Music Video: Dungeon Lost

And the award for best dungeon music video goes to…

Seriously, I'm quite proud of this one. I was thinking that I've never heard of any dungeoncrawl music – maybe it exists, just not on my radar – and I had this idea about a fighter lost in a dungeon, complaining about his useless party members.

So, after I thought about the concept for about a week, I explained what I wanted to the AI. It gave me some lyrics, which I heavily rewrote.

After making several song versions, I made some lyric changes. The chorus originally ended with "What's an adventurer to do?" The AI could not consistently sing 'adventurer', and you can't coach an AI like you can a human being! I tried 'adventure-er' and 'adventure-ur' but that didn't work either. Substituting 'fighter' was no improvement. I tried 'hero', which worked, and finally made it 'What's a lost hero to do?'.

Dungeon walls weep secrets deep,
Torch light dances, shadows creep.
Water drips, and a feeble moan,
Lost in these halls, I'm quite alone.

(Chorus)
Dungeon blues, a heavy plight,
This stupid fool, through the night.
My party's gone, a sorry crew,
What's a lost hero to do?

Dwarf was drunk, now he's stoned,
Barbarian's pride, he went off alone.
Thief done vanished with my gold,
A story tragic to be told.

(Chorus)
Dungeon blues, a heavy plight,
This stupid fool, through the night.
My party's gone, a sorry crew,
What's a lost hero to do?

Cleric betrayed by evil spawn,
Wizard's spent, his powers gone.
Where's that Hobbit, small and stout?
Can't solve this quest, I'm filled with doubt.

Oh no, what's that? Upon the ground
Hobbit's body, small and round.
Now I'm truly on my own,
Damn this dungeon, cold as stone!

The biggest problem with the AI-generated music was getting a version where all of the lyrics were sung. Had several wonderful versions, except that a few lines were gibberish. Finally, I got a usable version:

I liked that version, but I really wanted a male vocalist. So I tried one last time, asking for 'sad Irish', and got this:

Just what I wanted!

Now I needed artwork. I used the DaVinci2 AI to generate some images, with these instructions:

A warrior in armor and skullcap, holding a metal sword in his left hand and a torch with a flame in his right hand. He is standing in a dark dungeon. The man is looking directly at the camera, with a scared and weary expression. Small body at his feet.

Had a terrible time trying to get the AI to do what I wanted. I wanted chainmail, it insisted on plate. I wanted an armored cap, it gave me a red hood. The figure held the torch low, so that the flame burned him! Argghh! Finally, I got a version that was in the ballpark of what I wanted:

I then used the Flux Klein AI editor, which allows you more control over the output. I told it to reduce the torch's flame, to remove the lighted corridor behind him, and to add blood to the sword.

There's still more light behind him than I wanted, but you can only fight AI so far (on my budget!).

It then occurred to me that it would be cool if the torch light flickered in the music video. I didn't have the resources to make animated art that lasted that long (on my budget), but I could make a 10-second loop!

The final step was to combine the music and the animating art, using ClipChamp:

I'm rather pleased with the result!

I've also posted the video as a reel on the TMP Facebook page, where it has so far received a disappointing number of views. Guess you can't please them all!