How I Generate It
Conversations with people creating things with generative AI
How I Generate It
Tasha Caufield: Bringing cultural icons to life with AI
In this episode, I talk to Tasha Caufield, a writer and filmmaker who uses AI to tell stories about cultural icons, forgotten historic moments, and the world of her own imagination. We chat about her journey into AI, the motivation behind the types of stories she chooses to tell, and of course, how she generates it.
🔗 Follow Tasha Caufield
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TashaCaufield/videos
Twitter or X: https://x.com/TashaCaufield
🍿 Watch Tasha's movies mentioned in this interview:
The Phenomenal Woman: A Maya Angelou Biopic Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9rugCCMXjc
Playing on Defense: The Rise of John McAfee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNhDre-fiNI
GRIOT: The Greatest Story (Dave Chappelle) Ever (Re)Told // The Adventures of Iceberg Slim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmFqUg-euE
Hangman (based on Tasha's fiction)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQJdMVCTME
welcome to how I generate it. I'm Mike. And I talked to people who are pushing the boundaries of storytelling using AI. In this episode, I'll be talking with Tasha Caufield. Tasha is a writer and filmmaker who uses AI to tell stories about cultural icons, forgotten historic moments and the world of her own imagination. We chat about her journey into AI, the motivation behind the types of stories she chooses to tell. And of course, how she generates it. Thank you for listening. Here's my interview with Tasha Caufield. Welcome to the show, Tasha.
Tasha Caufield:Hello, how are you?
Mike:Good. Good. Um, and, I get the sense that you were a creative person doing lots of things. And at some point you discovered AI, um, and you just took to it. We've never spoken to like two minutes ago, but just like when I look at your videos and stuff like that, this is just the sense that I get. Could you talk about your process of like, How did you discover AI stuff? And what did draw you to it?
Tasha Caufield:Um, I think, you know, like a lot of people before I, you know, really dove into it. You, you kind of hear about it a little bit and I think it was, uh, like the metaverse or something that first caught my eye as far as like, ooh, you can possibly be able to tell stories. In that world or whatever. But then there was like a video of Mark Zuckerberg's, but it was like, you can't, you can't do bottoms really. And I'm like, all right, so the tech isn't really there yet. But to go back a little further. So I've been writing forever. I started at about 14 years old and I had mentors in Hollywood, I started writing sitcoms first with my mentors because they were sitcom writers and producers, but we would write everything, screenplays, short stories, poems, all that kind of stuff. And with, , screenplays, I kept putting camera directions in and,, You're not supposed to do that. So I decided to go to film school to become a director. Um, and that's, you know, how I started with all that kind of stuff. So I went to USC film, Warner brothers, read some stuff I wrote, paid, and I started, um, you know, down the Hollywood path and going into that world and working there, but I'm not really into corporate environments And I wanted to write in a different way. Like I wanted to write. Like with a lot of life experience and all that kind of stuff behind it I'm really influenced by things like cool hand luke and a river runs through it and stuff like that so I I kind of ran off to go actually live a life and It posted just staying in Hollywood and working there and I was writing the after a while during that time fiction novels, like you said, and nonfiction novels and and I did stand up and I'm doing documentaries and and all that kind of stuff. So I'm still being creative. But when I came out, it was kind of like full circle now is like, oh, I get to tell these stories, , I get to create films and I don't have to. operate within the corporate structure of Hollywood. So it was a perfect blend for me.
Mike:Yeah, and I think that's great because um, It sounds like you're someone who's very creative has a lot of ways that you can be creative Um, but there hasn't really been like this one channel that you can go to to bring it all together Or there is a channel, but it's really like highly You know, there's a lot of gatekeepers. There's that corporate culture that you mentioned where it's like, you've got to kind of like earn your way into it. And a lot of times that means like you have to have like a family member in or something like that. Or, um, and I think it's really
Tasha Caufield:I never, well, I've, I've already earned my way into it. It's in, you know, the people that are talking to me now in Hollywood are kind of trying to discourage me from not from staying away from Hollywood. So that's, that wasn't my problem. My problem is more. Um, that I just, I like being super independent as an artist. I, I like to only create things I'm really passionate about. I don't like to work on anything that I'm not inspired to work on at the time. And I'm a recluse a little bit, a loner. And so for me, especially like being. Massive introvert. Um, this, this works well, and that's what I think is so great about AI, too, is that for a lot of introverts, they're finally going to be able to,, create these big projects that otherwise, you know, they would have been shut out from just because of the nature of their personality or just the way they like to work.
