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I am not super big on AI, but I have used it from time to time for different projects, including a couple of puppet videos. I am a bit leery of it, as it can provide us with too big of a “shortcut” for things that should require human ingenuity.
I had heard about a web application on the internet called Base44 which you can use to build applications. I didn’t really grasp what it could do until I stumbled across a web application somebody else had built with it.
I was curious to see how easy it was to generate a web application and, to my surprise, it was really pretty easy. In just a few minutes, I had started a social media network for puppeteers.
To really put it to the test, I asked it to build another application with very specific functionality, and it did that pretty well.
This leads me to the project that I started to work on tonight. I had envisioned a system which allows video creators to present a series of videos in a pre-defined sequence. It is a little like streaming because a virtual audience could watch it at the very same time, but it is also like Netflix because each segment is pre-recorded. It could be used to put together a virtual talent show, a puppet slam, or even just a “best of” collection of videos.
In this application, the videos are organized as parts of an “episode,” and each episode exists inside a “show,” very similar to streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. Producers of the shows will be able to invite submissions of videos, review the submissions, and then add them to a show’s episode for broadcast.
Viewers can post a comment or leave a thumbs up/down for an episode, or communicate with other viewers who are watching via a chat.
A later version could include a virtual “theater” where an audience can enter, and a show would begin playing at a predetermined time, a little like watching a movie. The live chat would make this a shared experience.
My goal was to create something that offers a new kind of experience watching videos, and I feel like I’ve been able to do that with lots of help from Base44. I’m not great with names, so I went with the name which was included by default: Show Runner.
I’m not a programmer by trade, but I have worked with a few and I understand how challenging it can be to explain what you wanted in a custom website or software. And, a programmer wouldn’t have been able to complete this application in the twenty minutes it took Base44.
As exciting as all of this is, I would say that Show Runner is only at the prototype stage. I hope to put it to some good use, but I’d like to export it, have it looked at by a programmer, and then hosted on a server before I really put it out there for people to use.
Would I recommend Base44? If you have an idea for an application that you need to kick around, this could be the service for you. But, keep in mind that it won’t be a substitute for wisdom that comes from actual programming experience, and you’ll need lots of that if you hope to turn it into a polished product that people will appreciate.
Please check out my app “Show Runner,” and then let me know what you think.
