🎥 Transforming Longform Text into Multimedia using Generative AI

• How a gripping investigative story was transformed into multimedia using AI 🎭

• The process of generating voice-overs, images, animations, and music using AI tools 🛠️

• Ethical dilemmas and audience reactions to AI-generated content ⚖️

• Lessons for journalists and content creators seeking to repurpose longform stories ✍️

• Who: Columbia University professor Sheila Coronel, journalist and author of "The Making of Edgar Matobato."

• What: An investigative longform article about a hitman’s confessions in the Philippines.

• When: Published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), later transformed into multimedia.

• Where: Originally a written piece, repurposed into video/audio for broader accessibility.

• Why: To reach a wider audience through AI-generated visuals, voice-overs, and animations.

Like many powerful investigative pieces, "The Making of Edgar Matobato" deserved a larger audience. But let’s face it—longform journalism, no matter how compelling, isn’t always the easiest to consume.

So, you might wonder: What if this gripping narrative could be experienced visually and audibly? 🎧

With Sheila’s permission, you can embark on an AI-powered journey to reimagine the story through:

• AI-generated voice-overs 🎙️

• Illustrated imagery & animations 🖌️

• Custom soundtracks 🎶

Here’s how you can do it. 👇

You can turn to Eleven Labs, a top-tier AI voice generator, to narrate the story. Here’s how it plays out:

• Voice Selection: Choose "Francesca," a young female voice with a subtle Filipino-American accent for the main narrative.

• Pronunciation Adjustments: AI struggles with local names, so you may need to tweak spellings (e.g., Samar → Sam-mar, Failon → Fai-lohn).

• Project Setup: Divide the story into sections for better AI handling.

• Total Cost: Around 50,000 credits (half of Eleven Labs' monthly Creator tier allocation) for a 33-minute final audio.

🎧 Audience Reaction? Mixed. Filipino listeners may love the nuanced accent, but some international audiences might find it monotonous. 🤷‍♂️

A story this intense needs powerful imagery. Instead of using real-life photos, you can opt for symbolic AI-generated images with Midjourney. Here’s why:

• Style Choice: Ink sketches with watercolor streaks for a haunting effect.

• Content Moderation Challenges: OpenAI’s DALL-E and Google’s Imagen may flag certain prompts due to their sensitive nature.

• Meta-Prompting: Instead of writing prompts from scratch, let AI generate detailed descriptions based on the article snippets.

• Fine-Tuning: Use Midjourney’s editor to modify elements—adjusting the crucifix in a church scene, removing unnecessary details, and ensuring visual accuracy.

🖌️ Final Look? Symbolic, artistic, and emotionally compelling.

Turning static images into moving visuals can be trickier than expected. Major AI video tools like Runway ML, Sora, and Luma Dream Machine may produce glitchy or random results. 😩

Instead, you might find success with Speedpaint.co, a tool that animates sketches:

• Customization: Adjust sketch duration, fill effects, and sequence.

• Smooth Transitions: Use cross dissolves to integrate animated sketches with static images.

• Final Touch: Slow down animations to match the pace of the story’s narration.

🎥 Takeaway: Speedpaint.co provides a simple yet effective alternative to complex AI video generators.

To enhance immersion, you can use Suno to generate a background piano score:

• Prompt: "Background piano music for a narrative podcast—slow, somber, intimate, looping."

• Result: The first few tracks may be too upbeat, but tweaking the prompt can lead to the right mood.

• Final Edit: Use fade-in and fade-out effects to create seamless looping.

🎶 End Effect: The music deepens the emotional impact of the storytelling.

Let’s clear up a misconception: AI doesn’t do everything. You’re still the creative director making the calls:

• Curating and tweaking AI outputs 🎨

• Ensuring narrative cohesion 📖

• Editing manually in DaVinci Resolve 🖥️

🕒 Total Time Spent? Two days. With experience, you could do it in one.

👥 Journalists & Storytellers: Excited about AI’s potential but cautious about ethics. 🎭 Filipino Listeners: Impressed by the AI-generated voices’ authenticity. 💤 International Audience: Some may find AI narration too robotic. 🎨 Artists & Illustrators: Concerned about AI’s impact on creative professions.

🤔 The Debate Continues: Is AI a storytelling aid or a creative disruptor?

If you’re a journalist, content creator, or media professional, here’s your AI playbook:

✅ Experiment with AI tools like Eleven Labs, Midjourney, and Suno to enhance your storytelling.

✅ Tweak AI-generated content to match your creative vision—AI should assist, not replace, human storytelling.

✅ Consider audience reactions when choosing AI tools—some will love it, some won’t.

✅ Stay ethical: Think critically about the AI tools you use and their impact on creatives.

✅ Mix AI & human elements for maximum impact—AI voice-overs with human narration, or AI images with human edits.

📢 Final Thought: AI isn’t here to replace storytellers—it’s here to amplify stories in ways we never imagined. How will you use AI in your next project? Let’s discuss in the comments! 👇

🎙️ 1. Play.ht – Ultra-Realistic AI Voiceovers

• A competitor to Eleven Labs, Play.ht offers hyper-realistic AI voices with SSML controls for precise pronunciation adjustments.

• Why it’s useful: Perfect for generating high-quality audio narrations for podcasts, videos, and audiobooks.

🎨 2. Leonardo.Ai – AI-Powered Image & Concept Art Generator

• A robust AI image-generation tool specializing in illustrative and cinematic-style visuals.

• Why it’s useful: Great for creating custom story artwork, thumbnails, and scene illustrations.

🎞️ 3. Runway Gen-3 – Advanced AI Video Generation

• The latest AI video model from Runway, capable of creating high-quality, cinematic AI videos.

• Why it’s useful: Useful for transforming long-form narratives into short-form video content with dynamic effects.

🎵 4. Soundraw – AI-Generated Custom Music

• A music-generation AI that allows users to tweak tempo, instruments, and mood to match their stories.

• Why it’s useful: Unlike Suno, Soundraw gives more control over song structure, making it ideal for video soundtracks.

📜 5. Descript – AI-Powered Video & Podcast Editing

• An all-in-one tool for editing videos and podcasts using text-based commands. It can even generate AI voice clones.

• Why it’s useful: Makes AI-powered narration seamless and allows quick script adjustments without re-recording.

Let me know if you’d like recommendations tailored to a specific storytelling format! 🚀

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