A Folksy Gathering of Feathered Friends on the Lake

I created the video using photographs and AI generated folk songs about Mallard ducks. I took the photos on a trip to a nearby lake, where I had the chance to photograph the colony of ducks that reside there throughout the winter. The sun was setting at around 3:30 at that time, and the light was golden pale. The birds were not so active like I’ve seen them during the warmer seasons, but instead glided lazily along the lake. They did come over to check me out, just in case I had snacks. While there’s usually a variety of species, I mainly saw Mallard ducks that day.

Inspired by the Mallards, I decided to make some music in their honour. Using Udio AI music software, I prompted the software to generate “a folk song about mallard ducks on a lake”. I varied a few other elements like voices and some sound effects. Three of the songs have lyrics automatically generated by the software. The fourth one is instrumental. I instructed the software to use scientific facts in the lyrics, but I knew that this was probably too much to ask. While I’m not a folk music connoisseur, I think the tunes turned out alright with some slight weird AI sound aberrations. The song titles were also automatically generated by the software.

I put the video together in MS Clipchamp. It was calming to say the least. The songs were a bit silly but very impressive how they captured the gamut of folk music. The second one was my own genre creation. I asked the software to add psychedelic distortions to the sound, and the software did so, including adding the word psychedelic in the lyrics. I LOLed when I heard the third one, and the lyrics mentioned "Feathered Friends." I did not prompt the software to mention it. So, how did the AI know? 😐 Just a coincidence, I'm sure. 😉

If you have a favorite, please let me know in the comments.