by make-up & pure desperation
Today, I am finally presenting my AI images and videos, which I created for episode 5.666
– Trick or Treat! 🍩👻
Before you watch the scenes, here’s a quick background on why this episode almost brought me to my knees: Patsy’s make-up was so absurd, so wild, so utterly Patsy-esque this time that my AI was completely overwhelmed. It simply didn’t know where her mouth even began or ended.
The result: blurred lips, chaotic lip-syncing, teeth that thought, “We’re doing our own thing today.” 😅
I really thought: “Great. The whole episode’s ruined. Cancel, delete, forget it.”
Because the rendering was running locally via my own AI on my computer – and that takes one minute per second of video.
That means: 10 seconds of footage = 10 minutes of computing time.
And that was every time something went wrong. Spoiler: It often went wrong.
Normally, the AI immediately recognises where the mouth is – except with Patsy, of course.
So half a day full of coffee, swearing and talking to myself passed before I finally figured out the trick:
👉 I used DaVinci Resolve Studio (video editing software) to add an extra layer of make-up directly over the mouth. A bright pink, almost rubber dinghy-like colour.
This actually made the AI recognise the lips – at least sometimes.
But even that was a matter of luck: I had to enlarge, reduce and adjust the colour of scenes – around 20 attempts per shot – before a face was finally recognised.
After that, it worked reasonably well – but the lip sync still wasn’t perfect.
Here and there, the lips are a little pixelated, or the teeth suddenly decide to take on a life of their own.
I was about to give up when it occurred to me:
💡 “Hey! It’s Halloween! Fog! That’s right – fog over Patsy!”
And lo and behold: the trick worked! A little fog, a little darkness – and suddenly everything seems mysterious instead of flawed. 😉
So what started out as a technical nightmare turned into a real experience after all. The result isn’t perfect, but it has soul – and that’s what counts. So welcome to my little AI adventure behind the scenes of Trick or Treat!
Images that were generated (Sora):
