NEVADA (Terms of Service)

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  NEVADA (Terms of Service)

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  NEVADA (Terms of Service)

Inspiration

My practice has always explored the intersection of performance, technology, and memory. I'm concerned with how we use new tools to tell old stories about loss and preservation. I've been teaching AI Filmmaking and working with synthetic media, which led me to think critically about what these tools actually do. The question emerged: if we're using AI to "preserve" and "remember," what are we actually creating? The cat narrator came from playing with the absurdity of internet culture. Cats dominate online spaces, so what if they were actually the original network? It became a way to speak about technology from a non-human, ancient perspective that predates our supposed "innovations."

What it does

NEVADA (Terms of Service) is a six-minute experimental film featuring an AI-generated cat chimera speaking directly to camera about cloud storage, memory, and loss. Through fragmented observations: a grandmother's handwritten recipes, a widow conversing with an AI version of her dead husband, the film questions what returns when we upload ourselves to the cloud. It's the first in a series examining different American states and their relationship with technology.

HowI built it

The cat figure was generated using Midjourney with carefully crafted prompts balancing organic and geometric elements, creating a vertical split between flesh and pattern. I developed the monologue through multiple drafts, working to find a voice that felt both ancient and contemporary. The film uses a single static shot, the cat speaking directly to camera against a solid red background, intercut with surreal footage, allowing the monologue and the uncanny image to do all the work. Sound design layers the voice with subtle ambient music.

Challenges I ran into

Getting the cat figure right required dozens of iterations in Midjourney. The balance between "interesting hybrid" and "uncanny nightmare" is delicate. Writing the monologue meant finding a tone that's poetic without being precious, critical without being preachy.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The film does what I set out to do: it uses cutting-edge AI tools to critique our relationship with technology, which feels appropriately recursive. The monologue works as both poetry and argument. And the cat figure, split between worlds, speaking from outside human time, became exactly the narrator this meditation needed.

What I learned

AI image generation requires the same rigor as any artistic tool. It's not about the first result, it's about iteration and precision. Less is more: one striking image, one voice, one idea pursued relentlessly beats a dozen half-developed concepts. And sometimes the strangest creative choices (cats as network nodes) unlock the most resonant work.

What's next for NEVADA (Terms of Service)

IOWA is next, a different cat figure, a different state, a different meditation on technology and memory. Each film in the series will explore a specific aspect of our digital lives through a distinct location. I'm developing the visual language for each state's cat narrator and writing monologues that build on the series' central questions. The goal is a complete collection examining America's bargain with technology, one state at a time.

Built With

• claude
• elevenlabs
• gemini
• kling
• midjourney
• suno