Ep. 42: Can Midjourney Actually Compete in Video? +Sref & Monetization Talk

0:00:00Childhood Hat Trauma & Hairline Insecurities

Play from 0:00:01 8:88:88 0:00:01 What's up everybody? Midjourney Fast Hours podcast. We are back and I left my hat somewhere in the other room. So, here we are. Weird. I know. I'm breaking breaking tradition here. Good head of hair, dude. Thanks, man. Still rocking it, you know. Still got some. So, might as well might as well show it every once in a while. Dude, I get the comment all the time from from some of my friends who maybe are thinning a little bit.

Play from 0:00:26 8:88:88 0:00:26 They're like, "Dude, just just don't wear the hat. you have good thick hair. I'm like, I I don't think about it that way. But, you know, it's hard to put the hat down. It is. I've been I've been a hat guy my entire life. I have the same I I I I get the feeling you're the same way. You've been rocking a hat since you were a child. Nine, 10. soon as I started playing like baseball religiously when it was like I was wearing a hat every day for baseball whether it was practice try you know like camp vibe you know working with working doing like hitting stuff whatever it was always in a hat and I just like wearing a hat so same it's weird always been rocking a hat although I would say I've got you beat I've been rocking the hat since birth four five all right like one of my

Play from 0:01:12 8:88:88 0:01:12 earliest pictures I was trying to see if I could pull it up here really quick it's hilarious it's me on my neighborhood street rocking like a flat bill yes cap and I've got like these of course like you know 80s early 90s inspired like vibrant color like wind jacket and it's sick it's so dope but I'm like mom thanks for that one because most of the other stuff I've seen it ain't good it ain't good you have a mushroom cut just like the rest of us in the 90s they called that a a bull cut for us bull cut all Right. But yeah, like I think everybody had that at some point.

Play from 0:01:48 8:88:88 0:01:48 What was that like maybe I'm a little bit older than you, but for me I think that was early 90s sixth, seventh grade. Yeah, maybe a Yeah, that's when it came off for me. Seven, seventh grade. It was like I got to get rid of this thing now. It was like What about this thing? Oh, are we show are we showing that everyone? I don't you Well, I was looking through my photos and I forgot why, but I I saved this photo and I think I was giving you [ __ ] for it one time and uh turns out I still got it on here. So, if anyone doesn't remember if anyone doesn't remember the dark days of CO when all of the women and all the females still looked exactly looked normal because their hair doesn't grow at the same rate as us cuz we get it cut every four weeks and we're like, you know, a month or two in and we all look like cavemen like disgusting. Yeah. What are we doing? I Yeah, I already told the

Play from 0:02:35 8:88:88 0:02:35 die story, I think, on this podcast, but Oh, yeah, bro. Yeah, I had to shave it all down, man. We We uh Too funny. Yeah, too funny, man. And it was uh what was your what was your week like this week? How you know? It's just it never slows down. Nothing ever stops. I open up Twitter every single day and it's just like, oh, here's 50 other things for me to look at today and test and see what's going on. I I think if you put too if you put too much pressure on yourself to keep up with every little thing, it it has a negative effect on you. So, I've I've tried to especially now like pretty much rocking, you know, I'm rocking full-time and then, you know, I don't get to spend as much time in the weeds as I did when I was running solo. I've had to let some of that go, right? Like, there's no way to stay,

0:02:40Feeling Swamped by AI Everything

Play from 0:03:21 8:88:88 0:03:21 you know, have maintain good relationships within my family, you know, do all those things unless I let some of it go and not try to try to know everything. So I think that's been a lesson for me is you know these things happen so fast right and um you know luckily there are other people right like through Twitter or just you know have a conversation with you where it's like if I get enough of what's going on that feels good enough for me right now um in in some areas like mostly like with I would say like the video stuff specifically. Um, but in terms of like everything going on with Midjourney, obviously staying up to date with that, but it's it's rough. Like I' i've I've sort of hit that fever pitch now where I just have to fever pitch. That's a good Yeah, it's a good word. Yeah. It's like I just have to choose like I can't I can't chase everything. Like hey Genen comes out with something new this week

Play from 0:04:07 8:88:88 0:04:07 that's like super revolutionary apparently. I haven't even looked into it because I've never used Hey Gen. And like I just I see that as more of like it spikes and then it goes into a valley, you know? like it spikes, it's cool for a month and then, you know, someone else develops and I don't hear from them for a while. I'm curious how other people do that too outside of us, right? Like the people listening to this, I'm curious how you guys decide. Is it purely a time bandwidth thing or do you think about it consciously like that, which I think is smart too of like you kind of have to consciously pick your winners too of like I maybe I don't have the time to explore every single tool. these are the ones that I will sort of like go back in and, you know, test this new feature, run some experiments, right? Like kind of piece together how it might work for me kind of thing. Yeah. It's like, you know, there's the tools that are that are

Play from 0:04:53 8:88:88 0:04:53 shipping constantly. Like I look at Cling and I just know that Cling's on it, right? Like, you know, something's like they dropped 2.1 4 weeks after 2.0. Like that's not a Yeah. Right. It's not like Pika who like disappeared for nine months and then came back, you know? like it wasn't like they they've been doing that. They've been kind of they they'll show up for like one week and then it's like back into hibernation for the next quarter. Yeah. Yeah. Constantly constantly updating. I did get to meet um Tony from from Clling this week who is the only only employee in the US and Tony is very cool and if anyone's not utilizing Clling in any way, shape or form, I I definitely highly suggest it as a tool. I think it's it's great. They put a lot of effort into their tool and it's really good. It's super coherent.

0:05:00Choosing What Tools to Actually Keep Up With

Play from 0:05:41 8:88:88 0:05:41 But he was, you know, talking to him, his his schedule's crazy cuz he's on the he's the only one in the US. So like he's working all day that far east time. Yeah. Then he works the nighttime regimen cuz he's he's like when I have a call with Europe, it's like in the morning and then I have to like somewhat relax during the middle of the day and then go back to, you know, working overnight. Insane. I can't even imagine, you know. super cool, super open to feedback, like loved talking to him. I love when these tools like this um you a good thing about the space if anyone's not familiar, you haven't had an opportunity to talk to, you know, some of the people that are developing these tools, some of the you know, the tool owners like they're really open to feedback like they like it, you know, they don't they don't get like pissy if you're like, I don't want where would

0:06:25The Most Open Dev Teams in AI Right Now

Play from 0:06:26 8:88:88 0:06:26 you say the best place to reach these people are for those that are listening and and maybe do have feedback like is it, you know, is it mostly on X? Yeah, they're interactive. It's like they want to know because it's just like you with with your work, right? Yeah. You're getting constant feedback, which is which is great. Like if you're a marketer, well, it doesn't even matter if you're a marketer, right? Like any type of feedback is valuable. You're not taking guesses, right? Yeah. Um so I think like if you've got something that's hard data that you can then apply and if you establish patterns, even better, right? if you're hearing that same thing a couple times or you know maybe even just like the creator mindset right like you and I think about that in terms of like if we see comments here and we see sort of like similar patterns it's like okay like this probably is

Play from 0:07:12 8:88:88 0:07:12 something we should address whether it's briefly or on a deeper level same with doesn't even have to be your content I think you even brought this up on a previous pod right it's like look you can also source this just by viewing other people that are in the space and they may make a post and don't have time to, you know, comment or respond to every little thing that's left there, but you can also just browse that for insights of things that matter, right?

Play from 0:07:37 8:88:88 0:07:37 And so, you know, if you're Tony or anybody else or for that matter that's that's creating even, I mean, those are those are all good insights that are accessible and only allow you to get smarter with the things that you're talking about and pushing out, right? Versus taking guesses. So, 100%. So, it was uh for for a little insight as into how I met Tony. Apparently, Drew, it was New York Tech Week this week, also coinciding with a lot of like supplemental events for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. So, the whole like AI contingent was in New York and I did not know this until about Tuesday. So, damn. Okay. Uh so this is like a this is an annual thing but but probably within the last two years

0:08:10Midjourney Listener Recognition IRL

Play from 0:08:23 8:88:88 0:08:23 this has really like just kind of been an influx too of the AI part of that and and influence in the event and I think it's it's similar to like what what I'm not going to say it's at the same scale but like what Khan is in in France where you have the big major event and then you have all the satellite events. So everyone comes, throws their parties, everyone has their, you know, presentations, their panel discussions, their networking events. So very cool.

