OpenAI Sora Epic Debut? The World’s First Commissioned Music Video Revealed

OpenAI wowed the tech community and many in media and arts earlier this year — while also raising concerns among some traditional videographers and artists — by unveiling a new AI model called Sora that generates high-quality, realistic, and smooth video clips up to 60 seconds long. In this article we talk about OpenAI Sora Epic Debut? The World’s First Commissioned Music Video Revealed.

Sora remains unreleased to the general public for now. Back in February 2024, OpenAI said it was allowing “red teamers to assess critical areas for harms or risks” and providing access to a selected group of “visual artists, designers, and filmmakers” to get early feedback. However, that hasn’t stopped some of Sora’s initial users from creating and publishing new projects that showcase its capabilities.

The First Official Sora-Generated Music Video

One of the handpicked Sora early access users, writer/director Paul Trillo, who in March was among the first to demonstrate third-party Sora videos, has now created what’s being called the “first official music video made with OpenAI’s Sora.”

The 4-minute video was produced for indie chillwave musician Washed Out’s new single “The Hardest Part.” It consists of a series of connected, rapid zoom shots through different scenes stitched together to mimic one continuous zoom.

Trillo posted on social media that he first conceived the video concept 10 years ago but abandoned it at the time. He also revealed that the final video comprises 55 separate AI-generated clips out of 700 total created by Sora in Adobe Premiere.

Adobe itself recently announced plans to integrate Sora and other third-party AI video generators into Premiere Pro in the future. But for now, those looking to recreate Trillo’s approach would need to generate clips in other software like Runway or Pika and import them manually into Premiere. Still feasible but not yet seamless.

In an interview, Washed Out said, “I look forward to incorporating some of this brand-new technology and seeing how that informs what I can come up with. So if that’s pioneering, I would love to be part of that.”

Behind the AI Scenes

To generate the clips, Trillo provided Sora with detailed text prompts specifying not just the images but also camera angles and movements. For example:

“We zoom through the bubble it pops and we zoom through the bubblegum and enter an open football field. The scene is moving rapidly, showing a front perspective, showing the students getting bigger and faster.”

Importantly, Trillo only used Sora’s text-to-video capability, rather than taking existing images and having the AI animate them. This showcases the model’s raw power to manifest visuals straight from language.

A Contrast to Other Early Sora Videos

The music video stands in contrast to revelations around another early high-profile Sora demo. Canadian studio Shy Kids’ video “Air Head” featuring a man with a balloon for a head was recently shown to rely extensively on other VFX editing tools like rotoscoping, rather than being AI-generated.

So Trillo’s music video represents a purer demonstration of what Sora can accomplish straight out of the box. It also continues to stoke anticipation among creatives about using AI for self-expression, even amid criticism of OpenAI for training models like Sora on copyrighted art without consent or compensation.

The Path Forward

With his music video, Paul Trillo has shown one way Sora could be applied for entertainment and creative purposes. No doubt many other artists, musicians, and directors are eagerly awaiting their chance to access OpenAI’s video synthesis model.

As Sora and similar AI tools spread, they seem poised to transform how media is produced. But concerns around copyright, consent, and economic impacts remain front of mind across industries. Striking the right balance between enabling new creative possibilities with AI while also establishing ethical guardrails will be an ongoing challenge.

For now, the world’s “first official Sora music video” stands as an intriguing milestone at the intersection of technology and art. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this “OpenAI Sora Epic Debut? The World’s First Commissioned Music Video Revealed” article.