EP 012 · 65 MIN FOUR FACES, ONE IMAGE: THE CREF HACK
Midjourney Mysteries Unveiled: Your Questions, Our Answers (Part 2)
The short version
Episode 12 is part two of Fast Hours' AMA, and it became the show's most-watched episode. Rory and Drew answer listener questions on extreme photorealism tokens, faking character consistency by cramming four angles of one face into a single Midjourney CREF image, building brand mood boards, and fixing morphed bodies with Magnific or Midjourney's creative upscaler. They close on James Cameron joining Stability AI's advisory board.
Key takeaways
- 01
Fake character consistency with one CREF image: cram 4-5 angles of the same face into a single 'character sheet' shot against a flat background.
- 02
Before sending an image to Runway, Luma or Kling, bake motion into it first: spinning wheels or a mid-stride heel, since static poses just slide across the frame.
- 03
Name a specific photography type (editorial, product, street) instead of the word 'photorealistic'; naming the category shapes the whole image more precisely, says Drew.
- 04
The 'stillsarchive[network].com' prompt trick (e.g. stillsarchivehbo.com) returns network-accurate TV-style stills with no other prompting needed, per Drew's live demo.
- 05
Don't sleep on Midjourney's creative upscaler for faces: Drew's blind ChatGPT comparison found it added sharper micro-contrast and fixed logo text the subtle upscaler left mushy.
- 06
For full-body shots without a tiny, mushy face, zoom out in stages in the Editor, rewriting the prompt at each step: close-up, medium shot, full shot.
- 07
Build a brand's image style from a checklist before generating anything: target audience and demographics, visual signature and core values, then color palette, usage and placement.
Receipts · said on the record
“The trick for something like that is in your prompt, you want to put spinning wheels, so it has the wheels already spinning. You're giving yourself a leg up in terms of generating.”
“I love to use cinematic still at the very, it's the very first token that I would put in before subject, before action, before even camera angle.”
“We've got James Cameron joining an advisory board for stable diffusion. I mean, if you weren't following the trend, if everyone's calling it that now, I mean, what are you doing?”
“So to me, using character sheets, that's the best way to do it. When you get into multiple characters, it's a hackathon. I'll be candid.”
“I think we need to be using Creative Upscaler here, folks … it's definitely got the use case here, especially when you're talking about people or these finer details to add in.”
Chapters
Questions this episode answers
How do you fake character consistency in Midjourney without a dedicated consistency feature?
Rory builds a 'character sheet': one image containing four or five different angles and expressions of the same face shot against a flat background, then uses that single composite as the CREF reference so Midjourney has more data to match than a single portrait provides.
What does Fast Hours think of Midjourney's character reference (CREF) feature?
Rory calls it the platform's most challenging feature, and both hosts say inconsistent characters are pushing some users to other tools; Rory expects Midjourney to prioritize it since consistent characters are needed for any kind of ongoing visual storytelling.
How do you keep a full-body Midjourney shot from getting a small, distorted face?
Rory zooms out in the Editor in stages, rewriting the text prompt at each step from 'close-up' to 'medium shot' to 'full shot' rather than jumping straight to a wide aspect ratio; Drew adds that Midjourney's creative upscaler can also repair a mushy face afterward.
What is the 'stills archive' prompt trick discussed in this episode?
Drew found that prompting a phrase like 'stillsarchivehbo.com,' or swapping in Netflix.com or CBS.com, returns TV-still-style images with a network-accurate look, without needing any other prompt detail.
How should you start developing a Midjourney image style for a brand?
Drew recommends mapping the target audience (age, gender, demographics), a visual signature and core values, and the brand's color palette before generating anything, then using a brand-color swatch as a style reference at a moderate style weight to infuse that palette without naming the color in the prompt.
Show notes
Midjourney Mysteries Unveiled: Your Questions, Our Answers (Part 2)
In this episode, Drew and Rory discuss various aspects of content creation using Midjourney, including updates on new features, the importance of personalization, and advanced techniques for achieving photorealism and cinematic images.
They share insights on how to effectively use prompts and style codes to enhance the quality of generated images, as well as tips for creating dynamic motion in video outputs.
In this conversation, Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn delve into the intricacies of image styles, brand development, and the use of Midjourney for creating mood boards and character consistency. They discuss the challenges of achieving full body shots and the potential of AI in filmmaking, particularly with the involvement of industry leaders like James Cameron.
The dialogue emphasizes practical strategies for leveraging Midjourney's features to enhance visual storytelling and brand identity.
