Messages that can only be understood under the influence of psychedelics

For those that are curious, these are the messages: https://imgur.com/a/y0mXbAk

Decoded using:

    ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf tmix=frames=36:weights="1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1" output.mp4
    ffmpeg -i output.mp4 -vf "curves=all='0/0 0.05/1 1/1'" bright.mp4

We need to use the second command, as frame averaging in ffmpeg lowers luminosity. There's probably a way to cleverly get around this, but I'm no ffmpeg expert. The secrets are: "WE LOVE YOU," some alien heads, "UNIVERSE IS THE GATE," and "MIND IS THE LOCK (?—the last word is a bit hard to read)." Pretty neat, fun puzzle, though there's probably ways to make it tougher to solve in the context of something like a hacker tournament (as the negative space is a dead giveaway).

Mad respect for your solution, but how do you get to this point where you can look at a thing and say “oh yeah, it’s XYZ”?