When artificial intelligence directs on his own

Bremerhaven professor tests the possibilities and limitations of AI in music video production

Whether on posters, in commercials, or in images and videos on social media: artificial intelligence can now be found in many areas of everyday life. Accordingly, critical voices are becoming louder, warning that many jobs will be lost. But what can AI really do when people want to invest as little time and money in production as possible? This question has been explored by Prof. Dr. Holger Rada, head of the Digital Media Production (DMP) degree program at the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven. He had several AI tools jointly produce a music video, without intervening creatively himself. The result shows what AI is already capable of today – and where its limits lie.

The use of generative AI is currently being heavily debated. Most recently, two Christmas commercials generated by artificial intelligence sparked controversy. The discussion was not only about quality, but also about a general rejection of videos created by AI instead of media designers. This piqued the curiosity of Prof. Dr. Holger Rada. “I wanted to find out for myself what is possible with the current state of the art if you just let the AI do the work and do not do any post‑production yourself. My aim is not to see AI through rose‑tinted glasses. Rather, I want to stimulate discussion,” he says. The idea: to have several tools jointly create a music video, without significantly intervening in the creative process himself. The music was also “composed” by AI (Suno 4.5). The basis was a concept developed by Gemini 3 from three or four human keywords. The AI determined the content and dramaturgy itself. The prompts for character development (Nano Banana Pro) and video generation (Flow/Veo 3.1 & Runway 4.0) were also mainly created by AI. Lip‑syncing was done with Heygen Avatar IV. Together, the AI tools generated a song and the matching scenes for the music video. The result can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVvw95MEkn8. “There are some parts of the video that are not so great and would need to be reworked. But I did not want that, because that is exactly the point. It is meant to be a feasibility study that shows what AI produces when we humans no longer intervene much,” the professor explains.

Critical engagement with AI is important

He showed the video, among other places, in the ongoing “Music Video” media project in order to discuss it with his students. Opinions there are divided. Some of them reject the use of artificial intelligence, while others see it as a way to make work easier in certain areas. “Artificial intelligence is a topic in all the courses in our degree program. It is important to us that our students learn how to use it sensibly. At the same time, we want to encourage critical engagement. It has to be a conscious decision when the use of AI makes sense and when something should rather be done in a traditional way,” Prof. Rada explains. Transparency is important. It must be clearly recognizable when artificial intelligence is involved. In “his” music video, he not only included this in the title, but also marked it with a watermark in the video itself and in the end credits. There, instead of the people involved, the AI apps used to create the video are listed.

Students receive tools for a changing world of work

The teaching staff are aware that artificial intelligence is changing the industry. They monitor developments and continue their training so they can always present the latest tools in their courses. This also applies to Professor Nicole Slink, who teaches communication design and has been working with AI for some time. “We know that jobs will be lost in our field. We can neither ignore nor sugarcoat that. However, new jobs will also be created. We need to respond to this in our degree program and provide students with the appropriate tools,” she says. In her experience, her students enjoy trying out new things but still want to be actively involved themselves. “Many of them prefer to pick up the camera themselves or draw something instead of having images created by AI. They also address the many challenges that AI brings with it: topics such as copyright or data protection,” the professor continues. On the other hand, AI offers a welcome relief and a way to save time, for example when editing images.

Prof. Rada sees it in a similar way. At the same time, he finds it fascinating what artificial intelligence is already capable of: “Just a year ago, the video would have looked completely different. There would have been many more rendering errors. Parts of people would sometimes have disappeared behind other objects, or the characters would have had more than five fingers on one hand. The rapid development is impressive.” For all the fascination, however, we must not forget how high the energy consumption of AI use is. It is, for example, critical that a nuclear power plant in the USA is to be reactivated to supply AI data centers with electricity, or that new reactors are to be developed for this purpose. “It is important to raise awareness of these negative aspects as well. Only then can students today and in the future weigh up when the use of AI is truly sensible and justifiable,” says the professor. With a smile, he concludes by pointing out that the students in his project ultimately produce the music videos in a completely traditional way and without AI.

The bachelor’s degree program in Digital Media Production is built on an interdisciplinary profile with a training focus on the interlinking of disciplines, that is, on the conception, design, and development of multimedia systems. The design and computer science components of the program are not understood as isolated modules from different disciplines, but rather they depend on each other and build on one another. In addition, aspects of media production are taken into account that deal with the conception, planning, budgeting, and marketing of applications. The results of student media projects can be admired every year at the DMP Day. In 2026 this will take place on 12 June.