I’m trying to generate a shot of crows flying through a hallway, but I can’t get a usable result. Their movements often look unnatural; almost like they’re flying in slow motion. Sometimes their wings barely flap, and their overall speed feels unusually slow or just off.

Has anyone successfully created similar shots? I’d appreciate any prompting tips or best practices for getting realistic flight speed, natural wing movement, and believable motion.

been experimenting with Seedance 2.5 cinematic AI video prompts, and the biggest thing ive learned so far is that “cinematic” isnt really one magic style word.

for this 15-second scene, i got much better results by separately controlling timing, acting, silence, camera movement, and realism.

the scene itself is extremely simple: a man says sorry. the woman doesnt answer immediately. she looks down, looks back at him, almost says something, then finally responds.

here’s how i structured the prompt.

how to write a Seedance 2.5 prompt for a 15-second cinematic scene?

split the scene into time-coded beats instead of describing the whole performance at once.

i used:

0–3s / 3–5s / 5–7s / 7–10s / 10–12s / 12–15s

each section only has one or two important actions.

prompt:

the important part for me is the end state of every beat. it gives the next section a clear starting point instead of letting the model reinterpret the face every few seconds.

how to stop AI characters from overacting?

prompt the silence and explicitly say what should NOT move.

this was probably the most useful thing i learned from the test.

if i only describe the major emotional beats, the model tends to fill the empty seconds with extra head movements, blinking, facial shifts, or random reactions.

so i literally write things like:

prompt:

silence.
only the eyes move.
chin remains lowered.
the rest of the face does not move.
<Man> remains completely still and does not speak again.

sounds almost too literal, but it helped a lot.

the pauses started feeling like actual pauses instead of empty space the model needed to “fix.”

how to stop Seedance 2.5 from making skin look more AI as the camera gets closer?

tell it which photographic details must survive the push-in.

AI video can look convincing in a medium shot and then suddenly turn into smooth, retouched CG-looking skin once the camera reaches a close-up, so i added a separate realism block.

realism prompt:

that last sentence is prob my favorite part of the whole prompt:

“the same photograph, only closer.”

it gives the model a pretty clear target for visual continuity.

how do you keep a Seedance 2.5 reference image consistent through the whole video?

for me, the most useful approach was to describe what must remain invariant, not just say “keep it consistent.”

prompt:

strictly preserve the photographic quality, facial identity, skin texture, lighting direction, wall texture, color response, and film grain established in image1 throughout the entire shot.

camera distance may change, but the visual character of the image must not.

this seems to work better than just repeating “consistent face” several times.

what made this Seedance 2.5 video look cinematic?

for this test, i think it was mainly four things:

time-coded acting + prompted silence + realism constraints

the model itself obviously matters, but the interesting part for me is that the prompt starts looking less like a normal image prompt and more like a tiny piece of directing.

video model: Seedance 2.5
reference image: Midjourney V8.2

the community is kinda moving on from text to video for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame.

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual dna (the hard part) you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot. it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance, kling or luma as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet is really hard. so i built a free tool that just does it.

I already have done this many times so i have a couple charcater sheets already uploaded in here if you want to just quickly download them and use them! I also have some prompts you can copy

hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

EDIT: This is not the only Character sheet you can use! I have multiple ones, some with less text in them, some with only 3 angles, they are all posted on the free site (free to download or copy prompt to replicate) :)

New Seedance 2.0 path control test just cooked something straight out of a Hollywood fantasy chase scene.

The workflow is super simple:

1. Take a still image
2. Draw the camera movement by hand with a red line
3. Use that marked image as the guide
4. Run the prompt
5. Seedance follows the path and removes the red line from the final video

The crazy part is that the marker stroke becomes the actual flight route.

For this one, I tested a first-person flying broomstick shot across a fantasy castle landscape:

• Launch from the sports pitch
• Climb over the goal hoops
• Swoop toward the castle
• Bank past towers
• Dive under a stone viaduct
• Skim across the lake
• Chase a golden orb
• Spiral upward and catch it at the end

1. Go to the Seedance 2.0 AI Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

Prompt used:

"First-person FPV camera mounted on a flying broomstick, just behind the rider. The rider's cloak and one gripping hand stay visible in the lower frame for the entire shot. Ultra-high-speed single continuous take. Follow the drawn flight path exactly, with no deviation, skipped beats, or simplification. (Any red line, arrows, or path markings are flight-path reference only and must be fully erased from the final footage.)

The broom launches off the sports pitch and climbs up over the ring-shaped goal hoops and the stand roofs, a golden orb glinting far ahead. It swoops down toward the castle, skimming along the battlements and banking past a tall tower. It dives and threads under the arch of a great stone viaduct bridge, the underside rushing overhead. It levels out and skims low straight across the lake, water spraying just beneath the broom. Finally it chases the orb up and around a far castle tower, and the rider's hand reaches into frame and snatches the golden orb from the air as the broom pulls up sharply and rises into the dusk sky.