Play from 0:08:49 8:88:88 0:08:49 Tell us, tell us more about it. Tell us more about that. F first, I would I would like to shout out to one of our listeners. You're going to find this one this one good. We were sitting uh after one of the events, we went out to get like a you know, like a burger on Stone Street down in down uh the down in Wall Street area. and just Wall Street's at the bottom, right? South Financial District, Finance District. So, we were sitting there, you know, probably like 10 of us were on a table and, you know, one of the guys, his name is Brian, just uh he's like, "Dude, I don't know what it is about your voice. It sounds so familiar." I was like, I was like, "Do you ever do you happen to listen to a podcast?" He goes, "Are you guys are you guys the the Midjourney podcast?" I was like, "Yeah, Midjourney Fast Hours." He goes, "I have ironed more shirts to that podcast than anything to any other."

Play from 0:09:35 8:88:88 0:09:35 Like I was like, "Dude, I shouting that out." Can we yo, can we use that line in a Yeah, we're going to use that line. Yeah. I mean, it was like the way he said it, I was like, that's exactly how I, you know, he's like, I I don't really watch. I just listen. So, I I wasn't recognizing you by your face, but I recognized your voice. So, you know, we have we have a few listeners that I met, which was cool. But yeah, it was um you know, I went to we did a panel discussion in Oculus, which is right next to the World Trade Center. Small intimate sort of setting, you know, a bunch of people. You had Cling there, Free Pick was there. Um few people, a few other cool people that I met and did a panel discussion with uh Xavier and Justin from Wonder Studios. If you guys are not familiar with them, they're developing AI intellectual property at

Play from 0:10:21 8:88:88 0:10:21 the moment. So, they're a new studio in the game that's uh you know, just got just got some funding and is on the on the upswing. Got a little bit of a relationship with them. And then uh also did a panel discussion with Nick St. Pierre. If anyone is familiar with X, I'm sure you've seen Nick's work. Super cool guy. Awesome conversations. So, yeah, we had a good time at that. Got to really get in with uh with Free Pick a little bit, you know, have a conversation with their team. They're really cool. had no idea they started as a stock photography site and just pivoted, which I was like, so where are you guys at now? Oh, interesting. Yeah, I feel I feel like I I feel like I knew that, but I but maybe I haven't thought about that because they they've been around for a minute, right? Because they were Yeah. Like even pre AAI that was the place where you got all the stickers

0:10:50The Great Freepik Pivot (RIP Stock Photography)

Play from 0:11:07 8:88:88 0:11:07 and icons and illustrations and under that subscription model. But uh prior to that, yeah, that that kind of makes sense. That let that tracks I feel like I knew that either I knew that or it makes a lot of sense. So I was like to them I was like congrats cuz I see you guys as like a major player in pivoted a lot and they pivoted hard. Yeah. And they made the right pivot like because that's what was the first thing that we were doing with Midney? Yes. Yes, you're right. Get rid of stock like 100%. And and that's the thing is like unless you you know it's more obvious now, right?

Play from 0:11:45 8:88:88 0:11:45 But if we were having that conversation like we were a year ago, close to a year ago and we were probably having that conversation before the podcast started. But um that unless you were in it, you weren't thinking of that. You know what I mean? I guess is my point. And so that to me I would say like if I were working there and saw that take place would be very encouraging. I'm sure at the time was probably like chaotic to to undergo undergo that kind of pivot. But at the same time like now looking back on it you got to respect the hell out of that.

Play from 0:12:19 8:88:88 0:12:19 they're really dialed into what's happening because I don't know that that was such an obvious realization except for people that were super in the weeds like we were and others were because like we it got to a point where you're like oh okay now I could see how you know for me it started with the the stock stuff uh photos specifically but then it was like oh yeah like you could create once that consistency started to get better it's like oh now you could start to create these things and basically create your own material that you could sell, right? So, this this feels obsolete now. Um, so whatever they did. When was the last time you even thought about stock? Like, when was the last time you even thought about it?

Play from 0:12:57 8:88:88 0:12:57 Not not in a long time, brother. Like, honestly, when she said stock photography, like I had to register back in my brain. This is how crazy this is that I had to register in my brain that that was a thing. Cuz I it's totally gone from my thought process, which is wow. I had that, this sounds like again like majour deep hours, but I was legitimately had to think for a second like stock photography like it used to be ingrained in my day-to-day and I had not touched it in three years. Well, I you know to to be fair like there was never anything sexy about stock photograph but it was like a necessary evil that you never really thought about but it was always a part of the process because there was no other alternative other than again having a big budget where you could hire a photographer, right? And so it just depends what kind of space you were in, what kind of company, the resources you had, but it was like one or the other, right? Yeah.

Play from 0:13:44 8:88:88 0:13:44 And it was uh interesting, man, because like I said, there was a bunch of there was a bunch of other tools there. I got to meet some people from Topaz. If anyone's not familiar with them, video and and uh image upscaling sort of service, video, image restoration, really good. If you guys haven't tried it out, highly suggest it. Um there's what else was interesting was that I was at a one of the one of the parties if you want to call it that was more of like a more of like a meet and greet kind of thing just networking and it was filmmakers a lot of them a lot of like a lot of industry traditional yeah that have been in the industry for 20 years they were just you know like open invite like they were coming because they were curious and that to me felt even out of like 60 people maybe a small

Play from 0:14:30 8:88:88 0:14:30 sample size just felt like a transition. Yeah. Because some of them had finally gotten their hand like gotten like a little bit like dipping their toes. Yeah. And once they started it, they got really interested and now they're trying to like ingratiate more. Reminds me of that like agency push. Remember there were a lot of those agencies at first just didn't want to even talk about it. They Yeah. Oh yeah. And dude, it's like I keep telling anyone like there's there was a great there's a great video this guy did from a video from like the sorry from the film production industry basically like paralleling what the new jobs would look like. It's not like your job's going away. It's like how it's going to transition. So it was like you know how the director becomes sort of like the creative director and how the

0:14:30Traditional Creatives Are Entering the AI Chat

Play from 0:15:15 8:88:88 0:15:15 you know or the costume designer you know you're basically going to train digital Lauras and like you know build out you know models and aesthetics and be able to place this clothing and like consult on different things like that. The sound engineers are going to be this the you know the cinematographers going to do that and I was like this is it's smart because there is it is still so specialized you know in that space. Well, and and kind of like we're at this point, too, where if you're thinking about that early enough and at the right time, you actually can be the one to guide that, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, somebody's got to make that decision. If you're a video editor right now, I think you like I talked to a number of them who are in, you know, a lot of post-production. I was like, I think you guys are in the best position of anyone because there's going to be so much more content. And I know my faults. Like, I can create a good image. I can create

Play from 0:16:02 8:88:88 0:16:02 like a like a fun video. I cannot edit stuff together to save my life. I suck at sound. And it's like I know it's a I know it's like a downfall, but I was like there's so many there's just going to be more volume of content and there's going to be people that if you have traditional skills in editing, you're going to be super super in demand. Well, and there's the difference. There's all kinds of content to be fair, R. I mean, we're there's there's actual films and, you know, long form content. There's also miniseries.

