Using AI Tools for Cinematic Images: Midjourney Draft Mode and ChatGPT

Creating compelling images takes a good process. Combining tools like Midjourney and ChatGPT can help you go from a rough idea to a polished visual concept.

This guide looks at a workflow that uses Midjourney's Draft mode for quick initial thoughts and ChatGPT to help refine those ideas into detailed prompts. We'll specifically look at generating images in a "cinematic noir" style, which is more about mood than a specific subject.

Starting with Midjourney Draft Mode

Midjourney version 7 introduced Draft mode. This setting helps you quickly get a sense of different visual ideas. It's great for brainstorming at the start of a project.

For a cinematic noir theme, you can try generating various scenes to see what fits the mood. Examples include:

• Cityscapes in the typical style

• A modern cityscape with a man's shape in the front

• A barn scene with animals

• A young person sitting at a bus station

• A close-up of a sad child's face looking out

• A scene of a man and woman having an argument

• The same argument scene, but set in a futuristic setting

• A barn scene with one cow, a young girl, and intense shadow figures

Draft mode lets you quickly see many possibilities. Once you have a few images that feel right, you can take them to the next step.

Using ChatGPT to Develop Ideas

After getting some initial visuals from Midjourney, you can bring them into ChatGPT. The goal here is to get the AI to suggest new and different ideas based on your starting point.

Upload the images you liked from Midjourney Draft mode. Then, ask ChatGPT to create interesting Midjourney prompts. Make sure to tell it you want prompts that are different from the images you provided. Specify the theme (cinematic noir), aspects ratio (like 3:2), and ask for different time periods, places, people, and objects.

ChatGPT can brainstorm unexpected prompt ideas like:

• Ancient ruins noir

• Retro futuristic laboratory scene

• Train station from the 1800s

• Underwater noir scene

• Harvest field at dusk

• Noir set in ancient Rome

• Backstage at an opera in the 1950s

• Future surveillance room setting

• A witch's house in the woods

• Canal at night in Venice

These suggested prompts give you many new angles and subjects to explore within your chosen style.

Refining Prompts Back in Midjourney

With the new prompt ideas from ChatGPT, you can return to Midjourney. This time, it's helpful to turn off Draft mode to get more detailed and refined results. You can also use other settings like Raw mode and set your desired aspects ratio.

Trying a New Scene

Let's say you liked the "underwater noir" idea. A prompt might look like: "A diver in an old fashioned brass diving suit exploring a sunken ship, eerie fish swimming through broken beams. Flash light cutting through murky water. Style of cinematic noir."

After seeing the results, you might realize you want them in black and white for a classic noir feeling. You can simply add "black and white" to the prompt.

Remember, creating the perfect Midjourney prompt can involve iteration and adding specific details like lighting, mood, or texture. This detailed approach takes time, but with the right tools, it can be streamlined. Check out the TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite to see how you can make generating and refining prompts more efficient.

Editing Images

Midjourney also lets you edit images. If a generated image is close but not quite right, you can use the integrated editor. For example, you might erase part of the image and ask Midjourney to add something specific like a ship wreck. This allows for further customization of the visuals.

Adding More Detail with ChatGPT

Sometimes the first image results from a new prompt still need more impact. You can go back to ChatGPT and ask it to add more descriptive words to your prompt. For example, if you tried the "Noir on March 1950s" prompt ("A man in a trench coat and space helmet standing beside a rusted rover. Red dust storm behind him. Doomed colony lights glowing in the distance. Style of cinematic noir"), you could ask ChatGPT for a more detailed prompt.

Tell ChatGPT you want more details, greater variation in shadow and light, and specify black and white. ChatGPT can then expand the prompt, adding phrases like:

• "bulky trench coat and vintage style space helmet"

• "rusted half buried marching rover"

• "Dramatic red dust storm swirling"

• "stark blacks and whites"

• "Distant doomed colony lights casting long shadows across the cracked ground"

• "High contrast lightning with deep shadows and sharp highlights"

• "Atmospheric fog, reflective helmet visor catching glints of artificial moonlight"

• "Film grain texture"

Sending this more detailed prompt to Midjourney will likely give you images closer to your vision, with richer atmosphere and better use of light and shadow. Managing many prompts and variations like this can be time-consuming. Discover how the TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite can help you keep track of and manage your creative AI projects efficiently.

The Creative Loop

This process shows a helpful creative loop: start with Midjourney (Draft mode) for quick ideas, move to ChatGPT to brainstorm and refine prompts, and then go back to Midjourney (Standard mode) for more focused image creation. You can repeat this cycle, refining prompts and editing images until you get the visuals you want.

Tools that help manage this process make a big difference. Having a system to organize your prompts, images, and variations saves time and lets you focus on creativity. The TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite is designed to support this kind of workflow, helping you manage your Midjourney projects effectively.

Next Steps

Once you have a collection of images, the next step is often to bring them together and add context, like stories or notes. Design software can be used for layout and combining text with visuals. This is where the images truly become part of a larger creative project, like a visual journal.

This workflow combining Midjourney and ChatGPT offers a powerful way to generate unique and atmospheric images, especially when exploring specific moods or styles like cinematic noir. Stay curious and keep creating!