Mixed Media Video Production

I ran three experiments with long form video production. By the third, I was almost somewhere interesting-but have to conclude the experiment here. The unreasonable idea I’m entertaining is that it’s entirely possible to just vibe a movie. Possible? Yes. Theater grade production? At a higher video generation budget than what I’m using, totally. This ran me about the cost of taking my family out to eat at the local hamburger restaurant. Would I have been able to do this without AI? Absolutely not. Not even in two years. Just doing one frame would be quite the adventure.

Further, how would I run an experiment this large? It’s nearly an hour long production. I’d need audio, sound, and video. I’d want it to convey ideas. I had a hamburger budget-not a studio one. Here was the plan:

1. Suno 5.5 for music as a theater production. It’s storytelling with sound.

2. I’d send codex to go find archival public domain footage I could place in the video (it has patriotic ideas about being an American).

3. I’d use Replicate and Seedance to generate a story of characters as a cut to keep the action moving.

Out of three attempts, the third and final attempt was the best. I dare say there are some scenes out of this I’ll be clipping out to upscale. I just really enjoy some of the shots. Overall I did have a lot of fun with this experiment. The music incidentally is on one of my more played playlists at the moment. There are these moments in the score that just gives me chills. Redlight Angels: dive. Gets me, every time.

I wouldn’t use the workflow I’m using for UGC. I see the edges and cracks: it’s actually the same problems that software apps have. If you build a coherent harness for a software factory, then looking at video production smells very similar. There’s evals, checks, gates, handoffs. Skills are close, but not enough. And optionality. You need a tremendous amount of optionality.

If video production is an interest of yours and you have a need to put your own video, music or content into a long production by using these techniques, then certainly reach out. The really interesting factor here is scale. Consider how long it takes to produce one 40 minute video.

I produced 3 40+ minute videos that are each slightly different, and could be recut together with an editor suite. It’d be really interesting to do something like this around a particular product category. What could you do with 120 minutes of footage around the same product? In different pitches, concepts and categories? Such an interesting idea.

The production process uses a storyboarding technique that I had success with for the SR-71 video project. It just …does more. Here’s some early shots. The archival footage is sourced from-I’ll just provide the entire credits list after the images. Too many to list so easily.

Credits

Music, lyrics, and embedded chapter artwork by Eric Rhea. Used with the rights holder’s permission.

Historical framing

This musical anthology uses fictional and composite characters and incidents. Archival images are authentic, but they do not depict one continuous mission or the named characters in the songs. No unrelated footage is represented as documentation of a specific named mission.

The edit avoids identifiable casualties as spectacle. Gun-camera and combat material is used only in the operational context established by the songs.

The following U.S. federal records are used under the rights statements listed below. Links point to the item-level archive pages, not to search results.

Memphis Belle; A Story of a Flying Fortress

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: Office of War Information, Overseas Operations Branch
• Date: 1944
• Identifier and item page: ARC 38755 / LI 208.328
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_38755_memphis_belle.mp4
• SHA-256: 1cd53d6f45fc42c7d75b2de001d91c382827d0877d927d2da0b0706bd83770fe
• Film use: 42 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, White Cliffs Red Fire.
• Publication artwork use: source frame at 09:55.500.

Target for Today

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: War Department / U.S. Army Air Forces
• Date: 1944
• Identifier and item page: ARC 36776 / LI 111-TF-3384
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_36776_target_for_today.mp4
• SHA-256: 6344fdc8fff585e1fa6b53f49581d787e58ca9f00f3a2645202b5676d8a6ab65
• Film use: 41 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, Son Of Kansas, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Women in Defense

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: Office of War Information
• Date: 1941
• Identifier and item page: ARC 38686 / LI 208.56
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_38686_women_in_defense.mp4
• SHA-256: 4abcb52ebe00b07abf3378df1100aa74491fb3390bad03d44eb8cbf1c647ebaa
• Film use: 19 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder.

Mary Smith, American

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: Office of Inter-American Affairs, Motion Picture Division
• Date: 1942
• Identifier and item page: ARC 40264 / LI 229.92
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_40264_mary_smith.mp4
• SHA-256: ddd869473c54562b9c3db27c8ec15b2249733d0d9d305a138db0352bafa4cd0f
• Film use: 34 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder.
• Publication artwork use: source frame at 03:43.000.

The Fight for the Sky

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: U.S. Army Air Forces, Eighth Air Force Fighter Command
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: ARC 63894 / LI 342-SFP-157
• Rights: U.S. federal production; Internet Archive NARA item marks it public domain.
• License: U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_63894_fight_for_sky.mp4
• SHA-256: 7f8544b2c52720b358fab8c59b9a8e5bba29c40f83d71e3f9f6515e442d45400
• Film use: 31 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Redline Angels, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Air War in Europe

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: War Department / Army Air Forces
• Date: 1943
• Identifier and item page: ARC 2870 / LI 18-C-406-2
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_2870_air_war_europe.mp4
• SHA-256: 7798ee76cd1625b4f98796c2c4e28ef2c0f1243b8d27a61ead8d08eb1ed7ac61
• Film use: 45 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Conquest by Air