Play from 0:16:31 8:88:88 0:16:31 There's also commercials. There's also sketch, you know, like so, so there's so much content, right? And I think that's also kind of like the thing I was, you know, realizing too early on with with the AI video stuff and why I always kind of was a little bit more into the image gen. It was just like the video stuff is cool to me. Obviously, there's so many applications. I want to be good at it. I want to be, you know, pretty damn good at it. But at the same time, it's like it's not really me, right? It's not really like my best skills. my best skill. I I love sort of like the design aspect, the stills, you know, the photography. Um, you know, some some video is cool, too, but like that's where my I I wouldn't even say comfort zone. It's just like I love that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, so I think

0:16:50Why Video Still Isn’t for Everyone

Play from 0:17:17 8:88:88 0:17:17 that's okay, right? Like because there's so many different iterations and various applications of how you would use image gen, let alone video gen, right? Like Yeah, it's so broad. It's it sort of all feeds into itself too at a certain point, you know, like I think everyone wants to push a little bit further once they're creative. Like if there's a curiosity, you like you just want to push it a little bit further, you know? Like I always I've always I've always really admired that about you cuz I think like and it shines through with anything that you do with the social aspect is because like you'll you'll really almost try to break it and uh Thanks, man. That's that's always something I know I can count on on you for. Uh which is which is awesome to see. You know what I mean? Because there was the why not mentality. It's just like why not? Like let's just try, you

Play from 0:18:02 8:88:88 0:18:02 know? I think you see so much of the same stuff, too. You just want to see something that you haven't seen yet, too. Like, oh, I haven't seen this type of shot. Like, let's try to do this. And by the way, you know, like if if if you do create content and you're listening to this, you probably already know this, but I'll point out something that may not be super obvious, but it's just like you don't have to just post the wins, the great stuff. Yeah. Share the losses, share the vulnerabilities, share the experiments. People like seeing the real [ __ ] the bad. So, at the end of the day, it's all good content. Doesn't matter if it's excellent results or results you didn't want to get to. And you post about it and the learnings that you had. And then also probably somebody will jump in and help you out at the same time, right? and say this is what you could have done. So do do you want to hear also dovetailing on that point a

0:18:40The Playground Mentality Behind Midjourney

Play from 0:18:48 8:88:88 0:18:48 little bit dovetailing is uh big sentiment towards Midjourney almost like a like exactly sort of how we felt about it where from talk to this maybe 50 people like that there's still like this like childish like playful mentality with Midjourney like it's it's not because it's now not the only game in town and you have to figure it out how to use it for XYZ project and we were like the same thing that we were doing which was like trying to trying to like fit it to our needs. Yeah. People still just utilize it as like a playground like it's just like I'm going to I need to like decompress. I like to use Midjourney. Like I just want to like throw a bunch of images into style reference and hit like car and push enter, you know, and see what comes out.

Play from 0:19:33 8:88:88 0:19:33 And I think that's I think if you're going to ask me where like you can win like to me that's a win for Midjourney is like that that's they don't have to be competing in the professional world. I like that you still be I don't like I love that you pointed that out because I think like that's that's easy to forget because it's like um we pushed it from that perspective because we've we've obviously both been at this point where we're running solo and we use Midjourney as a key part of that workflow. Right.

Play from 0:20:02 8:88:88 0:20:02 Yeah, but we weren't using it for that even as you're right there is no like it doesn't even matter if there's something that's better than Midjourney. something about the magic right itself and the experience of that platform and I don't know maybe even like if you've been using it for a while the nostalgia of where it's come come from and it is sort of like this really impressive underdog in the sense that it's not funded right like there just a lot of reasons to root for it um yeah it's it's that it is that like I said it I said it on the panel someone asked a question and I said you know like it. I was not forced out of

0:20:10Midjourney as a Post-Work Creative Brain Dump

Play from 0:20:49 8:88:88 0:20:49 design. I sort of like evolved out of design to where I didn't have a creative outlet anymore. I was doing sales and like operations. So everything was like growth and sales and growth and sales and I wasn't doing anything creative. And it was like at the end of the day after talking for 9 hours, do I want to go sit in Illustrator or Photoshop and like try to, you know, get creative and do something? I would cook. Like that was my that was my, you know, outlet. Like I like to be creative that way. But now I'm just like I go on at night and I just sort of like brain dump my stress into Midjourney and just like what like what was in my head today? Let's get it out and let's sort of like see where it goes because then I feel good. Like it honestly it's it feels good. Yeah. after that was echoed by a ton of people. Like it brought it gave them a little bit of a creative space to like be outside of work and like any any other like major

Play from 0:21:36 8:88:88 0:21:36 takeaways from you from the event. That was that was one of them. I like I said, I was surprised at how many people were like very new to the space but super interested but like you know very very actively trying to sort of like get ingratiated and like there was a ton of people there for I don't know if anyone saw runway um you know the AI film festival they sold out Lincoln Center so that's a big deal um you know there's there's a lot more interest there's a lot more events around it at Tribeca Film Festival which in the past is very exclusive and like would would basically not want this stuff around like they would last year they you know you wouldn't want AI. Oh,

0:21:40Runway, Tribeca & the Real Momentum Shift

Play from 0:22:23 8:88:88 0:22:23 interesting. This year it's like there's a bunch of people that are coming in. I'm going to see you know got invited to a Google thing next week and got Dave Clark talking and a few other people that it's like this is not traditionally what happens at AI, you know, at sorry AI at Tribeca Film Festival. So there's a there's a shift. And I I don't know if if anyone else has noticed this, if we have any other New York listeners, it doesn't feel like New York is as maybe AI creative as California. I know a lot of people in Europe. Like I never feel like there's a big contingent in New York, but I met a big contingent this week, so I was happy. Interesting about that. Yeah. By the way, goo, are you a Google paid partner or promoter?

Play from 0:23:07 8:88:88 0:23:07 No, I was a beta test because we got a comment that we were shilling V3 as paid promoters for Google. Please pay I paid $125 for that first membership and then I paid $200 extra dollars to test it because I have to know this stuff because you can't just like walk into a business who you know we do corporate training for businesses, things like that. And they're like, "How's V3?" Because it's the most powerful video generator in the world. And I say, "Oh, I don't know. It's too expensive. I don't use it." Like it's that's we have to do this stuff sometimes. Like I don't think people understand, you know, it's like, oh, do I really want to upgrade to the the max plan right now? No. But I also think that's I also think that's really cool for from our perspective is like we we we're not paid or

0:23:10Not Shills… but Midjourney Should Sponsor Us

Play from 0:23:54 8:88:88 0:23:54 incentivized by anyone. Um, that being said, if there is anyone that is interested in sponsoring the podcast or wants to have, you know, some some live reads on here. That's right. We're open for business. Yeah. This is our, you know, this is our real pet project. We're we're both busy guys. We love to show up every week for you guys. We would love to go harder on this and really like build this out more. time's the villain, but uh you know like at that being said um we love like this is this is our thing. So like we we try to give you guys obviously it's this focus around Midjourney but we try to give you a sense at least if nothing else of everything else that's happening in real time and maybe even how those pieces connect, right? Because what's on

Play from 0:24:41 8:88:88 0:24:41 top now may not be on top six months from now. Yeah. Year from now, right? And I think in that sense, we're kind of lucky Midjourney is still where they're at. Uh because if Midjourney was in the garbage, we probably wouldn't be doing this. But um but yeah, but there's still that feeling. And again, there was the the other sentiment was the hypercoherent models, right? I came across this a bunch to go back to that comment. Um, the hypercoherent models are awesome cuz they listen, but they don't have the they don't have like that little extra flare that can make something really pop or make something, you know, sort of like be magical to you. Um, you know, some if you're doing this for professional stuff, like some businesses just want boring, bland, plain, that's it. Some want, you know, like editorial genius. Some want the

Play from 0:25:30 8:88:88 0:25:30 most minimalistic, like simple, clean, corporate, safe, like you're gonna run the gamut if you guys are doing this professionally. I think we have a bunch of professionals that listen to this or use these tools in professional life. So, there was another comment too. We did we uh talking about he he had an idea of how he he wants us to talk about how you can monetize Midjourney, right? Uh we did do an episode on this episode four long time ago. Um and I remember we went through like bunch of examples but if that is helpful um let us know let us know in the comments because obviously like things have changed there's there are new use cases for this and there still is a

0:25:45Monetizing Midjourney in 2025: Then vs. Now

Play from 0:26:17 8:88:88 0:26:17 window that is open completely for monetizing Midjourney AI image gen video gen. So, here's a here's a a tip, not on not a tip, just this is an opinion. Let's call it that. I think if you're going to monetize Midjourney, you have to have a skill somewhere else. And this is this is just being bluntly honest. Like, if you're going to say like, I want to sell t-shirts, like you have to be good at you have to be good at running an e-commerce store and marketing that e-commerce store. Like, the Midjourney is not going to just t-shirts are not going to sell unless you just have like a really large audience on Instagram or Tik Tok or whatever. Like you need to like there needs to be some other skill set involved to pair it with. It's hard to just start like a business from nowhere with Midjourney. Like you're an

Play from 0:27:03 8:88:88 0:27:03 accountant and you want to use Midjourney to make a business. You're going to have to learn something else plus Midjourney. Yeah. It would kind of be like I would think about it in that same approach of if if you are going to just like start that you don't have a big audience. It's almost like like you would with any other freelance kind of thing. you'd probably start with people you know and friends of friends to start, you know, to get business because you you would ultimately need referrals and word of mouth to to spread. I think um that's a good point, right? Because if you don't if you don't have the Yeah.