Mike:Yeah, absolutely. And I bet that being an introvert helps you a lot create your stuff, because I imagine this takes a long time to create some of your, your videos. It seems like there's so many, there's so much that goes into the scripting, it seems, and so much that all of the different shots,, and motion that goes in. If you could just kind of walk us through, your process. Like where does this start? So let me back up for one second. Let me set the stage for the first one that I saw from you. I know it's not your first video, but the first one that I saw from you is called The Phenomenal Woman, which is a biopic of Maya Angelou. I didn't know a ton about her life. I knew her as a public figure who was this highly respected poet, and, and writer. But it, it seemed like her whole life and the things that made her who she is. all happened before she came on to my radar. So she was already kind of fully formed in my mind. And when I saw your, uh, short,-um, AI movie about her, it was like, wow, I had no idea. Like this was like, there was, everything was eye opening. And I pulled up Wikipedia. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. You know? If we start with that one how did you begin with that story? Um, how did you generate it?
Tasha Caufield:Um, well, with that one, that's such a big question, but, um,
Mike:What, what was the first prompt? How is that easier? Like where, like, did you go to like help get
Tasha Caufield:it always starts. No, it always starts with the script for me. I mean, I still use yellow pads. Like, I like, I'm a, I'm a writer. And, um, so yeah, so I, I create, So I create a a trailer I kind of know things I want to highlight from her life and then I find ways that um, you know like snippets that I that can kind of express that and just and do it chronologically, of course like as far as how her life went so then after that You I'll, you know, I, I might create a shot list and chat GPT just in case I don't want to, um, just, you know, just to maybe write it out as far as, um, Like take the script and put it in and say create a shot list from this and, um, but I never ended up looking at it. I usually just go through the screenplay and right next to it because this, the chat, the, uh, shot list that chat GBT will give, it'll just be like, she's in a room. Um, you know, she's in a room looking at the, I'm like, yeah, I know that. So like everything it's saying is stuff that I already know. Like, it's, it's just saying what's happening, but putting numbers next to it, really. So I'm like, okay. Um, so, and normally at this point you'd storyboard it. And if I'm doing something in like a Hollywood situation or something where I'm working with other people, um, you definitely would probably have to do that. But fortunately, since I'm doing it alone, I can just write next to it. Next to scenes, how I want it to look, what angle, or just if I want some sort of, or, or, you know, what images I want to reflect what's being said that's how I kind of approached that part of it.
Mike:So, it starts for you with the script. So you write the script, you might paste that script into chat GPT or something and say, hey, give me a shot list. Usually you might get like one or two good ideas out of that, but it's just kind of like a way to make sure that you're on the right track. It sounds like,
Tasha Caufield:yeah, and I did that for like the first two things I did, I don't really do it anymore, but that's kind of when I started just to see if I was missing anything or if I would be like, you know what I mean? Just like to see how, what AI had to say about my process and if I was, and if they had anything to add to it, which in that situation for me, but you know, it doesn't really, but it could be a way to stay organized because my scripts end up looking like crap afterwards. It's just writing all over it.
Mike:that's great. And then, so you, you get the script down, you have your shot list, um, and then, then where do you bring that? Where's, what's your image generator that you're using?
Tasha Caufield:Um, mid journey is a big one for hangman. I did that mostly with, uh, Leonardo, but I usually start with mid journey, and then sometimes I'll take it to Leonardo just to get a little bit more of a filmic look. Um, and, you know, have it at 90, as far as the image reflection goes, or if the hands are weird or something, I might bring it down so that Leonardo will clean it up. So I'll go from Mid Journey to Leonardo, um, but if Leonardo changes too much of it, then I'll, and, and just takes away a little bit of the character, or the creativity that Mid Journey had, especially when I'm looking at people. Um, sometimes it might change it too much, or, or just the person's a lot more interesting in Mid Journey. So sometimes I'll stick with the Mid Journey image, um. An upres that but usually if I stick with the mid journey That's where i'll get a little bit more of a rubbery cartoony kind of thing But for me, it's worth it just to have that expression A little bit more in the character because leonardo the characters a lot of times tend to be a little bit more Model y like a lot of models. Um and so and so it's kind of like, you know, you want a little and majority just has more of a range of um, Of faces and stuff like that. Have you ever tried putting an ugly person into a generator? I've done that
Mike:Like prompt for an
Tasha Caufield:Yes, i'm prompting for ugly people it's
Mike:What did it, what happened? are they not?