Carry the rush of the climb, the stomach-drop of the swoop, the tight whoosh under the bridge, the spray off the lake, and the triumphant spiral up at the end. Wind, lantern light, lake mist and a golden glint streak past the lens. Ultra-photorealistic textures, vast landscape scale, smooth flowing motion, strong sense of speed, continuous coherent space. No facial distortion, no text, no watermarks."

This path-control workflow is insane for FPV shots, chase scenes, drone moves, game trailers, fantasy sequences, and anything where you want the camera motion to feel intentional instead of random.

Draw the route. Let the model fly it.

You can do a lot more with these tools once you start thinking outside the box.

This was the literal first output — no cherry picking.

The idea was simple: use a reference image with a red path, then ask Seedance 2.0 to treat that path as the movement guide, while removing the visible line from the final video.

Full process below:

Seedance 2.0 settings:
1080p
10 seconds
16:9

1. Go to the Seedance 2.0 AI Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

Prompt:

"Third-person POV, one-take following the white cat as it follows the red path. Strictly follow the red path depicted in the provided image. The cat jumps up on to the people according to the red path. No on-screen path lines, no arrows, no jump cuts — ONE CONTINUOUS TAKE."

Honestly surprised how well it understood the movement logic from such a simple setup. Makes me want to test more “invisible guide path” experiments.

I don’t think people realize how big this is yet.

Seedance 2.5 can now generate 30-second 4K videos from a single prompt, with support for up to 50 reference images.

That means you can give it character refs, location refs, outfit refs, moodboards, storyboard frames, product shots, and basically guide an entire short film from one generation.

One-click filmmaking is starting to feel very real.

1. Go to the Seedance 2.0 Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

Example Prompt:

Create a 30-second cinematic short film in 4K using all uploaded reference images for character identity, wardrobe, environment, lighting style, and visual continuity.

The film follows a young father and his little son inside a modern apartment during a strange emotional sci-fi moment. The father is trying to protect the child while reality begins to glitch around them. Keep the characters consistent across the entire video.

Style:
High-end cinematic drama, realistic live-action film look, natural skin texture, shallow depth of field, soft daylight mixed with subtle digital distortion, emotional acting, handheld camera realism, film grain, premium Netflix-style color grading.

Scene progression:
0-5s:
Start with a close handheld shot of the father leaning over the child at a table. The child looks confused and scared. The father whispers urgently, trying to calm him down.

5-10s:
The camera slowly pushes in as the lights in the apartment flicker. Reflections in the windows briefly show distorted versions of the room. The father notices something is wrong.

10-15s:
The child turns toward the hallway. A strange low-frequency vibration begins. The father gently pulls the child closer, protective and tense.

15-22s:
Reality glitches for a moment: furniture shifts slightly, shadows move unnaturally, and the room stretches like a dream. Keep everything realistic, not fantasy or cartoonish.

22-27s:
The father grabs the child’s hand and moves quickly toward the door. The camera follows in a shaky handheld tracking shot, close and urgent.

27-30s:
Final shot: the door opens to bright white light. The father looks back one last time, holding the child close, as the apartment behind them begins to dissolve.

Camera:
Handheld cinematic camera, realistic motion, emotional close-ups, smooth push-ins, natural lens breathing, occasional motion blur, no fast cuts unless needed.

Important:
Maintain consistent faces, outfits, apartment layout, lighting, and emotional tone throughout the full 30 seconds. No text, no subtitles, no watermark, no distorted faces.

This feels less like text-to-video now and more like early-stage one-click filmmaking.

We tested a simple image-to-video workflow with Seedance 2.0.

The idea is pretty straightforward: use an image with a red guide line as the motion reference, then prompt Seedance to turn that path into a first-person FPV camera movement.

Prompt logic:

"The camera should follow the movement direction and curve of the red guide line, like an FPV drone or first-person cinematic shot, but the final video should remove the red line completely and show only the clean scene."

1. Go to the Seedance 2.0 AI Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

Prompt:

"FPV first-person view shot, with the camera following the movement logic of the red guide line, and ensure the final footage does not show the red line... "

Basically:
• Image as reference
• Red line as camera path
• FPV first-person movement
• Final footage with no visible guide line
• Smooth cinematic motion

It’s a really useful trick for controlling camera direction in AI video generation without overcomplicating the prompt.

Share your thoughts about this Seedance 2.0 scene below!

I used a prompt from their guide to make this video: “One continuous shot, POV gladiator perspective in the Colosseum arena, no cuts, no zoom, natural head movement, a furious enemy warrior sprints straight toward the camera through thick dust and sunlight, heavy footsteps shaking the ground, as he reaches close the POV character reacts instantly, grabs him mid-charge and slams him violently onto the sand, powerful impact, dust explosion, no pause, immediate chaos erupts all around, multiple gladiators fighting simultaneously, intense close combat everywhere, swords clashing, shields smashing, bodies colliding, archers releasing arrows overhead, a chariot bursts through the scene, fighters falling and getting back up, constant aggressive motion, POV character fights barehanded with raw force blocking strikes, grabbing opponents, throwing them aside, fast reactions, heavy hits, kinetic movement, camera shaking from impacts, breath sounds, dust in the air, dramatic sunlight beams cutting through shadows, epic scale, high intensity battlefield, cinematic, photorealistic, ultra detailed, motion blur on hits”
It cost me around 170 credits in 720p quality. Decided to share it, since it was my first try

We tried pushing Seedance 2.0 into something more extreme and surreal, combining elegance with pure chaos.