Play from 0:27:35 8:88:88 0:27:35 If you don't have the the audience or the community up front, it's just going to be a little bit harder. But you're absolutely right. Like there has to be a skill that's associated with it. Um, for me, you know what's a big one now? What's a big Not to not to cut you off there. I'm sorry. Just like for anyone that for anyone that's not in like these like weirder like avenues of the internet, which I feel like I I end up in a lot just based on what I've done in my, you know, and based on your personalization code and based on your based on my personalization code, survey, my homesteaders results. Yeah.

0:28:00The Rise of AI Clippers and Remix Culture

Play from 0:28:08 8:88:88 0:28:08 All that. They know more about me than than I know about me. But there's um you know there's these these clip the they're called clippers. There's a lot of stuff that goes on around like you know Gen Z is pretty really like really good at this now. It's like taking podcast and clipping them up and either you know there's now there's now incentives for for views and things like that. So if you can take you know podcasts clip them up make them interesting um or videos just in general that are on YouTube you know that you see the remix feature things like that and utilize sort of Midjourney to pop in like images and things like that. If anyone's ever seen anything from the channel, I think it's called like ninjas are butterflies or something like that.

Play from 0:28:47 8:88:88 0:28:47 N I get it on my You really You really are in the corners, bro. I'm telling you. But they like they It's like basically someone will clip a story that they tell on there and then just add Midjourney images to it. And it's easy to like do it really quick and make it go viral to sort of like piece the story together. Like there's there's more creative ways than like selling t-shirts or you know like I'm going to sell like cloth patterns on Etsy. um you know a little bit more digital ways things that can be automated less you know less sort of like physical goods more you know this is this isn't um this is my learnings from this because I think I had never really monetized um outside of just you know taking on a

Play from 0:29:33 8:88:88 0:29:33 particular project and and doing the project right but what I mean by this is like this passive income approach or you know finding a way to like cuz I I guess what I'm trying to say is when you get into that part of it um especially when you have limited amount of time I'm a parent kids are in daycare I I know I have a set amount of hours each day that I have to maximize and when I was on my own I was constantly thinking about how do I maximize the time that I have spend it in the right places when you have ADHD like like us that's even harder but at the same time it was just Not all money's equal. What I mean by that is there's a difference between taking on a $5,000 project and then having to create all these things, right? And um this maybe takes you, you

Play from 0:30:22 8:88:88 0:30:22 know, maybe stretches out over the course of a couple weeks versus maybe doing a training that is, I don't know, like a tenth of that cost, but only cost me an hour to do. Yeah. Right. So I'm constantly thinking about how I stack the differences there. What are the things that are not worth entertaining? Right. So maybe 5,000 is a bad example, but if it was something like 2,000 and I knew it was going to take enough time, it's like that's not worth it even though I'd like that money, right? Um versus doing it this way. And same with the that was why the digital products, the courses, the guides, the things that we, you know, put out passive income, right? It's like all the work is front-loaded. Yeah, we do make changes every once in a while, right? But at the same time, it's like most of that work's done and if you promote it here and there, right? like you can generate income and you're not working hard for

0:31:00Passive Income Mindset for Creatives

Play from 0:31:08 8:88:88 0:31:08 it. Doesn't cost you any time to do that. Yeah. Outside of making a social post for it. So, it's like constantly thinking of those other ways to stack the right types of activities versus the time that you have allotted. And I think that's also key, right? Because that was that was like sort of like an obvious but hard lesson. I think a lot of people just have to learn themselves. Even if somebody were to tell you that, I don't know that you could necessarily proactively do anything about it unless you've experienced the pain. Personally, 100%. And if anyone wants to go down a rabbit hole that will it's more, you know, affiliate marketing is a great way to to start to like even if you're just going to learn it to fail at it, it's such a good it's such a good skill set because it's more than just influencers hawking products. There's a lot more depth to that industry. Um there's a lot

Play from 0:31:56 8:88:88 0:31:56 there's a lot of ways to make ridiculous money that you didn't even know was like available on the internet. So it's a you know you see some of these guys and I you know familiar I don't know if anyone's familiar with something like search arbitrage but like if you look up search arbitrage you'll realize how ridiculous it is that people make money on stuff like this. So I'll leave that I'll leave that breadcrumb with everyone if you want to go look up what search arbitrage is. I don't even know what that is. I'm interested. We'll have to have to check that out. It's it's you when you hear it the first time, you're like, why do I have why did I have a full-time job? If people are making money like this, if you're good at it, if you're good at it, you probably don't work a day in your life ever again. Um, not to sell the dream there. This isn't like a crypto bro scam. You obviously have to

Play from 0:32:43 8:88:88 0:32:43 be smart and good. Everybody just logged off to go pursue financial freedom just now. It's It's something that I I I had to like I had to ask the people who were doing it like three times. I'm like, "Come on, there's there's like more to it than that, right?" I think I kind of know I think I kind of know what you're talking about. Uh not the ins and outs of it, but I I Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. I mean, there's a lot more to it than what I'm about to say, but like if you think about it in terms of like buying distressed buying distressed like uh like domains or misspelled domains, things like that.

0:33:00Affiliate Marketing: The Real AI Monetization Lane

Play from 0:33:17 8:88:88 0:33:17 I'm sure you've you tried to go to like Amazon and you spelled it amn.com, right? And then it has it's like, oh, page doesn't exist, but here's like five other links and it goes to like Amazon, Walmart, Target, whatever. Those are all affiliate links and they're cookies. So you click on that and you go to Amazon and then you buy something like the person who has that domain. [ __ ] Yeah. It's like things like that where you're like sneaky. That's so cool. Yeah.

Play from 0:33:43 8:88:88 0:33:43 Sick. You feel dumb when you when you learn this. I know. I know, man. Some [ __ ] smart people out there. Yeah. Yeah. But hopefully, you know, if we if Midjourney had an affiliate program. Speaking of that, we should we should do some of these eventually. The AI companies, if anyone is, for our listeners, the AI companies are starting to adopt affiliate programs. If you're not familiar with what an affiliate program is, how it works, basically, you apply to become an affiliate for them.

Play from 0:34:11 8:88:88 0:34:11 So, you will then become part of their affiliate program. What they will do is provide you with a custom link that basically tracks to you. So, if you're posting on, you know, like Topaz for example, has a affiliate program. Um, a few Yeah, I was going to say call call some of the ones out that you're thinking of. Topaz has an affiliate program. Um, off the top of my head, I'm pretty I think Clling or Luma has an affiliate program. I think I don't know if Freepick does. I'm trying to think of who else does, but uh you know, this is something that we can come back and talk about in terms of like strategizing how to make money off this stuff cuz like for something like that, if you have a newsletter, if you have any sort of social following, you don't have to have 50,000 people. If you

Play from 0:34:57 8:88:88 0:34:57 have, you know, a,000, 2,000, 3,000 people, that's enough. Cuz what it is, it will give you a custom link. And then whenever you post about it, if you say, you know, I upscaled this video with Topaz, if you want, you know, if you're looking for the product, here's the link. Then if people click on your link and they buy, you get paid. So I think right now you're starting to see this trend grow in the space. If you're posting about tools, if you're interested in tools, things like that, they want to, you know, it's it's mutually beneficial. So you basically post on their behalf and create content on their behalf. Yeah. UGC UGC and both parties generate sales on their behalf.

Play from 0:35:38 8:88:88 0:35:38 Like you don't have to have a brand deal with them. Like you don't have to like no one has to I know this might sound redundant for some people but it's maybe not because you can just go sign up for their programs. I know HubSpot I don't even know what their AI tools are, but I know they have a big commission payout like 50% on like the first year of someone's plan, things like that. So there's ways there's ways you just got to look you just got to look for it. Um, but I think that if I had a prediction over the next 12 months, you're going to start to see more affiliate programs start to roll out for these tools cuz they just want, you know, it's just found money for them really and incentivizes us to post about it more.

