player. White background. Full body view...` **Environments** - Street : `The camera goes up in the middle of an empty street in West Village, NYC...` - City : `A cinematic wide-angle view of a dystopian city skyline at sunset...` - Jazz club : `A cinematic view of a dystopian street at night with a flashing neon JAZZ sign...` - Factory : `A cinematic wide-angle view of a rusty metal factory with smoke-belching chimneys...` - Spaceship : `A white huge spaceship floating in space with a glowing planet behind...` - Data tunnel : `A circular tunnel lined with printed circuit boards and glowing optoelectronics...` - Interface : `Full screen view of a fictional AI software that creates music...` - Sound engineer robot : `A robot sitting in front of a mixing console...`

Built With

  • chatgpt
  • davinciresolve
  • freepik
  • kling
  • logicprox
  • magnific
  • midjourney
  • nanobanana
  • photoshop
  • reaper
  • voiceai
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