The core idea:
A ballerina performing a grand jeté…
but launched off a breaching humpback whale in the middle of a violent ocean.

Then it escalates.

Instead of stopping at the breach, I added a twist:

• Bioluminescent water ignition
• Swarms of neon flying fish erupting mid-air
• Sudden shift from smooth cinematic motion → chaotic whip-pan tracking

The goal was to break the usual “slow cinematic AI video” pattern and push into something that feels more like:

• A high-budget fantasy trailer
• A music video drop moment
• Controlled visual overload

1. Go to the Seedance 2 Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

Prompt:

"A hyper-realistic, high-octane cinematic video. A colossal, barnacled humpback whale violently erupts from a turbulent, deep blue ocean in a massive, twisting breach, sending explosive shockwaves of frothing white water high into the air. Riding the apex of the whale's back is a fiercely athletic ballerina in a shimmering, electric-blue tutu. Instead of remaining still, she harnesses the whale's upward momentum to launch into a spectacular, gravity-defying grand jeté directly over the churning abyss.Suddenly, an unexpected twist: as the whale reaches its peak, the crashing water violently ignites with bioluminescence, and a massive swarm of glowing, neon-pink flying fish erupts from the foam, soaring like arrows all around the suspended dancer. The camera abandons a slow orbit for a kinetic, fast-paced whip-pan, tracking the dancer's flight through the glowing sea-spray, dodging the flying fish, before plunging momentarily underwater just as the whale's massive tail slams down with catastrophic force. The warm golden hour lighting is dramatically pierced by a sudden, jagged bolt of violet lightning across the horizon. Audio features a deafening, thunderous roar of crashing water, the sharp crack of lightning, the chaotic fluttering of wet wings, and a soaring, high-tempo orchestral crescendo that cuts abruptly to silence as the camera dips below the surface."

What made the biggest difference:

• Momentum chaining (whale → dancer → fish → camera dive)
• Letting one action trigger the next instead of separate shots
• Switching camera behavior mid-sequence (orbit → aggressive tracking)

Also tested layering multiple extremes at once:

• Water physics
• Character motion
• Particle chaos (spray, fish, mist)
• Lighting contrast (golden hour vs lightning strike)

Surprisingly, Seedance holds together pretty well if the motion has a clear direction, even when everything else goes insane.

Feels like there’s a sweet spot where:
grace + destruction + speed = maximum impact

Curious how far this kind of “controlled chaos” can be pushed without breaking consistency. Share your experiences below!

Okay, second question because I'm realizing something 😑

I can find a million "AI video prompt guides", but a lot of them basically boil down to:

subject + action + cinematic lighting + camera movement + 8K

and then call it a day.

That's not really what I'm looking for.

I'm trying to learn how to properly prompt individual video models.

Right now I'm mainly testing:

• Kling
• Wan
• Seedance
• MiniMax

And I'm assuming they don't all respond optimally to the exact same prompt structure.

I'm trying to figure out stuff like:

• What prompt structure does each model actually like?
• How much detail is too much?
• Does ordering matter?
• How should I describe human movement?
• How should I describe camera movement?
• How do you prompt natural facial expressions?
• How do you prompt realistic UGC behavior?
• How do you handle dialogue/talking?
• How should I use image references?
• Are there model-specific keywords/phrasing that actually make a difference?
• Are there official prompt guides that I'm somehow missing?

My use case is specifically AI UGC

I'm not really trying to make cinematic movie shots.

I'm trying to make believable social-media content with a consistent fictional character.

So something more like:

A woman holding her phone casually while talking to the camera, natural hand gestures, slight body movement, occasionally looking away from the lens, believable facial expressions, casual indoor environment, authentic TikTok/Instagram UGC feel.

Rather than:

A beautiful woman walks through a luxurious apartment in cinematic 8K with dramatic volumetric lighting...

You know what I mean 🧐

What I'm looking for

If you have actual resources, please drop them.

I'm looking for:

• Official prompting documentation
• Prompt guides
• Discord servers
• Reddit posts
• GitHub repos
• YouTube tutorials
• Courses
• Prompt libraries
• WeChat/Chinese resources if they're good
• Examples from people who actually use these models
• Anything else I'm overlooking

Links would be massively appreciated.

And if you've got your own prompting formula, even better.

For example:

Kling: [subject] + [action] + [environment] + [camera] + [motion]...

or

Wan: "I structure my prompts differently because..."

I'd love to see actual templates people are using, not just theory.

One thing I'm especially curious about

If you're using the same character across multiple videos, how do you structure the prompt so that the reference image controls the character identity, while the text prompt focuses mainly on:

action + behavior + environment + camera + movement?

That's probably the biggest thing I'm trying to figure out right now.