0:36:00Office Hours: Midjourney’s Video Model Breakdown

Play from 0:36:14 8:88:88 0:36:14 But, you know, I'm not posting about Topaz because I'm trying to get affiliates, right? Like if people want to, you know, if I really wanted to go in on that, I could, but it starts to sort of dilute the the messaging of what's good and what's not good. You know what I mean? So, try to stay authentic with it. Maybe every once in a while when I need some cash. Sorry, guys. Yeah. I mean, you are doing this full-time, so you might need some cash. Yeah. Yeah. But absolutely. Diet tribe. Diet tribe on affiliate marketing over just uh No, that's good though. I mean, I think there's like definitely some substance to what we just talked about.

Play from 0:36:47 8:88:88 0:36:47 But like if there if we should do a deeper dive on that with more tactical examples getting into the weeds a bit more, let us know. Happy to do that because it it has been a little while. would make sense to do it. Um, hey, what about um what about jumping into office hours here? Maybe talking a little bit about the video model with Midjourney. Heating up, talking about it a lot, saying it's going to come out here very very soon.

Play from 0:37:16 8:88:88 0:37:16 Um finalizing selection among 24 possible video model variations text to image or text to video image to video multiple resolutions. Uh they're considering two main options initially a budget friendly version and a high quality professional grade version parenthesis expensive. Uh concerned about potential GPU shortages upon release. So they're going to they did mention sort of like they're thinking about the deployment strategically and whether or not they sort of offer video models initially to like annual subscribers to secure funding for GPU purchases or um set daily usage limits or whatever it is. So that's

Play from 0:38:02 8:88:88 0:38:02 interesting. Last note on that uh was they're acknowledging that 40% of Midjourney users currently hold annual subscriptions. 40%. 40%. That's what they said here. That's a lot higher than I thought. I thought Yeah, same. Um, let me think let me let me throw these last three bullets out and then we can kind of discuss here. So, first video models will offer basic functionalities in short clip generation. Immediate next priority after that is enabling longer video clips. Additional features and refinements expected gradually post launch. Okay. Okay. So, all right.

Play from 0:38:35 8:88:88 0:38:35 I'm I'm interested like you know you guys know we're going to have to pay for the we're going to pay for the professional model and then we're going to tell you how it is. So we won't hold back on that when it comes out. Like there's enough baseline there now to sort of judge how good it is, if it's worth the money, you know what it needs to improve on because we've seen how good some of these tools can be. I think it's going to be hard honestly. I think it's going to be my expectations are sort of on the lower end of how this is going to work. Um, I'm excited about it, but I'm not expecting it to be clinging.

Play from 0:39:08 8:88:88 0:39:08 Same. I'm not expecting it to be VO. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm so curious about this. What does this first iteration look like? Yeah. And we've we've already talked about, so I'm not going to go down the same sort of avenue, but just reiterating one thing. You've got one chance at a first impression with video. Yep. There is a there is a high value in nailing that right off the bat. That's all I'm going to say. That said, you're still going to have the Journey Loyalists, right, that are going to follow this through the updates like we always do. Follow it every step of the way kind of thing.

Play from 0:39:43 8:88:88 0:39:43 Sure. Um, but super interested to see what this looks like. Oh my god. You know what I mean? I I just Yeah. I don't know what to expect. What do you think the prompt architecture is going to look like for this? like the like it's going to be is it going to be like broad concept prompting like 5.2 was or is it going to be like more natural language is going to work better? Like if you had to if you had to guess which way do you think it's going to go?

0:40:00Will MJ Video Match Its Image Model’s Magic?

Play from 0:40:17 8:88:88 0:40:17 Well, I guess it's it I mean doesn't it kind of have to align to the image model? Kind of. It's why it could be different than a lot of these other models, right? like a lot of the a lot of the video models. So, I mean, from that sense, wouldn't it wouldn't it make sense for that to be very much in line with how prompting and the coherence works with V7? Yeah. I wonder if they're going to use like conversational model like as like a way to sort of like prompt enhance for that to like optimize for the video. How is the the prompting experience? Meaning Midjourney right now is still one of the more laborious ways to prompt outside of the voice command, right? Meaning like you don't have these little buttons or categories that you can click and sort

Play from 0:41:03 8:88:88 0:41:03 of like add keywords really quickly or categorize things, right? Like there's still sort of that like tokenized element of like, you know, you being creative in some ways. Um, and I'm not saying that's good or bad, but a lot of these other ones, right, have those short like speed, time to prompt kind of really nailed down for efficiency. I wonder how Midjourney adapts to that from a UXUI perspective. It's why I was thinking about this the other day. It's like, is it going to be like if I go back to runway gen 3, right, for as an example, runway gen 3, just a conspiracy theory, works better with with runway generated images than Midjourney images. I think it probably recognized just like the image

Play from 0:41:49 8:88:88 0:41:49 architecture or structure much better and was able to go with it. Like I'm sure a lot of people know who have tried to use some more like intricate Midjourney images in video generators that you like after one second you lose like a lot of detail because Midjourney is so detailed and a lot of these other image or video generators are not just like not there yet to keep up with that level of detail. So, I'm wondering if it's going to be able to handle some of the more like crazy intricate detail that Midjourney can produce and then turn that into video versus like if anyone's ever used runway, I'm sure you've used something with like a lot of texture or like intricate colors or text or something and the minute it start or the second it starts moving like a lot of that like fades and softens out and then it just like kind of blurs into things. Um, you know, cling's really good at keeping that detail but also

Play from 0:42:36 8:88:88 0:42:36 certain things just not going to do. just not gonna like it doesn't have the imagination. There's no data on what Midjourney like you can go so far aesthetically. You know this everyone knows this like there's just no there's no data to sort of like pull from and say like I know what that is, you know, it's like immediately turn it into something that it's not. So I'm very curious if it can handle its own images because that might also be its own, you know, its own little like space in the market. I know a lot of people I there's certain images I can never run in another video generator for Midjourney.

Play from 0:43:06 8:88:88 0:43:06 It just doesn't work. So, it's uh it's interesting to say the least, and I don't know how else to think about it other than that. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to see what happens with this. And I wonder if it's, you know, I think the original timeline was end of June when we were thinking about them initially talking about it. So, what are we We're, you know, three weeks. We're on track. Three weeks, you know, roughly. I mean, I I would expect there always to be some hiccup or delay.

Play from 0:43:36 8:88:88 0:43:36 There usually is somewhere in the process, but super curious. I mean, how's it going to be different, right? Um, I'm also wondering, Rory, if they take us this page, and I'm I'm not saying that they're looking at Runway for this idea. could have already been an idea that they have, but you and I have talked about Runway's brilliant sort of idea that it seems like they basically just have chat GBT in the background now because remember the unlock that that was at that time of just the flexibility of swapping things and making things really quickly and the almost like seamless experience of that and then it basically unlocked all these invisible

Play from 0:44:22 8:88:88 0:44:22 use cases, right, which we'veed started to see leak out and and you know shine some light on on things like X, right? We've gone through those examples before. Yeah. I'm wondering if Midjourney also incorporates that when they do this video thing. Well, I'm trying to figure out how they you how they do conversation or uh conversational mode, right? Like that's what I'm saying. It's got to be it's got to be is it chat GPTS one of the two? I feel like the Chinese models he mentioned mentions it a lot. But I honestly didn't use conversational mode until this week. I was just really I I was just considering it as draft mode. I did not know what honestly everyone I used it like once when it came out and never thought about it again. And then I'm like this is pretty cool. Like it is it is pretty cool if you want to sort of

0:44:50Conversation Mode: Underhyped but Solid

Play from 0:45:07 8:88:88 0:45:07 take just a like a very quick iteration of an idea and just throw it into there and like have it build a prompt around it and be like you know use this last image change this try let's try a different lighting let's you know move this subject back in the image like but it's a more it's a more interactive experience still not to me I'm I'm not going to use it all the time but was just for something that I hadn't really played with I was I was enjoying it for the uh it's interesting to see the if you're If you're new to the tool too, if you're new to our channel, which maybe there's some of you, maybe there's just not.

