…Be Silly. You’d be surprised how many problems in life are much much smaller when you don’t take them too seriously. No-one really knows what we are, if there is an after life, what’s going on a sub atomic level so no need to get too wound up about it…
As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Trisha Code. Trisha Code is an AI audio visual artist, song writer and storyteller. She developed an early love for music and electronic music and went on to ghostwrite music for artists. She stole a UFO off the Greys with her friend Tonya. The Greys then hunted them down but they were rescue by Cheekies Mastro Chinchips CEO Whitsby Mathwagon who got the Greys to agree to let them keep it as long as Trisha signed a 500 year 360 degree deal with Cheekies. As a result Trisha has almost limitless budget from the biggest chip company in the galaxy and makes a video every single day.
Thank you so much for doing this with us Trisha! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
Thank you so much for having me. I grew up in the UK in a pretty small town. I was really into rock music when I was a kid and at about 12 years old I discovered electronic music and samplers and fell in love. I was DJing in nightclubs before I was legally allowed to be in them ended up writing music as a “ghostwriter” for other people. Also heavily influenced by the MTV video age I discovered DJing music videos and making video music. Last year my mate Tonya and I stole a UFO off the Grey aliens who then hunted us down but we were rescued by Whitsby Mathwagon CEO of Cheekies Mastro Chinchips. He got the Greys to allow us to keep the UFO as long as we signed a 500 year 360 deal with Cheekies, which we did. So now we are able to travel in time, space and other dimensions and we make AI stories and music videos to cover our tracks and make the whole thing seem fake.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I am into AI Video because I am into remixing music and video. I see no difference between the two. I’ve always cut up samples and played instruments together. I used to take chunks of other people’s videos as samples to make ideas, then I got into 3D to make my own video clips and since AI video started advancing I’ve turned to that to make content with. To me video samples, 3D samples and AI samples are all the same thing I am just painting with.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I would say that stealing a UFO and getting off this planet was most interesting thing but in the interests of variety I’ll say it’s making a hit song as a “ghostwriter”. I made a song and signed a contract that promised I’d never tell anyone I wrote that song and then saw it become absolutely huge. The truth is if I’d released that song as myself it would not have been a hit but it was still wild to see. Oh and some huge TV show asked me to work for it last year but I said no because I was having too much fun on the UFO.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Winding up alien races that we don’t really know a lot about. It seemed really funny at the time but they can mess you up in ways you haven’t realized and in dimensions you don’t know exist. What I’ve learned is do your research on everyone and always be nice, even if they seem like a 16 tentacled douchenozzle.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who made a profound impact on your professional life? Can you share a story?
Early on in music I got to work in recording studios with professionals and early on one music producer told me the best way for a life long career in music is never get a record deal. Do absolutely everything you can to stay in music and make art without signing a record deal. That seems funny now because record deals don’t exist in the same way but back then it was insane advice because a record deal seemed like the most solid way to make it as an artist. But what you learn is most record deals are just massive loans you have to pay back anyway.
What has been the most challenging role or project you’ve ever taken on, and why?
When I was touring the world with music. It was exhausting. Loads of fun, I’m glad I had the experience and got to see the world but it’s exhausting and you don’t get to sleep properly and being creative and writing in hotel rooms is really hard for me. I like being at home on the UFO with the dogs.
You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?
The AI video world is astonishing right now. We all hoped AI video was going to get better but we didn’t know how fast to expect it. Every few weeks there is a massive sea change in how we can make content.
One of my goals is a kung fu musical with one scene that goes on for an entire song where every punch, kick, shard of wood breaking and object falling forms some part of the melody or rhythm. Like a musical ballet but I want to do it all in one long shot with the camera never cutting. This is right on the horizon for me now. Other than that I make a video every single day either a story or music video and I just intend to carry that on into eternity. I will work on movies and long form stories but the endless evolving story is what matters to me.
As you know, your videos are extremely beloved. In your opinion, what was it that really captured people’s attention about your music videos?
Being silly and happy. I love music and I’ve spent 30+ years editing videos so I have a passion for it but really I feel like people need a break from the serious and sad stuff in the world. I live in a universe parallel to this one you can escape for a short time with me have fun and be silly and I think people need that.