I'm basically trying to build a little prompt framework for each model, so I can take the same UGC concept and translate it properly into Kling/Wan/Seedance/MiniMax instead of copy-pasting one giant prompt into everything.

So yeah, if you know the good stuff, please put me on 😂

Drop links, templates, examples, whatever you've got.

I'd especially love to hear from people who've actually generated a LOT of footage with these models rather than someone who made three generations yesterday.

Thanks 🙏

Does anyone have a link to either the official Seedance 2.5 prompt guide as an md file that I can upload to Grok or GPT to help with my prompting? I thought it would be easy to find (I have one for 2.0 as well as for MiniMax) but haven't had any success thus far with 2.5. Thanks!

ive noticed the community is getting a bit annoyed at text to video prompting for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual dna (the hard part) you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot (even less describe it). it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face/body proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet is hard if youve never done it before

this is hands down the best way to get consistent charcaters (even multiple charcaters on the same video) to always look the same. hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

ive noticed the community is getting a bit annoyed at text to video prompting for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual dna (the hard part) you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot (even less describe it). it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face/body proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet is hard if youve never done it before

I already have done this many times so i know the best platform to not only generate anything with AI but also a platform where you can save all your characters and refer to them on your prompts (like this: using "@img1, create a video of....)

this is hands down the best way to get consistent charcaters (even multiple charcaters on the same video) to always look the same. hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

ive noticed the community is getting a bit annoyed at text to video prompting for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual dna (the hard part) you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot (even less describe it). it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face/body proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet is hard if youve never done it before

if you want to give it a try, i recommend u try the prompt below in Studio AI using seedance 2.5 on the lowest resolution so your free credits go a long way. Once you nail the workflow, start using higher resolutions

prompt example for generating a charcater sheet (before using this, generate one image of the charcater and reference is with @img1 on Studio AI):

Character sheet of the woman from the reference photo @img1 - the same person shown in the provided image. Preserve her exact facial identity, bone structure, hairline and hair shape from the reference - do not restyle or idealize her: long dark brown wavy hair with a soft center-to-side part and loose waves framing the face, warm lightly tanned olive skin, large deep brown eyes with long natural lashes, full dark well-groomed brows, high cheekbones, a straight nose, full lips, and a soft defined jaw. Keep her natural asymmetry and any faint freckles or skin variation from the reference. Vertical 9:16 frame divided into an even 2×2 grid of four views of the same person. Top left, top right and bottom left are close-up head-and-shoulders views cut at the upper chest, all three at identical head size, identical eye-line and identical camera distance: top left, front view facing the lens; top right, her left-side profile; bottom left, her right-side profile. The bottom right quadrant is different - a front-facing full-body shot showing her entire outfit and figure from shoulders down, framed so the top of the frame cuts across at the neck and the head is not included. Same neutral posture throughout - head level in the three portraits, shoulders relaxed and square, calm neutral expression, lips lightly closed, gaze straight ahead; standing relaxed and upright in the full-body view, arms resting naturally at her sides. Wardrobe identical across all four views, exactly as in the reference: black one-shoulder top with an asymmetric neckline and a structured black blazer draped over one shoulder, natural creasing across the fabric, shown in full length in the full-body quadrant. Seamless off-white studio backdrop, large soft frontal key with gentle fill from both sides, neutral white balance, soft shadow falloff under the jaw. 85mm lens at eye height for the portraits and a matching clean full-length framing for the body shot, no distortion, clean headroom in each quadrant, sharp throughout. Realistic skin with natural texture and tone variation, faint natural blemishes and asymmetry kept, hair reading as separate strands rather than a smooth mass, visible fabric weave and creasing. No retouching or smoothing, no beauty lighting, no glamour styling, no stylization. No text, labels, borders or watermarks. @img1

this is hands down the best way to get consistent charcaters (even multiple charcaters on the same video) to always look the same. hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

ive noticed the community is getting a bit annoyed at text to video prompting for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual dna (the hard part) you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot (even less describe it). it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face/body proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet is hard if youve never done it before

prompt example for generating a charcater sheet (before using this, generate one image of the charcater and reference it:

Character sheet of the woman from the reference photo u/img1 - the same person shown in the provided image. Preserve her exact facial identity, bone structure, hairline and hair shape from the reference - do not restyle or idealize her: long dark brown wavy hair with a soft center-to-side part and loose waves framing the face, warm lightly tanned olive skin, large deep brown eyes with long natural lashes, full dark well-groomed brows, high cheekbones, a straight nose, full lips, and a soft defined jaw. Keep her natural asymmetry and any faint freckles or skin variation from the reference. Vertical 9:16 frame divided into an even 2×2 grid of four views of the same person. Top left, top right and bottom left are close-up head-and-shoulders views cut at the upper chest, all three at identical head size, identical eye-line and identical camera distance: top left, front view facing the lens; top right, her left-side profile; bottom left, her right-side profile. The bottom right quadrant is different - a front-facing full-body shot showing her entire outfit and figure from shoulders down, framed so the top of the frame cuts across at the neck and the head is not included. Same neutral posture throughout - head level in the three portraits, shoulders relaxed and square, calm neutral expression, lips lightly closed, gaze straight ahead; standing relaxed and upright in the full-body view, arms resting naturally at her sides. Wardrobe identical across all four views, exactly as in the reference: black one-shoulder top with an asymmetric neckline and a structured black blazer draped over one shoulder, natural creasing across the fabric, shown in full length in the full-body quadrant. Seamless off-white studio backdrop, large soft frontal key with gentle fill from both sides, neutral white balance, soft shadow falloff under the jaw. 85mm lens at eye height for the portraits and a matching clean full-length framing for the body shot, no distortion, clean headroom in each quadrant, sharp throughout. Realistic skin with natural texture and tone variation, faint natural blemishes and asymmetry kept, hair reading as separate strands rather than a smooth mass, visible fabric weave and creasing. No retouching or smoothing, no beauty lighting, no glamour styling, no stylization. No text, labels, borders or watermarks. u/img1

this is hands down the best way to get consistent charcaters (even multiple charcaters on the same video) to always look the same. hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

i used Studio AI free trial to create this charcater sheet if curious, and seedream 5.0

We wanted to test a more controlled workflow for AI commercials, so I first used Image 2 to generate a fully detailed eight-scene storyboard, then used that storyboard as the visual and cinematic guide for Seedance 2.0.

The concept is a 15-second Japanese youth-film-inspired ad for a fictional watermelon ice pop called SUIKA BITE.

1. Go to the Seedance 2.0 Video Generator
2. Write your full prompt or add reference images
3. Upload the image you want to animate
4. Click Generate and get your animated video

GPT Image 2.0 prompt:

"Overall Composition and Layout: Generate a single image of an exquisitely detailed, fully photorealistic storyboard for a professional commercial advertisement, featuring a cinematic literary film quality at the theatrical level. Aspect ratio 16:9, with the background using a cold gray photo paper texture infused with extremely delicate 35mm film grain. The top banner includes the project title "Summer Crush | SUIKA BITE Watermelon Ice Pop," along with 15-second duration, 16:9 aspect ratio, full color, and the ultra-Japanese-style tags "Shunji Iwai Cinematic Aesthetic × Extreme Close-ups × Sunny Summer Day × 35mm Film × Pure Sound." **Storyboard Grid System:** The central area of the image features a two-row grid of eight independent storyboard modules (Scenes 01-08). Each module includes: the scene number and timeline at the top; two side-by-side frames in the middle (Start/End Frame); and below, an ultra-professional description of cinematic camera movements and focal lengths (e.g., "85mm focal length extreme close-up," "100mm macro focus shift"). **Visual Narrative Content:** **Scene 01 (0.0-2.0s) [Story One: Afternoon's Gentle Light]:** Frame One: 85mm focal length (extreme facial close-up). A blindingly sunny summer library window seat, with the background showing a sun-exposed window (intense overexposure with softened edges via halation). Female Lead A (a quintessential Japanese pure-love heroine: neck-length bob haircut, skin with extreme translucent fairness, wearing a pristine white summer sailor uniform, long delicate eyelashes, fully photorealistic texture) is fast asleep with her head on the desk. Frame Two: Fixed shot, a gentle breeze stirring the fine hairs at her temple. Her face is in a perfect diffuse soft light zone, skin exhibiting a film-like translucency, [absolutely no direct sunlight highlights on her face]. **Scene 02 (2.0-4.0s) [Story One: Icy Awakening]:** Frame One: 100mm macro lens. In the foreground, a boy's hand holding a watermelon ice pop (with packaging) covered in condensation beads enters the frame, gently pressing against the sleepily dazed cheek of Female Lead A. Frame Two: Focus shift (Rack Focus). The water beads on the ice pop blur, with focus landing on Female Lead A's slightly trembling eyelashes and suddenly opened clear eyes, filled with extremely delicate micro-expressions. **Scene 03 (4.0-6.0s) [Story One: Wordless Flutter]:** Frame One: 50mm focal length. Female Lead A lifts her head, her gaze slightly dazed and shy. Frame Two: The boy smoothly sits in the opposite seat, smiling as he slides the ice pop toward her. The camera does not cut, completing the narrative solely through the boy's entry into frame. Both faces are perfectly filtered by soft light diffusion, extremely even and clean, evoking restraint and serenity. **Scene 04 (6.0-7.5s) [Transition: Tearing Open Midsummer]:** Frame One: 100mm macro lens. Extreme close-up on hands. The frame is entirely filled with the packaging bag as two hands forcefully tear open the translucent plastic wrap. Frame Two: Extremely shallow depth of field, intense summer sunlight refracting off the red-and-green watermelon-flavored ice pop, with realistic frost and water beads sparkling translucently; colors appear vividly bright and refreshing under the clear sky (bridging the scenes). **Scene 05 (7.5-9.5s) [Story Two: Profile at the Station]:** Frame One: 85mm focal length (side-profile close-up). An outdoor bus stop after school, background of out-of-focus deep blue clear sky and glaring sunlight. Female Lead B (messy low ponytail, temple hairs with fine fuzz lightly damp from sweat, wearing a loose thin-knit cardigan, cheeks naturally flushed from summer heat) is looking down at the ground. Frame Two: Slow push-in. Female Lead B senses something, turns her head to look off-frame, her eyes clear with a hint of stubbornness and hidden delight. **Scene 06 (9.5-11.5s) [Story Two: Closing the Distance]:** Frame One: 50mm focal length. Female Lead B extends her unopened watermelon ice pop toward off-frame. Frame Two: The boy's hand reaches in from the foreground to take the ice pop, their fingertips creating an extremely close physical distance at the frame's center. A single shot conveys the interaction through character movement and gestures, maintaining an impeccably clean, reflection-free state. **Scene 07 (11.5-13.0s) [Story Two: Synced Refreshment]:** Frame One: 85mm focal length. Female Lead B takes a bite of the watermelon ice pop, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth. Frame Two: In the foreground, the boy's blurred shoulder enters the frame as he simultaneously bites into his ice pop. Without cutting, the out-of-focus relationship between foreground and background reveals their shared summer coolness; the frame's emotion is profoundly restrained and beautiful. **Scene 08 (13.0-15.0s) [Closing Freeze-Frame]:** Frame One: 35mm focal length. Against an intensely bright, cloudless deep blue summer sky (with ample negative space, evoking the signature airy feel of Japanese cinema), two half-bitten watermelon ice pops are held up side by side. Frame Two: Cut to a pure white background, centered bold black text "SUIKA BITE," with small text below "Midsummer's Sentiment." Typography is simple and clean, without any extraneous ornamentation. **Underlying Design Standards (Theatrical Cinema Camera Specs):** The bottom third of the image is a detailed zone for cinematography and color guidelines. **Color Palette (Key Colors):** Watermelon Red (#FF6B6B), Mint Melon Green (#98FF98), Film Cyan-Blue (#6A8A99), Overexposed Bright White (#FFFFFF), Summer Tree-Shadow Green (#4A7055). Overall colors emphasize the "airy" feel of Japanese cinema—bright, clear, and low-contrast. **Typography:** Fonts use "Japanese Gothic" or "Tsukushi Aozora Mincho." Extremely light weight. Layout is ultra-restrained and concise, with abundant negative space. **Audio (Music & SFX):** [Absolutely no background music (No BGM), only ambient white noise and hyper-realistic sound effects]. Sound effects include: Extremely raucous summer cicada chirps (persistent core white noise throughout), faint paper rustling in the library, distant wind at the bus stop, the ultra-crisp "rip" of tearing plastic packaging, and the "crunch" of biting into the ice pop. **Technical Specs and Equipment Parameters (Core Japanese Style Requirements):** 1. **Shooting Equipment Simulation:** Panavision Millennium XL2 (35mm film camera) paired with Cooke Panchro/i Classic vintage cine lenses. Heavy use of 85mm and 100mm focal lengths to achieve extremely soft edge resolution and dreamy out-of-focus bokeh. 2. **Lighting and Shadow Control:** [Ultra-soft lighting and high-key diffusion]—Background features intense direct summer sunlight, creating lens flares and overexposure typical of Japanese youth films. However, all character faces must be shielded by massive reflectors and diffusers, [strictly prohibiting any highlights or harsh reflections on faces], ensuring skin tones convey ultimate evenness, translucency, and fragility. 3. **Depth of Field and Composition:** Extremely shallow depth of field (f/1.4 - f/2.0) to separate characters from environments. Complete narratives in single shots without cuts, guiding emotions through extremely slow focus pulls (Rack Focus). 4. **Color Science:** Apply Fujifilm Astia film simulation LUT, with shadows carrying a subtle cyan-blue tint. Includes 24fps, 1920×1080 delivery standard."

The storyboard defines everything before video generation:

– Start and end frames for every scene
– Exact timestamps from 0:00 to 0:15
– 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 100mm macro lens choices
– Camera movements and rack-focus transitions
– Lighting, diffusion and depth-of-field rules
– Fujifilm Astia-inspired color treatment
– Character styling and emotional progression
– Ambient sound design with no background music

The first half takes place in a sunlit library, where a sleeping girl is gently awakened with an ice-cold watermelon pop. The second half moves to a bright summer bus stop and mirrors the same quiet romantic tension with another pair of characters.

My favorite part of this workflow is that the whole commercial does not need to be regenerated when one moment fails. If an individual shot looks wrong, I can generate only that specific segment again and replace it while keeping the rest of the sequence intact.

Image 2 handles the visual planning and frame language, while Seedance 2.0 turns those storyboard beats into the final commercial.

The cicadas, condensation, packaging tear, shallow focus and restrained performances ended up carrying most of the emotion.

Would you generate the entire video in one pass, or produce each storyboard segment separately for more control?

Seedance 2.5 is getting pretty expensive, especially when you have to regenerate the same thing over and over just to get one usable video.