Play from 0:45:39 8:88:88 0:45:39 It's a great way to learn Midjourney prompt architecture because it's pretty much the same every time. Like when you do uh conversation mode, it's like essentially, can you give me a picture of a car? And it'll spit out the prompt structure. But it's like, all right, give me a picture of a woman. Spit out the prompt structure. It's kind of the same. So you'll be able to sort of optimize your way of thinking around how to prompt. So, for any of the newbies, if you're out there, I don't know if you're listening to our channel, but it's uh it's a good way to go about it.

Play from 0:46:09 8:88:88 0:46:09 Yeah, they you know, they also I agree. So, just And if you're not What's that? Where where is it on your I don't see it. Conversation and voice. Why is it not up at the top? That's weird. Did they take it [Laughter] out? Oh, I'm looking at it right now.

Play from 0:46:35 8:88:88 0:46:35 Hold on. Let's Let's try this again. No. Oh, there it is. All right, I got it. Wait, you I mean, don't you have to have draft mode on and then you're in it, right? Why does your Why is your your You know what? It might be It might be this browser cuz I'm using a different browser than I normally use cuz this is my second screen. Got it. Yeah, it's probably what it is. Typically at the right up top right right next to the Yeah, cuz I don't think I have like mic control and I don't know if that's it or not. But, um, I was going to say the other interesting thing was they've they've sort of like bubbled to back up this idea structure and I was looking back at the the leaderboard of

0:47:00Pose Control: Mechanics Over Actions

Play from 0:47:22 8:88:88 0:47:22 what's up here. um generate multiple angles of the same subject. The ability to precisely control the pose improve coherence. Would that I mean which part the this the pose of the character the pose I maybe from like a full body st maybe from a full body standpoint maybe I I find super easy but yeah I was going to say I I'm I'm thinking of the images I usually create with those and I would say for the most part I do a lot of like portrait medium and up. So I think I'm usually just top half. So for me, poses is probably like maybe they're doing something with the hand and more or less

Play from 0:48:08 8:88:88 0:48:08 facial expression, whereas this is probably like incorporating all four, you know, limbs and maybe the dynamic nature of those things. I don't know. If you're having issues, I think we did an episode on this a while back, but if anyone's having issues with that problem specifically, you just have to be more microdetailed than you think. Like if you're like, "Oh, I want someone, you know, drinking a bottle of beer." Midjourney has a problem with has a hard time so do all the image generators with drinking for some reason. Like it's hard to get like someone holding a bottle to their face. So you just have to you have to describe it like you would do it. So it's you know like beer bottle in the right hand, head tilted back slightly, beer bottle tilted upwards, bottle touching lips like that oftentimes does it. That's the way we that's what we c we basically called that like the

Play from 0:48:53 8:88:88 0:48:53 mechanics. You have to describe the mechanics if you're not getting versus like the action itself, right? Because the action itself can work, but it doesn't work as well. So there there are time like times where you can get away with just doing the action. There are other times where it doesn't work at all. And then I would say a lot of people probably quit there. That's where it's like that mechanical nature of what you're talking about. It's like really being descriptive of operating through the mindset of they can't see, you know, they're blind. How would you describe that? Right? So that also works in video for anyone who's also interested like instead of using, you know, natural playful expression, right?

0:49:20Why Most People Give Up on Precision Prompting

Play from 0:49:35 8:88:88 0:49:35 Like sometimes you have to describe it. Like I I had a lot of people ask me on the F1 video how I got the guy to have such natural expressions cuz I said, you know, basically I said the guy turns down turns his head down into the left, chuckles to himself, looks back up, and like exhales out of the cigarette. So I'm like telling it what to do like a natural like it would look natural instead of just you know they they tend to have that like head bob or like it's like totally unnatural movement. Yeah. So it's just like what you would do if you were like remembering something that was a little bit embarrassing like you look down it's like yeah I did I did that. Um so it's uh you know for video too you can control expression significantly. You just have to tell it. You have to tell it how the head moves, how the eyes are moving, where they're looking. you can be that granular. Most people don't do

Play from 0:50:20 8:88:88 0:50:20 that. I I think that's the that's the thing, right? Is um unless you've got, you know, you're really diligent. And I think in this this part, I'm thinking about it from my perspective. I'm working on a project, something that is very important, polished. You know, most people probably aren't taking that time to really go through the micro elements, right? And I think that's just the reality of the laborious nature of what it takes to get the results right now, right? Like again, going back to Midjourney, the way it's set up, you really have to describe a lot of that with the words, right? And when you're thinking about that, like there's a lot of time that's spent just crafting a single prompt, let alone is it going to work, right? And so I think

Play from 0:51:06 8:88:88 0:51:06 that speed to iteration and then also the coherence of that is the is the issue. That's why it's interesting with the conversational mode or the speech and that's why it's also interesting with all these other features that can kind of like expedite the typing process of prompting. That's why they're so appealing because you can get some of that time back and it doesn't feel like as big of a lift to try to get those micro details. But I would imagine like most people just give up and I'm guilty of that too sometimes where I'm like I just don't want to spend this much time on this. So tech's probably still the X factor in every tool. I still think it's plays the biggest role. It still has the biggest influence on what happens. So, you know, we we got lucky because that's all we had when we started. I'm curious like going going back to video. Um, you

0:51:20Midjourney Video Wishlist (Stylize, SREF, UX)

Play from 0:51:52 8:88:88 0:51:52 got a wish list? You got things that you're looking for with this video. I mean, we've talked about like expectations. We've talked about like making a good first impression. We've talked about like now you're jumping into this game from Midjourney's perspective of like the velocity of updates and new features that come and now you're in sort of like a different pool. What about you as like user um with all the expertise and experience you've got in these other tools, you know, like what's your wish list from from Midjourney? And I don't care if that's just like it has to have this like sort of like those bare bones table stakes kind of things, but also like if there's anything additional that you're hoping maybe that it has. I I still want the m

Play from 0:52:39 8:88:88 0:52:39 I want I want the Midjourney magic. That's number one. I've said that on a few episodes, but what I I think about it in terms of what like cling has where there's like a slider where on one side it's coherent to what you say and on the other side it's creative. Like I think to me it's like basically the stylized parameter, right? Like if it has something along those lines where I can either one do exactly what I say or two go off and do its own thing where like a lot of times the magic happens. Um you know I'm interested in something like that. Yeah. What if there were different Why can't there be more than one coherency model? Right. So that's maybe worth something where I wonder if that's like really what's at the underlying approach of EXP or you know because like there are some people that want to be very matterof fact. there are other people that want,

Play from 0:53:26 8:88:88 0:53:26 you know, and maybe that's project by project base, right? Like on whatever you're aiming for, but like it that would be cool to have some control there too, right? That's kind of a style reference for video, but without having to use a frame, if that makes sense. Like I if I was just like the same way you you think about like style reference and Midjourney like attach just random image doesn't matter what it is of has no influence really. I mean, has some influence, but like Oh, so you're just saying like, hey, take take literally only the style, right? Like the style and the colors. Do not take anything structurally from the image. Yeah, correct. I like I would like that cuz that be that would save me so much prompting time in terms of like getting the aesthetic. 100%. That's a really good call, dude. Really good. If they could mimic that, cuz I don't think

Play from 0:54:12 8:88:88 0:54:12 anyone else has done that other than for video to video. Like you can do video to video styling. Like I don't really think you can just Yeah, because then you could curate your own your own LUTs in that sense, you know, like of what you're has it. Runway has it, but like not really. Like it's there. You can create your own custom style, but it's not like utilizing a Midjourney image that's going to like affect the entirety of it. Like I I just think it's that would be something like a differentiator, right? Like that's what I'm thinking for them. Um, style reference is so damn good. Like I just love it so much. I'm going to direct you I'm going to direct you here to submit that idea because that's a that's a good one. We need that one. All right. I just It'd be great to not have to describe the the lighting, the color tones, the

Play from 0:54:58 8:88:88 0:54:58 textures. I'm with you. Yeah. Like I don't want to have to write two paragraph prompts for for video every time. I think that that's a really good one. That's a that's that's like one that you're probably not even thinking about just because you're so used to the way that Midjourney works. That's why I love that one. Midjourney. if you're listening. Free shout outs. We We don't We We shill for Midjourney, but we don't, you know, we don't ever see anything on the other end of it. So, we'll see. Uh see if they take some of this. You know what? I got I got I got an interesting idea. Hold on one second. What do you got? What do you have?

