John Burnett’s
MIDJOURNEY
MASTERCLASS
Élie Élysée‘s Debut Album
Élie Élysée
A FULLY-VETTED, BRAND SAFE IP SPOKESPERSONA
Client: Anonymous Firm
Role: Genetics, Brand Identity, Art Direction, Audio Direction
Timeline: 3 Days to Incubate. 1 week for the album. Concurrent Timelines
Tech Stack: Midjourney, Nano Banna, Suno, Gemini
MASTERY: BRAND AMBASSADORS
With the fidelity of AI, creating a consistent digital human is no longer the challenge—the challenge is purpose. While many use this tech to create deceptive ‘deepfakes’ for quick commerce, this case study explores the opposite: How to architect a transparent, high-fidelity ‘Virtual Artist’ designed to act as a creative extension for ad campaigns, indie labels, or narrative world-building. Or in our case: cutting a 5-track album in French, Japanese and English with a world-renowned Singer-Songwriter.
Incubation Time
3 Days
PR DISASTERS
0
Availability
24 hours a day
SAY HI TO ÉLIE.
An Ai Persona is not a static character in a book, nor is it an autonomous programming. It’s a blend of a pantomime, an act, and a mask – while being none of those things. It’s a spokesperson, a brand ambassador, an instrument. An Ai Persona is… well, clearly difficult to define, so let’s start with something easier: the Burnett SEA method for constructing an Ai Persona.
SEA is an anagram for three facets of Ai Persona generation: the Shell, the Engram, and the Animus. What’s important isn’t so much the detail of the Persona, but rather how much people care about the Persona and their expression. In essence, an Ai Persona is a fully-vetted, brand-safe IP that people emotionally resonate with and for.
THE SHELL
The Shell is the easiest to define, and therefore the easiest point of entry. The Shell is the outward appearance and physicality of the Ai Persona. Design flows from large attributes to finer details; and the key to humanizing anything is to create imperfection.
Elie, for example, is a half-Japanese half-French singer-songwriter virtuoso. Her doll-like features, iconic blonde locks and beauty mark were all incubated for the express purpose of creating a multi-lingual album attached to a memorable face.
THE ENGRAM
The Engram is a bit more complicated to talk about, so we’ll muddle through it. The Engram is the blending of experiences, memories and perspectives the Persona brings to bear. It’s much more elaborate than a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet, but the same idea persists: tell me who you are and to what degree.
The Burnett SEA method has 22 attributes and psychological points of contact to truly crystalize an Ai Persona’s personality. Elie, for example, scores as High Extroversion and High Order; inferring she has no problem making an Instagram post, but rarely is it spontaneous or haphazard.
THE ANIMUS
Creating a face and giving it character creates the foundation for the real test of an Ai Persona: the Animus. Essentially, the Animus is how you present the Persona in the medium and context people traditionally associate with reality.
Social Media posts, scenes in famous landmarks, interactions with real people – and fusions of all these elements. From Spotify to Youtube, the Animus is how we believe in the Persona because this is how we believe in almost anything in the digital age. Elie is as real as the feelings she engenders online.
THE FULL ALBUM
You can enjoy Elie’s debut album here for free.
Special Note: this album was sourced from my scores and my live performance on woodwinds, piano and guitar. I wanted to truly test the abilities of an Ai Muse and pushed Elie to truly be an extension of my work.
Download the full album here.
READY TO TAKE THE STAGE?
John Burnett’s Midjourney Masterclass is ready to teach you how to do all this and worlds more. Accelerated learning, form-fitting workflows and completely discreet.
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MIDJOURNEY MASTERCLASS
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