Tasha Caufield:Yeah, well, like I said leonardo has like a lot of models So a lot of the people they were saying were ugly or like you're like, that's not that bad Like I hope that person never sees this
Mike:That's just a beautiful person scowling. That's not like an ugly person, yeah.
Tasha Caufield:exactly, um mid journey will give you a little bit more range Yeah,
Mike:always funny to me It's like if I'm trying to like generate a male character I always have to put a a negative prompt in for brooding because it's like They always have like the men brooding like everyone looks like they're angry about something So it's like well in this case this character is not angry So I have to like you have to negative prompt that way too. There's so many funny things with the models.
Tasha Caufield:is. And even just like I noticed, um, so if I, you know, making the Maya Angelou pick, like you said, um, putting in like black person in the 1940s, whatever, like everyone was in like the poorest conditions. It was like, they were, it was like, they were homeless people that just happened to find a home somewhere. I was like, you know, the walls were always peeling. Like, it was just so sad. So I had to like, I had to write like, you know, in a rich home and stuff like that, just to Um, not, you know, just to not be stereotypical with it because, um, Maya Angelou's mother actually, was a landlord and owned property and all that kind of stuff. And her grandmother had the most successful convenience store, uh, in the, in the community. So it wasn't like these were dirt pork. You know places I think her mom the home they were in was like a 12 bedroom home and stuff like that. So You know, it's it's it's it's
Mike:I feel like you've done a couple interesting things to get around,, some of the shortcomings of AI. And for this one, , I feel like one of them is consistent characters. And I like the fact that you were able to take Maya at different stages in life. And that way you're not necessarily, it's the same person, but it's not necessarily the same exact character each time. You know, you see her when she's a little girl and when she's, you know, older and when she's working in the club and things like that. So, um, how intention, like, was that just kind of something that happened because of the nature of the biopic? Or were you like, Hey, I want to do this because I can, you know, work around this shortcoming?
Tasha Caufield:Well, that was like one of the hardest things to do with that because you're trying to show you're trying to have a consistent character but yet she's Um, you know mute for a little bit over five years You're trying to show her like aging but You know, it's like the, the, the prompting is really all over the place. As far as what you get back, um, when you're like, could she be 12 now? Could she be 13? You know, so, you know, so that was really tough. And at the end of the day. Um, you know, I, I had one character that I stuck with that I just kind of, you know, kept doing and then shots that when I would watch back and I would just be like, who the hell is that? Then I'd get rid of that and try to, you know, replace it at least to where I'm like, okay, this is pretty close to it.
Mike:Yeah.
Tasha Caufield:But yeah, I use, um, the C Ref a lot. That's, that's kind of my go
Mike:I was going to ask that because,
Tasha Caufield:yeah, I try, uh, N Swapper, but N Swapper doesn't work as well. And then when you have multiple people in a scene, um, of course that's not great. So N Swapper, uh, so C Ref a lot. And, um, Face Fusion and Pinocchio. Um, that's also a good option.
Mike:And for those people who don't know, C Ref is like a command in mid journey where you can create a character and then, um, you use that URL, right? So you take, you can take like, is it like three different images of a character and, Put dash dash C ref and then paste those URLs in and then it will kind of use whatever prompt you use It'll try and use that character in the scene and there's a ton of tutorials and stuff like that
Tasha Caufield:Yeah, then dash dash CW, um, for character weight. So CRF is character reference, and CW is how much you want the character to look like, you know, like the exact picture. So if you want them to wear the same clothes, , you can leave it alone or put it at like 100. But if you want them to change outfits or things like that, then you might crank it down to 50 or 25, the character weight. Mm hmm.
Mike:done that have you been able to use that for all of the movies that you've made because I think that's Kind of okay. That's good because I know it was something that didn't exist for a while And everyone's like we need more character consistency. So that's
Tasha Caufield:yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, there's, you could still do it with face fusion. Um, but yeah, like, yeah,
Mike:I haven't used Face Fusion before. Yeah, what, so how, how do you use Face, or how have you used Face Fusion? And tell me a little bit about what it is, because I actually don't know.
Tasha Caufield:So face fusion, um, and I access it through Pinocchio because it's a lot easier, um, is you basically swap out a person's face for another person or whatever. And a lot of. Like a lot of the things that the mainstream companies are doing have, have been around with all that kind of stuff and like, so what I studied was a lot of the best, um, people who were doing the bad stuff in AI, like, you know, faking, faking presidents talking and stuff like that, but they were actually using really helpful tools. And so face fusion is a big one that they use to swap out, um, the faces for another and exchange and A lot of that stuff, you know, comes in handy too. If a face gets too messed up in one of the image generators, um, you can always take that image and go into face fusion and swap it out. It does a pretty good job. And it also added, um, wave to lip and some other lip syncs to it. So I use that a lot.