How would you compare and contrast your personal character to the character you play in the videos? How are you similar and how are you different?
I am nowhere near as talented in real life obviously. AI gives super powers for sure but it’s also not just prompting. I do joke that it’s just prompting but I am literally using the same tools as everyone else, I have no special sauce. The Trisha character in the videos has helped the me in real life TBH. Like a functional joy engine that has a purpose of fun.
Your AI content generation game is amazing. How many times do you have to generate a video clip before you are happy with it? Can you share tips with our readers about how to make great AI videos?
It used to be a lot of times but I am getting better at saying what I want and the AI platforms are getting better at understanding prompts. I would say for something like Midjourney I am doing loads of image generations, maybe 10 images for every 1 image that I use. But for video clips it’s way less, i just made a video where i generated about 35 clips to use 30 in the actual video. I don’t really have one catch all tip but… Storyboard in something like midjourney, your storyboard can be your actual video. So as your boshing out your ideas in midjourney you actual already have scenes ready to go. A lot of magic can happen in editing just by reversing a clip at the end you can extend the length you use it for, there are still so many old school editing tricks relevant to AI video.
This is our signature question that we ask in nearly all of our interviews. Can you share “5 things that you learned now, that you wish someone told you when you first started? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1 . You can do projects in little bits. You don’t have to finish something in a day or today. Get good at sorting your files for each projects into files so that you can easily come back to a project later. Sometimes it’s good to work a little bit on something, forget about it and then re-experience it with fresh ears and eyes.
2 . Jam and improvise a lot. One music producer I worked with used to keep a tape rolling non stop even when they were just in the studio jamming. Songwriters like Bowie would go into the studio and just speak jibber jabber (not real words) over music and then later find the words of chose the best bits. The thing I learned from music that I bring to video is you can mess around and play and just make lots of bits and then compose something from the best bits.
3 . Never stop learning I started out making music on tape machines in massive studios with loads of faders and dials and now I can work on a laptop. I started doing video editing on Avid, then Premiere, then learned 3D , then AI video came about. I actually quit school at 15 years old but I went straight into a recording studio as an intern and since that day I’ve never stopped learning. If you want to be a creator there is no school there is only continuous learning. But now we live in a world where you can learn anything online and get any software.
4 . Be Silly You’d be surprised how many problems in life are much much smaller when you don’t take them too seriously. No-one really knows what we are, if there is an after life, what’s going on a sub atomic level so no need to get too wound up about it.
5 . Keep control of your own business Nowadays you can do everything with AI and laptop. Working with other people is great but always keep an eye on the business of your art. Managers, agents, companies will offer you amazing deals and 50 page contracts you don’t really want to read. It’s always best to either avoid these people or waste thousands on lawyers to actually tell you what those contracts say.
Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.
Totally. Sleep is insanely important. Maybe the most important thing is getting enough sleep. Personally I don’t eat from about 3/4PM so my stomach is settled. I try to drink a decent amount of water. Meditation seems like a poncey load of BS but really giving your mind some down time is great. I like a walking meditation.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Feels like the movement we need most is non-violence but second to that is increasing happiness. I think the algorithm has a focus on increasing attention and fear is an attention grabber but as a result our discourse is way too dominated by all the bad things that happen or could happen. Just a small increase in silliness could have a massive positive effect i think. Like if you could go into the social media companies and request a 3% increase in silliness, i realize there would probably be a 3% decrease in ad revenue but i think it’s a tax worth paying.
This is what we call our “matchmaker question”, and it sometimes works. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a power lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
This is going to sound terrible but I already have friendships with some amazing people that I cannot believe talk to me and give me advice. I would not really feel like bothering anyone to give me info I could probably get off a YouTube interview with them. There are loads of people I think are awesome and I sometimes try to sneak them into my videos with or without their permission.
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
Yes I am, easiest way is to go TrishaCode.com and links are all there but basically I am TrishaCode on every platform you can think of even stuff like warpcast and rednote.
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you so much for talking to me, this has been fun.
Rising Star Trisha Code On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.