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: War Department / Army Air Forces
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: ARC 2894 / LI 18-C-506
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work public domain/CC0.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_2894_conquest_by_air.mp4
• SHA-256: 744e4230f5724c22d1a1f7f2c801c2c625d4cdf8d71ccb175edb5e2979443603
• Film use: 22 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Soviet Commissar Molotov’s Secret Visit to U.S. [United News segments]

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: Office of War Information
• Date: 1942
• Identifier and item page: ARC 38908 / LI 208-UN-3
• Rights: NARA federal record; Internet Archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_38908_homefront.mp4
• SHA-256: 30e9ff1848a6ae3fd8fa36008d0b2c4d197c6d305f40004a1851099c49694aed
• Film use: 30 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder, Run Toward The Flag, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Combat America, Part 1

• Archive: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: U.S. Army Air Forces / FDR Presidential Library
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: FDR Library Video 23.1
• Rights: U.S. Army Air Forces federal production; archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/fdr_23_1_combat_america.mp4
• SHA-256: d6b3368890602e9eeedddcefc1255f1ad6ebe81e617879c3d908793fe199e400
• Film use: 50 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Combat America, Part 2

• Archive: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: U.S. Army Air Forces / FDR Presidential Library
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: FDR Library Video 23.2
• Rights: U.S. Army Air Forces federal production; archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/fdr_23_2_combat_america.mp4
• SHA-256: d8dd06fd208082ad39b55f7fe92030f914e061b54697bd817372112f63e685ec
• Film use: 16 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Rosie Built The Thunder, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag.

Combat America, Part 3

• Archive: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: U.S. Army Air Forces / FDR Presidential Library
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: FDR Library Video 23.3
• Rights: U.S. Army Air Forces federal production; archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/fdr_23_3_combat_america.mp4
• SHA-256: 3110fba92f2cbe0d668224021c656ee65e880b1482594c85d458b5f702925ea3
• Film use: 24 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Combat America, Part 4

• Archive: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: U.S. Army Air Forces / FDR Presidential Library
• Date: 1945
• Identifier and item page: FDR Library Video 23.4
• Rights: U.S. Army Air Forces federal production; archive item marks the work CC0/public domain.
• License: CC0 1.0 / U.S. federal public-domain work
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/fdr_23_4_combat_america.mp4
• SHA-256: 2380ebbd993ffcf97bf8ea22b0a43ed2ced40d5840214cddc3d6d37a1554b094
• Film use: 40 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Hold The Sky, Redline Angels, White Cliffs Red Fire.

Tank Action on Gathemo, France

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: War Department / U.S. Army Signal Corps
• Date: 1944-08-10/1944-08-11
• Identifier and item page: 111-ADC-2118 / NARA 15923
• Rights: Federal motion-picture record created by the U.S. Army Signal Corps; eligible U.S. government work under 17 U.S.C. §105.
• License: U.S. federal public domain
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_15923_tank_action.mp4
• SHA-256: 38df90a1c024be1c99135b19f27bd99db34f6288c44129bd0023a5d7c7e23ebb
• Film use: 4 excerpts across Run Toward The Flag, Son Of Kansas.

Tank and Infantry Action, 35th Division Sector, France

• Archive: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Internet Archive FedFlix
• Creator/agency: War Department / U.S. Army Signal Corps
• Date: 1944-09-15
• Identifier and item page: 111-ADC-2332 / NARA 16136
• Rights: Federal motion-picture record created by the U.S. Army Signal Corps; eligible U.S. government work under 17 U.S.C. §105.
• License: U.S. federal public domain
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/nara_16136_tank_infantry.mp4
• SHA-256: 6fa5c0a0495c49e392117e252fd60ed4f9e48766fd5aa983708e8c87dc4ff3d3
• Film use: 104 excerpts across Raise The First Light, Run Toward The Flag, Son Of Kansas.

Capt. Merlin Kehrer Archive Footage

• Archive: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS)
• Creator/agency: Master Sgt. Philip Speck / 123rd Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard
• Date: 2011-07-12 (World War II archival footage)
• Identifier and item page: DVIDS 120472 / VIRIN 110712-F-SO308-001 / DOD_100205346
• Rights: The item-level DVIDS page explicitly marks this work PUBLIC DOMAIN and identifies it as a U.S. military work; reuse remains subject to the DVIDS copyright notice.
• License: U.S. federal public domain / DVIDS copyright notice
• Local preservation file: sources/raw/dvids_120472_merlin_kehrer.mp4
• SHA-256: 40e2d98ab65bb28cb20484d2efdaa01167a90085fa70d0ca0cf35a4dbba1df72
• Film use: 21 excerpts across Rosie Built The Thunder, Redline Angels, Run Toward The Flag, Son Of Kansas, White Cliffs Red Fire.
• Publication artwork use: source frame at 00:24.000.

• Archival source files were obtained from U.S. National Archives catalog records or the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library’s federal holdings, using Internet Archive FedFlix mirrors only where the archive item and public-domain status were documented.
• British archive, museum, broadcaster, and commercial-newsreel media with unclear modification/redistribution rights was rejected and is not used.

No endorsement by the U.S. National Archives, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Department of Defense, any service branch, or any depicted person is implied.

But hey, if you’re with the Department of Defense and want to fund another experiment in this direction? Click this button to let me know how I can help :)