Whirligig - Minds Eye Music and Video App
Ladies and Gentleman Please Welcome Whirligig, Minds Eye Music Video Maker
By Reid Genauer
Whirligig Music Video Maker App Explained
Whirligig Explained
I’m a big believer in learning by doing. I’ve lead a rich life as a dude, a dad, a musician, a creativetech entrepreneur. As such I’ve learned a lot by doing. . The sum of my life experiences lead me to imagine and build a scrappy app of a social experiment tentatively named Whirligig (Wrrly), which happens to also be a song on my new record “Angels and Alibis”. An easy way to imagine Wrrly is tool for unlocking the “mindseye” visions and feelings you experience when you list to songs you love. Another way to frame it is a way to visually jam with your favorite songs, bands and with each other through ai art assistance.
Help Me “Invent” A Visual Vocabulary
The truth is this puppy is a half baked app of my imaging. I think of it as a way to actualize the collaborative ethos of Conspire to Smile born in 2018. The idea that we can explicitely lean on music and the music that surroungs to fine wild freedom and deep belonging. And in so doing infuse social media with posativity. I could use your help in fleshing out IF and WHAT Whirligig should/could be artistically, sociologically and technologically. I imagine as it evolves it can become a form of visual vocabulary for storytelling of all kinds. If making videos for songs you love remotely interests you or if you just want to help me bring this puppy to life, please request early access to the app here. I or someone on my team will send you an invitation to install an app called “Testflight” which is an app that lets you test beta apps on your iOS phone or ipad.
Here’s how it works.
Upload a song to Wrrly
Cut and paster lyrics for the song into the app (Note: I would start with partial lyrics to a song. For example the the first verse and chorus - it makes the video shorter and easier to make
Synch the timing of the lyrics to the song
Choose a Wrrly video style (this is an important step)
The app will generate six still images for each scene and pull some gifs. pick one “seed” image orgif for every phrase of the lyrics you uploaded
Once each line has an image that you feel represents something you dig, press the Up arrow in the top left of the app to make a video
It takes 5-7 minutes to render the video once you press the arrow at which point you can watch it, remix it if you want to make fixes, download it and share it
Once the video is rendered you can download, share the link, with freinds or on social media OR fix/remix it.
Trust me, this is gonna be FUN! More than anything I hope you enjoy the experience of experimenting with Wrrly as a way of engaging with music, me and the collective we.
Start with My Music: Angels and Alibis.
I thnk of Whirlgig [The App} as an extension of the Angels and Alibis [The Album}. Its a way the we can truly creatively collaborate.. It’s a way for you the listener to step into the song, to personalize and reimagine it. To reflect and project your story within the context of the seed of a song. I’ve provided a link to Angels and Alibis MP3 files and the lyrics to each song. If you so choose please start using Angels and Alibis as a starting place. Or use any song/lyrics you feel moved to give a face!
IF YOU MAKE A VIDEO PLEASE SHARE IT WITH ME ON SOCIAL OR BY DROPPING THE LINK BELOW
Whirligig [The Song] Imagined in Mexican Folk Art
High Level Heady Background
Here’s some heady high-level background that informs my thinking: it turns out mind’s eye visions are a physiological mash up of moods, sensations, sense of place characters etc. Wrrly is designed to help you actualize your minds eye vision of a song as a music and video mashup. Think of how SOME books meet your minds eye vision and MOST dont. Ideally when this bad boy is done EVERY “Wrrrly” you make will meet your mindeye sensation of any and every song you choose. Ultimatly its a way of visually jamming that affords you a chance to infuse the muse by personifying a song. The distinction of the word personify vs personalize is super important to to fully “getting ” what i’m going for.
Personify means to insert oneself into an abstraction, like a song, making it MORE HUMAN.
Personalize means to customize. Example shitty ads “personalized” making MORE NOISE
Whirligig uses ai art to assist the creation of your minds eye music videos which I understand might sound counterintuitive (and slightly scary) But heres the thing, machines can only personalize things like make ads more relevant. Good news folks. Machines can’t feel BUT people sure as hell can. We often feel far more than we realize. That’s why the collective “we” dig music so much. We feel it by sensing it. And so by making a music video infused with your “person” you are in fact making the song MORE HUMAN, yourself MORE HUMAN and the collective MORE COMMUNAL. Simply put Whirligig is just songs infused with your own personified minds eye aesthetics and/or personal feelings, emotions, thoughts and values. And… Voila personified interpersonal, posative, kickstarted social media.
Hate begets hate; violence begets violence And so it is annoying social ads beget more ads, ass’s beget more ass’s, trolling brings more trolling, Bullies beget more social media bullying. Through music and ideally Whurligig I choose to face darkness with light. I hope you’ll join me and that we can one a hell of a good time in doing so. Full stop.
Be Good To Each Other Folks - In Angels and Alibi) - Reid