Mike:It sounds like it's an open source tool, because you mentioned Pinocchio, which I think is a way of installing open source kind of tools. So, very cool. Yeah, and so, um, Cool. So you figure out your shot list, you've created the consistent characters. Um, and then how do you, how do you bring this to life? There's camera movements and things like that and voice over, but then there's also characters talking in it. So if you could just kind of go into that next step
Tasha Caufield:yeah, I mean, the things I do simultaneously are probably, uh, the up resing, where you up the resolution and something like, a Topaz product like Gigapixel, but, uh, Magnific, you can also use a Crea or something like that. So I'll probably do that simultaneously with creating images in Midjourney and stuff like that. And then also, I save the lip sync and all that kind of stuff, um, For after everything is laid out in the editing timeline just because I might not use something when i'm editing the people will be silent , the voices will be under them, but it'll just be moving and you won't see their lips move and then i'll Um add the lip sync later. So for lip sync I use a lot of the face fusion in Pinocchio cause that's helpful. Um, that handles,, darker situations a little bit better. It handles angles a little bit better and it handles multiple people in a scene better than something like a runway or, or whatever. But runway will give you a little bit of a better look with the lips. Um, but. It won't, it won't do a lot of, uh, a lot of that other stuff I just talked about. And it's, you know, it could be a little censored, which is, which is weird. And that's one of the things that's nice about using Pinocchio is that, you know, since it's open source and it's kind of out there, you can do whatever and not have to worry about all the censorship that comes with, like, mid journey and stuff like that. Because even the opening scene with, um, Maya Angelou, where she had, you know, The incident that made her, become mute because she spoke about it and the guy got killed and she felt that her voice, you know, like talking could kill people. So as a child, that's what's her logic. And she went mute, but I couldn't really show that scene in any, you know, in anything. So I just kind of had to allude to it. Not that I would have done it in a crude way or anything like that, but. You know, so yeah, so the censorship is, they're getting better though. Almost too better. I'm getting a lot of nipples in mid journey now for no reason.
Mike:no reason.
Tasha Caufield:Yeah, for no reason. Like, I'm like, I don't, like, why is her shirt open? I don't get it. Is that
Mike:common problem with like a lot of AI tools, make women as sexy as possible all the time, regardless of the prompt. I feel like it is. Yeah. Um, but in the, so it's interesting when you're, when you're talking about like bringing it into runway, I know one thing, it doesn't do good with angles. They really have to be facing forward. And I know in some of yours, you have characters talking and they are at an angle and it works. Your most recent one, um, with the Dave Chappelle story. I mean, I imagine there's like, that is just loaded with stuff that probably you
Tasha Caufield:not. yes, it's not appropriate. Um, but then you just run it through again and they'll say it and you're like, okay, I don't know what that was about. But, um, yeah, and the other one I use too is D. I. D. a lot, especially, , if the person's not moving. Um, that, that one, but their head is also wobbly a little bit. But sometimes, if runway won't give it to you. And face fusion is a little funky, then DID could be an option. Haygen, I've also used a little bit. But their pricing structure is not really conducive to what we do. I think they're more for like corporate stuff where they do it all the time every day. I mean, it's like 40 a month or something. It's just like, I just want one line. So it's kind of like not worth it for me. Yeah.
Mike:Yeah, it seems like that's like if you want to do like 40 corporate presentations in like different languages or something like that's a great tool. But if you're trying to get this perfect cinematic shot, it's not as much. Yeah.
Tasha Caufield:yeah, But they do an amazing job, but it's just the prices for me is not worth it. I mean, if I were working on something big, then, um, meaning somebody else is paying for it then. Yeah, I'd do, I'd use it, but not for me.