0:55:30Live Yearbook Unboxing + Book Hoarder Confessions

Play from 0:55:33 8:88:88 0:55:33 I got this I got this a while back. I I've been meaning to open it and I wanted to do it on the pod. This was that yearbook. Oh, right. Remember they sent that? They they sent um they did send a yearbook. Year one. Yeah, the year one. And I was like waiting to open this thing up because I was thinking I'd do this on the pod and I keep forgetting. So, it's been like sitting over here for like a month and a half. You haven't you haven't opened it?

Play from 0:55:59 8:88:88 0:55:59 Haven't opened it. We're unboxing it live right now. Wow. Live unboxing. So, Oh, it's plastic still. Dude, you might you might as well just like I I might not even open it. Just save it as a collector's item. I know. I know. could be worth something. I wanted to get the first edition of the Midjourney magazine. Like I just want to have that. Same. I think I the first one I got is like three. Yeah, I I don't have I definitely don't have the first one. I know that. But it's You know who It's It's really odd. This isn't I don't put the book in her hands. My You know, [name] goes to that book, opens it, and looks through it. Yeah, dude. My girls do, too. They do, too. They love that. Yeah.

Play from 0:56:40 8:88:88 0:56:40 Like she loves the Midjourney book. There's so much like cool stuff in it. Hey, Midourney. Maybe even a maybe even a kids book. Hey, like you could you could curate a separate one just for the kids. Yeah. I mean, there's so much good stuff. It's so it's so like viscerally like you can she I can see her from like page to page like sensory like overload. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but she just like I think you're right, dude. I I don't think I'm going to open this. You might want you might want to keep that one. So, this is this is year one. This is essentially like we we're talking about the magazines right now. They they go out monthly. They're four bucks maybe a month. Um if you want to do those, I'm still subscribed. I've subscribed since I Yeah, like episode or version three uh

Play from 0:57:26 8:88:88 0:57:26 or volume three or whatever it is. Um those are I probably got one. You got one right there. Someone somewhere right here. in the plastic also. Still got that one in the product. There's so many that I haven't opened. But um but this is cool. I mean this is uh so the these are you know more soft cover flexible like a magazine. This is hard cover.

Play from 0:57:55 8:88:88 0:57:55 Good quality. Really legit. I I think they're still they may still be selling those. Those I think are they were 70 bucks or something like that. But um yeah, man. They're they're they're really cool. And I think like the reason why they're cool, too, is just the nostalgic effect of like we've been doing this for how long now and it's been such an important part of our lives. Like it's cool to hold on to this [ __ ] Yeah. The Speaking of nostalgic, taking a quick pivot for one second because I saw this like yesterday on Twitter. our friend uh friend Tim Simmons over at Theoretically Media. Um he posted one of his first like videos from Pika eight frames a second. I saw it cuz I saw you commented on it. I don't know what I was doing but I was like I was not at home but I was like

0:58:15Nostalgia Check: Watching 2023 Pika Footage

Play from 0:58:42 8:88:88 0:58:42 looking at on the run. I was like yeah this is kind of dope. Where is Let's see if I can find that actually. Like I almost looked at it and said that's cool. What tool is that? You know because it's because it's so foreign as to what it looked like what it used to look like and I was like that like I like the way that looks. The same way I was like when you look at a Polaroid and you're like I like that style, you know, it just doesn't feels like that jump from like Polaroid to where we're at now on camera happened in AI in like two years and we already forget what eight frames per second looks like. Yeah.

Play from 0:59:09 8:88:88 0:59:09 Yeah. Yeah. Hold on. I got to find your replies. Yeah, this one right here. There it is. Okay. So, hold on. Let's pause this. So, Tim said, you know, rumaging through the archives, I found this old school PA output. Date on the file is June 2023. So, we're talking two years ago. Two years ago. That looks about right. Early Pea, eight frames per second. Text to video generated on Discord. Remember that? It's janky and weird, but I still kind of love it two years ago. And it is cool. Let me play this real quick. And maybe I'll blow this up so everybody can see it. It's like we're watching like vintage. It's like we're watching like vintage videos now that are vintage are two years old.

Play from 0:59:51 8:88:88 0:59:51 It's cra. I mean, this to me is still pretty good for the time, for what was going on. There you go. Look at you got all the morphing and weirdness of it. I kind of want to like do something in eight frames per second now. Like just you guys can't hear the music, but the music's the music's vibing right now, too. Like this was this to me for what was going on in 2023 is not bad. like this is insane for 2023 in PA by the way.

Play from 1:00:23 8:88:88 1:00:23 Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that was when we started. That's that's wild. Um yeah, I'm glad you called that out. That's that's funny. Uh cuz I saw that and I was like, yo, that is dope, though. You know, and again, it kind of goes back to that like imperfect phase with video in general. Anyway, you know, there were certain ways that you could treat the imperfect nature of the video to to let it shine, you know. Yeah. And that's still you see it on if you open up Instagram you'll see it. There's you know those people that make like the the like sea monsters that don't exist and then they like they like melt into like a pile of like like snails or something. You know there's there's so many weird videos like that that just get views. But oh this is if anyone's not familiar this is not a this is not a

Play from 1:01:09 8:88:88 1:01:09 sponsored. Yeah. Go ahead and talk through this. I'm going to play it. There's no affiliate link, but you can see on the left is what the the V2 output. On the right is the Topaz Starite, which is a creative upscaler for video. Look at the the police car here. You can see the difference clearly. It's like super sharp and defined in comparison. Still a little soft for my preferences. Still soft, but you could tell. Yeah. But like better. Like it's getting there. Like to be able to do that from a creative upscaling standpoint with video. Also, this shot was was fun in uh in VO3 to just keep extending to like build a scene like for a long shot. If you go down, there's a longer one which you had another really good one. What other one you want me to tap into here? This one? Was it this one? 15 seconds. No, not this one. Keep

Play from 1:01:55 8:88:88 1:01:55 going. This one right here. Yeah, this was this one was legit. I was I was so surprised. I'm like, let's just do a long shot. See if we can do it where the camera just follows, you know, and I'm just trying. Hey, Rory, you're not paid by Google, are you? No. Okay. They just spend my money on them. Sorry, guys. Just want to make even the camera operator right there at the end, which is kind of crazy. Uh, you see in the reflection of the car. What is this thing though? What is this? I You know what I think that was? I didn't notice it until I put that thing out.

Play from 1:02:24 8:88:88 1:02:24 Honestly, I was looking at just everything else and didn't notice. It looks like one of those car racing games or like when you have like the map in the corner. You know what I'm saying? Oh [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah, dude. That nailed it cuz this So this must have this must have h Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is wild. The other thing if you scroll up a little bit, this was what I wanted to show people. Why vio? This right here with the arrows. Okay.

Play from 1:02:49 8:88:88 1:02:49 Yeah. Start this one from the beginning. This is like some of the micro details here are I know we like to talk about this stuff. Pause it real quick. Just um Right. Yeah. So you'll see right there there's two bushes. This goes through. Yeah. Right there. You'll see these two bushes. I hit extend here. So these bushes are in like the last frame of this video and then the first frame of the next video and then I extend again.

1:03:11Upscaling Video: Reflections, Glares & Micro Details

Play from 1:03:17 8:88:88 1:03:17 So just watch where these two bushes end up by the end of the video, right? And then their depth perception and their permanence. Right? So this is through two extends and they're still there. Then you know if you look right here, pause. Bang. Camera operator in the reflection, which is nuts that even that's that's there. Yo, that is wild. Crazy, right? And then if you look, if you go back, there's there's two other things that are really impressive to me and like just simple things. Like if you see the reflection on the side of the car, you get the white lines and the desert in the background. So, if you if you hit play like wa watch, you'll just see it on the side of the road, right?

Play from 1:03:54 8:88:88 1:03:54 Like that's on the reflection of the car. Interesting. And now if you go back one more time to the beginning, if we go back to the beginning, notice we we have super high angle sun, right? Like midday. Watch the watch the sun glare move from the car as the camera moves, right? It comes from the side. Good call. See it? Good call. Yeah. And then when you'll see as we push in, it goes, you know, it goes back the other way, which I'm like, those are little things that you're hoping for improvements on because it makes a difference. It looks so much more real.

