“Down Bad”: music video with a touch of A(I)nime
This project was curated by Jasmine Fernando, Müberra Daldal, Yerlin Marissen Blanco as their final project for the course Motion Design Lab.
The song “Down Bad” by musician Kainat tells the timeless story of a girl falling in love with a boy. She embarks on a journey of romantic infatuation, a theme that resonates with many.
In this AI-enhanced music video, Kainat collaborates with the Immersive Lab to add a subtle layer of A(I)nime—blending anime-inspired visuals with AI-powered video production techniques. The result is a visually compelling fusion of emotional storytelling and stylized aesthetics that brings the narrative to life in a fresh, contemporary way.
Highlights of the Project
Creative AI integration: The video blends hand-crafted animation elements with generative AI tools to produce a hybrid aesthetic—part glossy, part organic.
Stylized anime touch: Influences from anime are visible in the color palette, character features, and motion cues, without fully committing to traditional anime tropes.
Workflow insights: Behind-the-scenes content (where available) showcases prompt workflows, AI-driven effects, and key steps in the studio process.
Curious to experience it?
Watch the music video “Down Bad” here and see how AI and anime-inspired storytelling come together.
AI tools and technical implementation
In their search for the best combination of supporting AI tools, the project team settled on Runway Gen-2, Lens.go, and Midjourney. Midjourney provided them with the necessary support in developing style frames, Lens.go helped them train a model that closely matched their physical artist, and this tool—in collaboration with Runway—proved to be the most efficient for a generative AI video-to-video workflow.
Save the date: generative AI for video workshop
Want to get creative with generative AI for video? On Wednesday, March 13 2024 (at 2 p.m.), we are organizing a workshop on this topic in the Immersive Lab. Save the date!