Mike:So far what you've done with AI, just to recap is like, , , you may have gotten some tips on the shot list from chat GPT, you've generated images in mid journey, you've animated those in a variety of different tools. From Leonardo to runway to DID
Tasha Caufield:Pixverse. I don't really like, I don't, Yeah. I, that's my go to. I use it for 90, 95 percent of. I'll use a little bit of Leonardo, which is not great, but sometimes they'll give you something good, especially if a human's not in it, like, an airplane taking off and, , runway when I want to get super specific on something, I can use the motion brush there. But, um, you know, and I think everybody hates Pixverse. And that's one thing that's interesting about the image generators is people get different, something like people have success with stuff that are just like, I mean, I see stuff from hyper and I'm like, that is not what I get. Like, what are you guys doing? Or, you know, people probably would think about that with me with Pixverse. It's like, I, you know, and they, they, even this past week, they've created a little bit more to help control, , The image from the prompting to how much you want the motion to the angles. So they're constantly improving. There's things where I'm just like, you know, everybody's using their pics, Pica. I'm like,, how are you guys getting that? Cause when I do it, everybody just, just runs off. Like all my characters run away or something.
Mike:Yeah. I was just doing something in Pico last night and it's almost like there's someone who ran into the shot in the background. I'm like, where, why did that person show
Tasha Caufield:yeah, there's a, yeah, there's a lot of random people just kind of, you know, photo bombing or whatever. Oh,
Mike:in terms of like, I mentioned the storytelling piece of it before. Like, it seems like you're such a great storyteller and that's really driving why you're making some of these. So I want to ask you about one of the ones that we haven't mentioned, , yet, which is called playing on defense. And this is the one that, , came out after the phenomenal woman, I believe. So what drew you to telling this story? Like, what was your connection to this story? Cause it was, for me, it's like an odd choice to follow up, my Angelo with. this character. So tell me a little bit, who, who is the subject
Tasha Caufield:choice, Mike?
Mike:No, go ahead. I, um, to me, it's,
Tasha Caufield:just
Mike:to me, it's, so I'm going to say it's James McAfee. And the reason why, if, if you don't know who that is, it's the person who did the virus software, antivirus software, I should say. Like usually when you think of like tech people, you see the people who are building, you know, the, the Steve jobs, , Bill Gates kind of people, and to me, this was like a really interesting choice because it's someone who's building this thing that like, the title says on the defense, someone who you don't even think about, it's this thing that's running in the background. And, the only thing I really know about him is towards the end of his life, there was like a lot of drama. I don't remember all the details about it, but it was just sort of like this, wow, this is really strange, you know? So, um, it, it was, it felt to me like there, like you had some sort of connection to this story or there was something that, intrigued you about this. Um, and when I was watching it, it was like, wow, there's, it's really kind of interesting how, , it's a different view of the early days of, , computing. Like that moment, there's a moment in the trailer where they first realize about, you know, viruses, like computer viruses. It's hard for people to imagine now, but there's a time where I was like, People were just using computers and then it's like, Hey, there's this virus that could actually take down all of these computers. And there was a time where that was the first time it happened. And that's kind of a little bit, I think, what your trailer alludes to. Um, so what, what was that? That's my summary of it. So what, what's your
Tasha Caufield:story. Um, yeah. Well, I chose like, pretty much for the same reason that I chose Maya Angel or, or with the slightest thing, whatever. I, you know, I like, uh, people who've done really interesting things, number one, and have really interesting stories., but I also. like exploring, the side of a person's story that, that people are missing when it's usually a big part of who it is, you know, like my, Angelo is this saint or whatever. In reality, you know, a lot of her journey was what a lot of young girls, , deal with and you can't, you, when, when you have these like one dimensional characters, we do ourselves a disservice, As far as how we view ourselves, we expect perfection from ourselves . , and we don't love all these different facets of it. So with the James McAfee piece, and his stories definitely has never been told,, in a way that does justice to a person Who's so integral to, our, our modern day life and so I got to highlight, , the genius of it and also, you know, hearing him talk about his story and that specific moment in time and him saying that that was the most exciting time of his life. You know, that really helped motivate me to really focus on that. Ultimately everything I do is always about unconditional love. That's kind of behind all my writing and everything, trying to support people and loving themselves unconditionally. So I like to have characters. I like to show that, you know, both sides of everybody the dark and the light, because to me, that's kind of a helpful way to get people to, uh, love themselves more.