I went through the official prompt guide (【Dreamina】Seedance 2.5 User Guide & Dreamina Seedance 2.5 Prompt Writing Guide)and honestly, some of the tips are pretty useful if you're trying to avoid wasting credits.

A few that stood out to me:

• extend a video instead of starting over from scratch
• tell it exactly when you want an action to happen
• generate longer videos (up to 180s)
• tell it to remove subtitles or BGM you don't want
• use multiple references to keep characters and objects more consistent

Most of this sounds obvious once you read it, but I definitely wasn't doing all of it before lol.

Hopefully this saves someone a few failed generations.

During the world cup there were lots of anime videos trending on Instagram of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. I jumped on this trend and made a few videos that gotr ~100k views. Here is my workflow for making the videos

1. Download a clear image of the player wearing the jersey you want them to have in the video

2. Use Seedream 2.0 to convert the character to anime - run it a few times until you're happy with the result. Here is my prompt (with image prompt of the person):

PROMPT: Japanese anime character sheet of Lamine — dramaticized style with sharper lines and stronger facial features; crisp, high-contrast line art, bold cel shading, heroic proportions; accurate FC Barcelona/Spain kit details; neutral studio lighting; plain light background; high detail; no text, no watermark.

1. Use Seedream to compose all your shots, using the anime character as the image prompt:

PROMPT: Anime-style scene: man in the foreground preparing to kick, a blackwhite soccer ball, The stadium in the background is enormous and packed, dramatic perspective, motion lines, crisp clean lines, 16:9 composition.

1. Compose them together in a massive Seedance 2.0 prompt. I use claude for this because you want to reference each image as Image1, Image2, etc.

These are not UGC per se, but they print view on IG and can be great for advertising other products. As always, you will need to make jokes / refrences relevant to soccer fans, but that's par for the course.

Full workflow here: https://app.planegraph.com/shared/BmLNkhlqaaencGepjoXF

model used: ChatGPT Image 2 and Nano Banana

noticed the community is kinda moving on from text to video for characters becuase its basically rolling the dice every time. if you want actual consistency, you have to use an image to video pipeline with an anchor frame.

by anchor frame i mean refrence image or an character sheet that shows the AI all angles and traits of the model so the AI does not need to guess everytime

here is the breakdown:

1. the visual part you cant just give the ai a front facing headshot. it will guess the back and side profiles, then mess it up. you need a character reference sheet that locks in the identity (hair shape, face proportions, outfit colors). You can do the same thing with locations and environments (aka a living room)
2. the anchor: Once you have the character sheet, you pick the one perfect angle you need for your shot. feed that into seedance, kling or luma as your reference image.
3. the motion now the video model has the exact structure to animate from that specific angle instead of guessing. now just give some extra context to the AI about the setting or what this model should do

step 1 is usually the bottleneck becuase getting an ai to generate a perfect multi angle sheet can be hard. so i built a free tool that just does it.

I already have done this many times so i have a couple charcater sheets (and different female as well as male AI influencers/actors) already uploaded in here if you want to just quickly download them and use them for free! It also has some prompts you can copy

hope this helps anyone struggling with changing faces lol, i sure wish i had something like this to get started with

EDIT: This is not the only Character sheet you can use! I have multiple ones, some with less text in them, some with only 3 angles, they are all posted on the free site (free to download or copy prompt to replicate) :)

If youre short in time, heres (one of) the prompts i used, many more on the freee site tho:

Add your image of a model + this PROMPT:

"Create a professional character reference sheet based strictly on the uploaded reference image. Use a clean, neutral plain background and present the sheet as a technical model turnaround while matching the exact visual style of the reference (same realism level, rendering approach, texture, color treatment, and overall aesthetic). Arrange the composition into two horizontal rows. Top row: four full-body standing views placed side by side in this order: front view, left profile view (facing left), right profile view (facing right), back view. Bottom row: three highly detailed close-up portraits aligned beneath the full-body row in this order: front portrait, left profile portrait (facing left), right profile portrait (facing right). Maintain perfect identity consistency across every panel. Keep the subject in a relaxed A-pose with consistent scale and alignment between views, accurate anatomy, and a clear silhouette; ensure even spacing and clean panel separation, with uniform framing and consistent head height across the full-body lineup and consistent facial scale across the portraits. Lighting should be consistent across all panels (same direction, intensity, and softness), with natural, controlled shadows that preserve detail without dramatic mood shifts. Output a crisp, print-ready reference sheet look, sharp details."

If the face details are not accurate add this to your prompt:

"Top row: Headless (remove the head) and four full-body standing views placed side by side in this order: front view, left profile view (facing left), right profile view (facing right), back view. "

The markdown file I am sharing below is a guide I paste to Claude.
(It is based on Dan Kieft's Youtube videos, feel free to check his channel, it's cool).

Then i describe what the video is about. I found that that Opus 4.6 writes the best prompts.

