Okay, you've been saying you're going to "make something" for 10x longer than it actually would have taken to just make a thing... we're done. 

NO EXCUSES. 

You wanna say you "make movies", "tell stories", or whatever... cut the crap and take this challenge while Uncle Pete and Uncle Bob debate which side of the political lines they "feel good" about during the half-time show you didn't want to watch anyway...

 How bout you actually do something that will give you a win...

Let's make a thing!

MODULE 1: THE RAW MEAT

Topic Title: THE SEED LOCK PROTOCOL: How to Stop the AI from Hallucinating

The Gist: 

Listen closely, rookie. When you type a prompt into an AI, it rolls a set of invisible dice. These dice are called the "Seed." If you type "Turkey on a table" twice, you get two different universes because the AI rolled different dice. We need to RIG THE DICE. We need the same room, the same lighting, the same camera angle... but a different turkey. If you do not learn how to control the Seed, you are not a filmmaker; you are a slot machine addict.

Here is exactly how to do it. Choose your weapon below.

ImageFX

Because to make life easier, we're going to stay in the Google ecosystem for the whole workflow.

Step 1: The Setup

• Go to ImageFX (https://labs.google/fx/tools/image-fx). Log in.

• Make sure you are on at least Imagen 3, mine is Imagen 4.

Step 2: The "Anchor" Generation

• Type your prompt for the START FRAME (That Raw Turkey).

  • Prompt Formula: [Style] shot of [Subject] in [Environment] with [Lighting].

• Example: "Cinematic film still, close-up shot of a raw, uncooked turkey sitting on a fancy dining room table, Thanksgiving decorations, warm candlelight, 35mm film grain."

• Hit Create.

• Look at the 4 results. Pick the one that looks the best to you. Now download it, bookmark it, and thumbs up it. 

• Do not close the window!!!

When it Sucks...
Yup, that is what I got on the first try. I'm too stupid to try again and hope for better results. Too many years of hitting my head against a brick wall trying to make a door.

SO... I adjust the prompt slightly...
"Cinematic film still, close-up shot of a raw, uncooked, ready-to-cook turkey sitting on a fancy dining room table, Thanksgiving decorations, warm candlelight, 35mm film grain."

Voilà! Exponentially better!

Now decide if you're Corman or Kubrick/Fincher, and either use the one that's 90% there or take 6 weeks and 10,000 images to get more accurate pumpkins. Neither is wrong if you have the budget and deliver on time, miss your deadline, or overstep your budget... you'll wish you were 5 with your hand in the cookie jar again when your inner voice gets done decimating you for yet another unfinished project.

Step 3: The "Chip" Swap (The Secret Sauce)

• ImageFX uses "Chips" (those little highlighted words in your prompt box). This is your weapon.

• DO NOT clear the prompt and start over. That resets the seed.

• Click on the word "Raw" or "Uncooked" in your prompt box.

• Type over it: "Cooked" or "Roasted" or "Skeleton of a".

• Hit Generate again.

• Why this works: Google tries to keep the "vibe" (seed) consistent when you only change one variable in the same session.

Step 4: The Audit

• Download the Best "Start" image.

• Download the Best "End" image.

• Open them both on your desktop. Toggle between them. Does the table move? If yes, the AI drifted. Re-roll.

TROUBLESHOOTING (Because AI is Chaos)

• "The background changed slightly!" -> Accept it. We will fix this in Module 2 by blurring the background or just moving the camera fast enough that no one notices.

• "The Turkey turned into a dog!" -> You changed the prompt too much. Change fewer words.

• "It looks like a cartoon!" -> Add "Photorealistic, 8k, Unreal Engine 5" to your negative prompt or boost your style words.

When all else fails...

I tried for 10 minutes to get the right image, but decided I needed the help of my good friend, Nanobanna... So I went to Gemini and said this...

Hello, my friend! I'm having a heck of a time generating a hero ending image of this turkey cooked and stripped to the bone like it was eaten by a piranha. Image_fx (4) is my starting image, and image_fx (5) is the look of the turkey I like the most. Can you work your magic and make the turkey in image_fx (4) be the turkey from image_fx (5)?

BOOM Second gen after reminding it to switch orientations.

The Deliverable: You are done when you have File_A.png (Start) and File_B.png (End) and they look like twins.