Mike:Absolutely. You mentioned something like that in the description too, or maybe it's in one of the screen credit things, but like where it's about like, even if you have a troubled life, you know, even if there's like trouble in your life, and
Tasha Caufield:two reading my youtube descriptions? I don't think anybody
Mike:I,
Tasha Caufield:those
Mike:I read them. I always, I get really interested in, um, you know, understand, like when I see, and to me, when I said like, it was an unusual choice, it's, I think that's the reason is like, if this were a Hollywood movie, there would be like a major star attached and you would be like, Oh, it's this, you know, this major star playing this, historical figure In the world of AI, it's like, It's James McAfee, you know, it's like, it's the person, it's someone who resembles him. In a normal movie, you can say, oh, this star chose this biopic because there's some sort of like Oscar worthy story behind it. And when you're watching an AI AI movie like yours, for me, it was like, I was discovering all of this stuff while I was watching it. So I thought that was a really Um cool way to bring that to life as I was watching the trail. I was like, oh, this is a lot more dramatic than I imagined
Tasha Caufield:Yeah, when you're creating something like that, , it helps to be really committed to the the story the characters or whatever and not try to Put your own stuff on twitter your own beliefs. Um, and so that's what you know Creating something like playing on the defense after the my angelo pick if it's a reflection of how i'm committed to A storytelling and and interesting people and interesting stories and things like that because you know you get questioned I got people dming me. Are you a libertarian? You know stuff like that. I didn't get nobody complaining when obama put you know a thing around my angelo's in that group But then all of a sudden, you know, people are trying to figure out, um, what's, what's your angle here? Because they're not used to real artists anymore. They're used to a lot of propaganda. So, you know, for me, it's going to take a lot longer for people to understand that you're committed to, to, to art, to, to telling people's story, which is just, you know, in my opinion, a reflection, you're holding a mirror up to society , and, and you don't have a dog in the race or anything like that, um, opposed to, you know, You know, the thin line of crossing over to propaganda. It's going to take a while for people to trust you and to, um, and to understand what you're doing. So you have to, you know, have a little bit of courage to, to, to be committed to doing that.
Mike:Yeah. And I think that commitment to storytelling and telling stories that are maybe uncomfortable for people too, which I think is something that, you do really well. Like the one that you posted, it's, well, it's today as we're recording this, but like your most recent one, when I started watching that definitely it's so just for people who haven't seen it It's called well, the short version is griot. Actually, can you give the title of the full title? I have it up in front of me
Tasha Caufield:Yes, Griot, um, which, you know, spelled with a T at the end, but it's, uh, Griot. And I have a recurring nightmare where I misspell it. Um, the film and I, and I do it everywhere. I misspell it everywhere, but yeah, it's, it's called Grillo. Um, the greatest story Dave Chappelle ever retold or Grillo, the adventures of Iceberg Slim.
Mike:And it was, so I've never heard this story before and it was like, it starts off pretty, um, graphically and pretty intense, but it really is like this, great story by the time you get through the whole thing with a great twist ending. And, and it was like, what I love is I'm sure he's told the story on stage just as a story, but you were able to bring it to life and kind of, um, show a certain era, you're getting into these old costumes and this old style of cars and things like that. So I thought it was really, , A compelling way to show that story. Um, but it is the kind of story that can make you feel uncomfortable as you're watching it, you know, as a, as a viewer. And I feel like we, I feel like a lot of times people shy away from that stuff now. Like we don't lean into like, the difficult stories. And I like the fact that you do lean into those, um, difficult stories. So what, what drew you to that one?
Tasha Caufield:if it's difficult to watch or especially the beginning part of it, um, imagine having how difficult it was for me to have to read the book, to do the research, um, listen to, uh, You know, ladies of the night and the guys who manage them, um, listen to them talking, go into their world and stuff like that. And actually the people, the characters I used to voice, uh, those in 11 labs, um, are actual people that are in that profession. Um, because I learned, um, that, you know, it's, it's really hard to find someone who could sound. And it's, you know, and I thought about actually making their voices clearer and, and not using Chappelle's voice over it. Um, but it would, to me, it was, it didn't really work that way, but, um, but yeah, I had to, so yeah, I, like I said, when I announced that I was doing, I'm like, I had to, I was in the fetal position in a way, like, I was like, Oh my God, this is awful, but, um, but it was, it's, it's worth it. And especially when I saw, um, one of the girls, um, ladies of the night kind of crying and talking about how, you know, she wished that there was more opportunities to connect, um, you know, like. With an interviews, like the person who was interviewing her, she was thanking him so much for, um, just interviewing her and being, and interviewing that world in a soft underbelly, a white, soft underbelly, and just because they don't really have that, you know, that connection with the rest of the world. Um, so that was kind of a big motivator to, to, to go ahead with the project, so the, the things about capitalism and, you know, Dave Chabot talks about it in the bird revelation, , and just why he left, , Hollywood and went to Africa and, and so, you know, but, you know, it's phrasing it in the griot thing. That was my idea. And, um, yeah.
