Claude Turned 20 Parrots Into a Finished Keynote Video

Simon Willison had Claude Opus 5.5 create an HTML5 animation of at least 20 kākāpō, then used Claude Code and Playwright to turn it into a 15-second video. The result was not a generic suggestion or storyboard. It was a file he could use on the closing slide of a keynote.

Two prompts connected generation to video capture

Willison gave the model three reference photos and requested a pixel-art scene with confetti. He downloaded the resulting HTML page and instructed a local Claude Code session to open it in a browser, start clicking after 3 seconds and record 15 seconds in total.

Claude Code used Playwright and a short Python script. It launched Chromium at 1280 × 720, distributed ten clicks across the canvas and saved the video. The source also confirms that the asset was made for a keynote at WeAreDevelopers World Congress North America.

The value comes from joining formats, not one model trick

The useful part is the conversion from a loose visual request into a repeatable artifact. The model produced an interactive page, browser automation performed timed interactions and the recording mechanism delivered a video. Each component solved a small, inspectable problem.

For designers, speakers and developers, this pattern is more useful than waiting for a dedicated export feature. Existing web tools can serve as the bridge between generation and the required delivery format.

A successful slide is still not a production pipeline

This is one documented run with a hand-written request and visual review by the author. It provides no evidence about repeatability, rights around the reference images or how often the model would produce usable animation without corrections. The short Playwright script is auditable, but the generated HTML still needs review.

Editability and repeated exports will decide its usefulness

A stronger test will look less impressive: change the resolution, duration, colors or character count and obtain a correct video again without manual rescue. If the workflow stays consistent across several iterations, it becomes a working tool. Otherwise it remains an excellent one-off slide.

Lilith's verdict

The model did not perform video magic here. Willison built a short bridge from HTML through a browser to a keynote screen, and bridges like that are what turn impressive demos into useful work.