Artistic Telephone: Session 1 class flow
| Session 1 | Telephone notebook |
Goal
Explore how meaning, style, and composition drift when an image is described and generated again. Your interpretation is part of the game. Unexpected changes can be interesting rather than failures.
Before play
- Complete the short Replicate API introduction.
- Join your group of five in the assigned breakout room or at your table. There are six groups in total.
- Note your group letter (A to F) and seat number (01 to 05). Keep these assignments fixed.
- Each group uses its own shared SWITCHdrive folder. Use the folder link shared in class and check that you can upload and download.
- Everyone uses an individual Replicate account and the same class image model. The initial example is FLUX.1 schnell. Use the model specified for the activity.
- Open the standalone Telephone notebook in Colab or JupyterHub. No repository checkout or helper files are needed for students. Keep your token private.
- Choose a group coordinator to help with filenames, missing uploads, and the round timer.
All passing stays inside your group:
S01 → S02 → S03 → S04 → S05 → S01
Everyone plays at the same time
There are five simultaneous chains per group. In round 1, everyone creates a starting image. In each following round, everyone interprets an image from the previous seat and generates another image. No student waits for four others to complete a single chain.
Five rounds give each chain five images. There is no sixth generation when it returns to its starting student.
Timing: 45 minutes plus a separate 15-minute reveal
| Stage | Time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Setup reminder | 5 min | Confirm group, seat, model, theme, and folder access |
| Round 1 | 7 min | Everyone writes and generates a starting scene |
| Round 2 | 7 min | Inspect the received image, describe, generate, pass |
| Round 3 | 7 min | Repeat within the group |
| Round 4 | 7 min | Repeat within the group |
| Round 5 | 7 min | Complete the fifth image; stop generating |
| Upload check | 5 min | Check each selected image is in the right group folder |
| Game total | 45 min | |
| Reveal and discussion | 15 min | View selected chains and reveal prompts |
Each seven-minute round includes iteration, selection and image transfer. Reserve the last minute for choosing and uploading; you do not have to use every possible attempt. Follow the shared round timer and wait for the signal before starting the next round.
What to do in each round
- Select the round in the notebook’s game panel; it displays exactly which image to open and which name to pass.
- In round 1, use your group’s theme. Later, open only the assigned image from your group folder. The game has no upload control; this image is not sent to Replicate.
- Write a new prompt in the panel, describing what you see. Do not inspect the previous prompt or earlier images in the chain.
- Click Generate and save. The notebook automatically embeds the exact prompt using ST3GG and saves a numbered PNG. Revise and generate more if time and budget allow.
- Choose a saved attempt using the panel dropdown and click Export selected PNG. Download the handoff PNG (automatic in Colab) and upload it to your group’s SWITCHdrive folder with the filename unchanged.
- Wait for the next round signal. Keep sending to the same next seat.
The image is for you to interpret. This is a text-to-image game; the received image is not sent as an image-to-image input.
Original filename notation
Keep the sequence of participating seats in the filename:
Group_A/
01.png
01_02.png
01_02_03.png
01_02_03_04.png
01_02_03_04_05.png
02.png
02_03.png
02_03_04.png
...
For example, seat 01 receives 05.png in round 2 and exports 05_01.png. In round 3, that same seat receives 04_05.png and exports 04_05_01.png. The notebook calculates this for you.
Filenames can repeat across groups because the folders are separate. Do not rename a file to pretend it belongs to another chain. If your browser adds a suffix such as (1), retrieve the correct file and restore its assigned name before loading it.
Share images only
- Use the notebook’s handoff export. ST3GG hides each attempt’s exact prompt in the PNG pixels. The instructor can decode it at the reveal. This is not encryption: do not inspect others’ prompts during play.
- Pass the original PNG. Screenshots, resizing, editing, and JPEG conversion can destroy its hidden record. Keep every round’s PNG in the shared folder.
- Do not share Replicate prediction-page links, notebooks or JSON logs during play.
- The notebook does not connect directly to SWITCHdrive. Download the PNG to your computer, then upload it through the folder page.
- Shared folders do not hide other images. The rule is to open only the file assigned to you.
- Keep practice diagrams in a separate practice folder. They are not generated outputs and should not enter a live chain.
Each successful generation is saved privately as a separate numbered attempt. Exporting a different choice replaces your local handoff; coordinate with the instructor and next student before replacing a shared file. If downloading or encoding fails after generating, check the prediction in Replicate before requesting another paid image.
If something is late or fails
Do not keep clicking Generate. Check whether a prediction already exists in Replicate before retrying. Tell your group coordinator which file is missing. Pause the affected chain; do not substitute an image from another chain. We can still discuss a partial chain at the reveal.
The simplified notebook makes real Replicate requests only; it has no offline practice mode. If live generation is unavailable, use example images provided in class.
Starter themes
Use your group’s assigned theme: Serenity, Ritual, Metropolis, Decay, Connection, Chaos.
Example for Serenity:
At dawn, a monk stands in a quiet temple courtyard. Warm mist surrounds the stone walls, soft light, wide cinematic composition.
You can change era, medium or emotion as a chain develops. Keep subject, style, lighting and composition vocabulary in mind.
Reveal and discussion
After the final round, we will view the chains in order and reveal the prompts behind the images. Choose one complete or partial chain with your group and discuss its progression.
- What persisted: subject, colour, framing, or mood?
- What drifted, and where?
- Which words might explain a change? What could be generation variability?
- When was drift creatively useful?
Optional highlights: Most Surprising Transformation, Best Stylistic Leap, Strongest Narrative Continuity.
After the reveal, write a short reflection in your own notes and complete the three-shot storyboard. Identify a lost detail and write one repair prompt. An extra generation is optional and can use the basics notebook, keeping the game’s passed files unchanged.
Final submission
The shared group folders already contain everything needed for the final chain gallery. No separate prompt-log upload is needed. Download your private attempts before closing Colab if you want to keep them, and submit your reflection, storyboard, and refinement comparison to the submission location shared in class after the reveal. Do not submit API tokens or the entire notebook environment.