Mike:I like it. You mentioned your, you list yourself as a griot in the credits too, which I was like, oh, that was such a good touch. I
Tasha Caufield:It's bold. It's bold. Fortunately, fortunately, I've written books and stuff and just even with what I'm doing and AI, you know, telling these, continuing to tell these stories, , and stuff like that. You know, agree. I was a storyteller that, you know, when they, as Chappelle said, it's like they say when the person dies, it's like a library was burned down. So, you know, kind of keeping in that tradition, but, um, but yeah, I was like, Ooh, you bold girl. But, uh, yeah, that was, it was, it was, it's, it's, it's, it's dark. And like you said, a lot of people aren't going there. I think even in Hollywood, maybe Scorsese is the only person that really kind of could, you know, still going there for the most part. Um, but yeah, there's some harsh truths out there. There's some, there's some dark stories but it's life, you know, it's, we, you know, it's a spectrum. As Maya Angelou said, I'm a human, therefore nothing human could be alien to me. And when you cut yourself off from certain aspects of it, you cut yourself off from certain aspects of humanity. You don't fit, you don't feel the full spectrum of things. You don't experience the full spectrum of things. So, you know, I, I, I go there, but I don't live there. You know, it's, that's the difference.
Mike:That's great.
Tasha Caufield:Thank you.
Mike:that, it's just so powerful that then like when you see another one on Reddit that's like, This movie in this style of movie and it's like okay, like this is cool but I feel like this stuff that you're saying what I like about it is it has a perspective and a storytelling so it's very cool The other thing I wanted to say about the Griot movie was you have these tricks that you do sometimes or things that I noticed. I was like, Oh, that was a really smart thing. You have Dave Chappelle telling the story, and then there's points when the character is talking and they're both talking. And what's really cool about it is that like the character is almost speaking with Dave Chappelle's voice and the character's voice, so you don't really notice the AI ness of it, if that makes
Tasha Caufield:Hmm. Yeah, that's, that's a good point. Yeah.
Mike:So this question, um, came from, , a comment on a previous one. I think people want to know, you know, a lot of people are creating content and you see lots of videos going, hundreds of thousands, millions of views and stuff that are created with AI. And I think a lot of people have had this, the feeling like they create something and it doesn't have this like massive, viral video following or, or views, um, When that kind of thing happens, , how do you feel motivated to, , to make another one?
Tasha Caufield:Um, well, you know, you create because you enjoy creating, you love the work. I mean, that's, that's the short answer. That's the direct answer. Um,
Mike:the right answer.
Tasha Caufield:Yeah, but, um, , you can't really control the other stuff. And if you want to be happy in this world, in this life, , the first rule is to only focus on the positive. Things that you can control, number one, but then also recognize that, you know, it's, it's, it's all in your head and you could choose thoughts that make you feel better. But, outside of that, you know, it's, it's really just about enjoying the work. You do it because you have to. Like, it's, you don't really have an option to be creative and to express yourself in a certain way. You do, but you'll feel like you won't feel right. Like it'll, you know, and I've tried, I've tried living, not writing, believe it or not as an adult. And that, that, that did not go well, but, but yeah. So, but yeah, you can try, but at the end of the day, it's just, it's something you have to do. You just have to do it. But I also think that you'd be a good person to answer that question because, um, you've been at it for, uh, a long time. And I, you know, even seeing your GTA video. And just how you were squeak. Yeah. And just how you're squeaking out stories, um, with, with that tech and how limited that is. Like, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm inspired watching you. I'm just like, man, this guy is committed to just, just the art. Like just, just creating stuff. Um, and also, I mean, it's great that you're teaching now and helping that, but, um, yeah, so like, I think you'd be a good person to answer that.
Mike:yeah, yeah, I, I, I, I'm glad that you saw the Grand Theft Auto movie. That's like, I, I feel like that's like 15 years old. I made, with like a very early version of text to voice and the Grand Theft Auto game, just like recording is, oh my God, um, just recording, you know, game footage and then putting it together and stuff. One of my most popular videos is just like of cats, you know? And the way I got there was just asking chat GPT, like what are the most common search things on YouTube? Like what are the most common categories? What are the most common things within those categories? So, you know, it would say like pets and like, what are the most common things within that category? And it'd be like cats, dogs, you know, and list all the different pets. And then I would go to chat GPT and say, okay, create a shot list of, cat videos. And it would take, , maybe, I don't come up with all of the stuff for it. And then you edit it together. And it would get like, the most number of views or whatever. And then I'll spend like literally 80 hours putting together a tutorial that gets like, you know, 300, 400 views. And it's like, Oh, , but to your point, it's about the creation piece of it. I just enjoy the creative process. Like the, the creation is why I do it, not the, the end piece. So for me, as long as I can do the creation part, I'm happy, you know?