Play from 1:04:27 8:88:88 1:04:27 Um, I know people But I love that. I love the observation though, you know? Is everybody looking that closely? I mean, I love that you're picking up on those intricate things. Someone called out the lighting and I was like, what are you talking about? Like I I like if you're looking for perfection with everything, it's not going to be there. But like some of this stuff is so much more advanced than where we've been. So you know, this one was fun.

Play from 1:04:52 8:88:88 1:04:52 I was trying to create one of those like uh you know like you know when you used to like the 3D like movies when they used to kind of like come out at the screen, they had a very specific look. I wanted to try to do that. Yeah. I love it. anyone's got if anyone's got some some technical stuff they want to do to that to make it come to life in 3D that'd be cool. Yeah, man. So much. There's so much VO. Not a shill, not paid. Stop talking about it, man. Vio partner or something. I did get to beta test video, too. I spent a lot of their money apparently. But I think we are going to we're going to I mean, we're trying we're going to try to get somebody on here. Yeah. Yeah. From Google. But but yeah, I mean this was um Yeah, this is interesting. thing. One other final note too before we wrap is probably just

Play from 1:05:38 8:88:88 1:05:38 around SREF, like in terms of like an immediate update, seems like that update's going to ship here probably between now and the next time we talk. So, some sort of SA uh SREF upgrade refinement. I don't know what in typical midjour fashion, I don't know what to expect in terms of the totality of this, but I'm interested. I'm interested. You know, like I do think I'm I'm starting to see too more requests and ideas around like start showcasing like the top SREFs this week, top mood boards this week, right? Like cuz like also Rory, we talk about the magic a lot as being the differentiator. The other differentiator that Midjourney has that that I know they've kind of walked carefully along is the social community component. Mhm. They have this

1:06:00SREF Upgrades & Community Features Wishlist

Play from 1:06:25 8:88:88 1:06:25 opportunity even with just something like that where you're you know you've got this explore page. Sure, everybody's got that now. But you could start to bubble up some of these other features and capabilities you have and give people a sense of what's what's popular, what's being used, what's hot, right? So that could be SRFs, that could be mood boards, that could be tokens. Yeah. You know, like I would like that. Let's go. you know, that doesn't feel like that's a big big lift, but that would be a huge sort of I think opportunity for them because community's always been something that I think is there for them if they wanted to pursue it. Like lean into it. I think that's the one thing that they should that when you realize that's the differentiator in a lot of this. It's just like I think they got to lean into it more, you know, whether

Play from 1:07:11 8:88:88 1:07:11 that's with stuff like this, whether that's like community events. I know they're like that's like not their thing, but like you know, you see what Runway did. Did runway just packed Lincoln Center? I know there's a lot more people that use Midjourney than Runway. Like I know that for a fact, right? Like you do something like that, there will be people. I'm not saying you have to do it, but just like anything, small events, little people. Well, listen, whatever. I think the Midjourney users want it. And I'm not speaking just for my opinion. I mean, we we want that. We want that. They're like it's almost like not Midjourney hasn't treated us bad by any means, but it's like almost like we've like from the community aspect, it's almost like we're this sort of neglected dog. We're wagging our tail.

Play from 1:07:51 8:88:88 1:07:51 We just want to be loved. We just want like some TLC attention. And it doesn't even take much. But it's like we're craving it. We want it, right? And you've got the community. So continue to take advantage of that. It's one of the big differentiators you have outside of the magic component. Yeah. that and you know the explore page like like really I mean if there was a way to even just have a profile I mean I don't like I don't I don't want them to do this stuff. I'm just thinking about where like how do you lean into community a little bit more because it is like why everyone likes this tool. It's how we all learned it was via community basically. So it's uh I'm looking forward to it. The other thing is I think there was one more thing on that that I don't know if it was mentioned on office hours that they're not doing multi omnire. Is that is that on the

Play from 1:08:38 8:88:88 1:08:38 office hour notes that that one's not coming out? Let me see. I'm going browse real quick here. I don't see it here. Let me just double check that. Um, yeah, glad you called that out. Let's, let's double click into that for a sec. I want to find the answer because I feel like I heard that and then I also in conversation with some people who were who had listened on Wednesday who I saw on Thursday, they had mentioned it. So, I don't see it I don't see it called out here. I'm not going to go back through last week's, but I don't see it here. And that is kind of interesting

1:09:00No Multi-Omniref Until V8?!

Play from 1:09:25 8:88:88 1:09:25 though, right? because like that was one of the biggest things that they were talking about with it was okay multi multi multi. Yeah. Um so maybe they're experiencing some some obstacles there and they're kind of you know hoham on it. Yeah. Or maybe or maybe it's a big enough lift where it's like hey we'll just save that for V8 now. Yeah. Well, there's just there's just a lot of competition here, you know. It's there's there's a lot between Flux context now.

Play from 1:09:57 8:88:88 1:09:57 GPT, Runway references, Google Gemini, they can all do this kind of stuff now. So, I'm not saying that, you know, video is not important, but really some of the image stuff would be useful um you know, on on that side. But who knows what they're going to do, man. I I mean they they just seem to beat to their own drum. I don't have a problem with it. I love it for what it is. I love it for what I use it for. And I want to just keep like them being them. Like I don't you know that's like the one thing that I'm hoping that it stays. Y just keep being you. Do it. But do do you babe do you. That's right. do you Midjourney and uh that's uh you know even for our thumbnails like I can't can't use any other tool other than mid it's mid

Play from 1:10:43 8:88:88 1:10:43 journey like that's that's what it is you know like it can't it can't be anything else other than that we'll see what we got going on got a lot more things coming up we got a couple uh you know I think we probably got to wrap up here in a second I got to wrap up too yeah I got a wrap just so everyone knows we probably got a couple new formats we're going to try over the summer at at some point while we're uh while we're moving along here. We were throwing around some ideas, trying to keep it fresh. Got a lot of feedback this week on the podcast saying that, you know, everyone likes the uh you know, the sort of multitude of formats that we do.

1:11:00Why Midjourney Still Feels Magical

Play from 1:11:14 8:88:88 1:11:14 Sometimes it's talk show, sometimes it's unpredictability, demo. Yeah. So, if you guys have any ideas, if you're still listening right now, drop them in there. Like, let us know if you're interested in anything in specific. You want to see demos, you want to see, you know, us do something live, you want to see, you know, prompt battles, whatever the hell it is, just throw it in there. we, you know, we'll probably figure it out. So, last note, last note. I hate that I hate that I saved this for the end, but like we do have 41 episodes. If you're catching this, but you haven't caught all of them, highly, highly recommend going back because we go deep. I mean, I think we're at the point, right, where there's like there are so many things that along the way we've already covered. So, most of the time we're not going back and revisiting those things unless there's been like this huge evolution of it. That said, right, comb

1:12:0041 Episodes Later: Still Not Boring

Play from 1:12:02 8:88:88 1:12:02 through that if you haven't. There's plenty of good stuff in there that still applies. I'm still getting, you know, I'm still I'm still seeing comments. Yeah. From people like from episode three and four, just found you, you know, like this is dope. And I was like, man, we did that almost a year ago, 50 weeks ago, you know, like still relevant. So, SRF episode really fun. If anyone, you know, has missed that and was interested in like going really deep into SREF, we did. That one's one one of our more one of our more more viewed ones. That one I remember some of the the chat GBT episodes we did like partnering those tools together. Yeah.

Play from 1:12:36 8:88:88 1:12:36 Um you going back in back in time to like every little feature. The Q&A ones we did popped off too. Yeah. It's good. Like I said, if anyone has ideas, you're looking for something you want us to test something live, drop it. We'll do it. You know, we're we're open to this stuff and we want to we want to evolve a little bit. you know, keep going, keep getting better, keep making you guys, you know, come find something new. So, 100%. That's our goal.

Play from 1:13:03 8:88:88 1:13:03 Like and subscribe. Damn it. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna I was I was kind of teeing that up. All right. Well, uh, guys, thanks for joining us. We'll see you guys in the next one. Awesome. Later. See you.