Tasha Caufield:Yeah. And I think a lot of people, you know, have to get honest with themselves as far as, , why they're doing it. Cause it, it takes a lot of work. I mean, you're spending 10, 12 hour days, you know, doing this stuff for weeks. Um, and so, do you love doing it or is it, you want to be famous, you know, or something like that? And I would have that even writing books or whatever. I'd have people go, you know, I could tell who really, wanted to, be like a writer and, and wanted the craft and stuff and love the craft or those who wanted to become famous writers or, you know, like, like, you know, I'll do it, but, you know, I got to be famous and I'm going to do it. So it's just like, you have to get honest with yourself because there's a lot easier ways to get famous and get attention than do this stuff. I mean, there's a lot of, some of them are illegal, but there's a lot of ways to do it.
Mike:Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Um, well, I think, I think you're way ahead of the curve on this stuff in terms of fusing storytelling and, um, AI technologies together to tell like really interesting stories. And I, I know the world's going to catch up with you someday. I know you just published one, but do you already have an idea for the next video that you want to do?
Tasha Caufield:I have so many ideas and so it usually comes down to, like, I'll say like, Ooh, this will be my next one, but then another one might come forward cause you know, the creative process is like pregnancy or something where, you don't know when you're ready to go into labor with it. So , one of my, Pop forward and be like, Oh, I'm ready. Like you thought I wasn't as, you know, developed with it. So once I'm done with a project, you know, I might take, , three days to relax or whatever and unwind, but then another one will start percolating. And this situation, and I said this when I announced, uh, I, you know, like you said, , people catching up to, you know, the Hollywood people have found me once again, and I've been asked to work on something, , AI related there. So, you know, I am going to spend a little time on that, they presented a couple of things and I found one project that I was like, okay, this I can work with or whatever. So that's helpful. And they gave me a good talking to him. It's like, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Um, which, you know, I felt that I would have, I felt that I feel pressure or be like, Oh, it's all, you know, it's what everybody wants. But I found something that kind of might work a little bit. So I have to put on the back burner a little bit that, but I'm really, really excited about this, uh, biblical, uh, story that I, I want to tell. Um, so when I start up again, creating stuff that I could show, which, you know, hopefully it'll be sooner than later, I think it's going to be a biblical tale of epic proportions.
Mike:I'm looking forward to it already. I feel like a biblical tale of epic proportions told in the style of Tasha Caulfield is like, yeah, I'm in. Let me know when it's ready.
Tasha Caufield:See, this is what I've been. This is like, that's the thing people who , like the way I think, like the way I present it because it's so easy to get caught up in a genre and people expecting things it's a longer route to the slower route , when you have a Renaissance personality for people to get consistent love like that. But I'm really starting to experience that for certain people who are really just like into me, me as a creative. And that's really fun.
Mike:Very cool. Well, where can people, if they, if they're not already following you, where's, where can people find you? What's the best way to follow along your journey here?
Tasha Caufield:I F's with X, formerly known as Twitter, and, um, and my handle is at Tasha Caulfield, so that's the main way.
Mike:And there will be a link to all of your, to your YouTube and your, your ex. Uh, it's so, I just want to say Twitter. I'm going to say Twitter to your Twitter and to your, um, YouTube and all that kind
Tasha Caufield:20 years, I'm like, what is this Twitter they speak of? I don't know. Yeah,
Mike:old if, if you say Twitter, it's not Twitter, it's X, you know, it's like, Oh, fine. Yeah.
Tasha Caufield:Yeah.
Mike:Well, thank you so much for being a guest and I hope you'll come back again, um, sometime and talk about some of the other stuff you're doing in the future. It'd be really fun to, to, uh, stay in touch with you throughout your creative journey with AI here.
Tasha Caufield:Thank you so much for having me and thank you for the invite back. I definitely would do this again. It's, it's, you're, you're doing, you're doing really good. I mean, I'm impressed. I don't want to do any other ones, but this. You spoiled me -now.
Mike:Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you today and hopefully for you listener. It's been a pleasure as well. Thank you again for listening. If you enjoy conversations with AI creators like this, don't forget to subscribe. And until next time. Keep generating.