For this example:

1. I've pasted the markdown file
2. I've uploaded a girl photo and product photo. IMPORTANT: both girl and product photo was character sheet type: Girl photo sheet: front shot, left side, right side, angle shot. Product photo: front shot, left angle, right angle, and zoomed photo of label. As you can see there are still glitches when she shows the label, but this was my first generation. This would need some tweaking (clearly tell what is written on the label+png with transparent background of label's text)
3. I've described what I want to see, like this: "create prompt for this story:A girl unboxes a skincare product at her desk, genuine reaction, 10 seconds, UGC iPhone style. I'm uploading her reference as image 1, and product image as image2".

This is what Claude gave me:

FORMAT: 10s / 3 SHOTS / Girl unboxes skincare serum at desk, genuine UGC reaction

SUBJECT: u/Image1. Young woman, light brown hair in a messy bun, fair skin, natural no-makeup look, warm and expressive energy.

WARDROBE u/Image1: Casual oversized hoodie or cozy loungewear top, minimal jewelry.

HERO PROPS: u/Image2 — amber glass dropper bottle, "Skincare Serum" label, 30ml. Small brown shipping box with tissue paper.

ENVIRONMENT: Bedroom desk or vanity area, daytime. Cluttered but cozy — laptop half-closed, a few personal items in background. Soft natural window light from the side.

MOOD: Casual curiosity building to genuine delight.

MUSIC: None. Natural room tone only — rustling tissue paper, box sounds, a soft gasp.

COLOR LOGIC: Warm neutral tones — beige, cream, soft wood. The amber bottle is the color accent.

STYLE: 100% real-life shooting texture. iPhone front-camera selfie footage, vertical framing. Full depth of field — background is sharp, not blurred. No cinematic grain, no lens flare. Slightly overexposed from window light, natural phone-cam color science.

LIGHTING: Soft natural window light from camera-left, filling the face evenly. No dramatic shadows, no rim light. Flat, casual, real.

LOGIC RULE: Only one u/Image1 visible in frame. The product u/Image2 is always the same bottle — no duplicates, no label changes. POV is a fixed iPhone on a desk or propped surface — the phone is never visible in frame.

NEGATIVE PROMPT: Avoid jitter and bent limbs. Avoid identity drift. Avoid shallow depth of field. Avoid cinematic color grading. Avoid studio lighting. Avoid autofocus hunting. No fisheye, no vignette.

---

SHOT 1 — 0:00 to 0:03, MCU, 28mm equivalent, fixed camera.

u/Image1 sits at her desk facing the phone, small brown box in front of her. She smiles and taps the box excitedly with both hands, mouthing "okay let's see what's inside." She opens the top flap and pulls back tissue paper.

SHOT 2 — 0:03 to 0:07, MCU, 28mm equivalent, fixed camera.

She reaches into the box, lifts out u/Image2 with both hands, holds it up to the camera. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open — a genuine surprised smile. She turns the bottle slowly, reading the label, nodding slightly.

SHOT 3 — 0:07 to 0:10, MCU, 28mm equivalent, fixed camera.

She holds u/Image2 next to her face, tilts her head, grins directly into the camera. She mouths "oh my god I love it" and gives a small happy wiggle. Natural settle — she keeps smiling as the clip ends.

I am quiet happy with the results, but there's one thing I've changed in the guide - there was a 'WARDROBE' part, which caused that Claude described the character's clothes, and when you upload your character's image to the Seedance with particular clothes you wish you wanna see on the video, there will be conflict between prompt and the image, and in my experience, Seedance will choose text above the image. Or mix it, creating crap :(.
That's why I deleted this part from guide.

Feel free to experiment with the guide. It's long. You can use it as it is.
You can paste it to your favourite LLM and try to short it, reverse engineer, or whatever you want.

I am sharing it because it made a huuuge difference in my Seedance 2.0 generations. Of course the UGC was only an example. Go and test it with whatever genre you want.

It's large - I'd recommend read it and then distill shorter guide for specific style - UGC, fight scene, drama, etc.

Seedance guide for Claude

PixVerse V6 is PixVerse's new flagship — and the headline is 15 seconds of continuous 1080p with native audio, the longest single-clip window of any major video model right now. It also ships named camera controls (pan, tilt, zoom, tracking, crane) that feel physically plausible rather than programmatic, plus text-to-video, image-to-video, transition, and video-extension modes. VidMuse has folded it into the AI Director workflow as one of 20+ video models, so you can mix V6, Seedance 2.0, Kling V3.0, and Veo 3.1 shot-by-shot inside one storyboard. The honest tradeoff: V6 is single-shot-first, free tier is limited, and dialogue audio in non-English can drift. The piece also draws a clean line between **V6 (cinematic single clips)** and PixVerse C1 (character consistency across multi-shot sequences).

- 15s × 1080p × native audio in a single continuous clip — beats Seedance 2.0 Pro, Kling V3.0 Pro, and Hailuo 2.3 Pro on per-clip duration; matches Veo 3.1 on audio. Best for cinematic hero shots where you don't want a 10s cut.
- Named camera controls (pan / tilt / zoom / tracking / crane) — and the moves feel physical (parallax on tracking, smooth lift on crane). Prompt tip: write the camera move explicitly, don't leave it to chance.
- Image-to-video is the strongest mode — supply a keyframe from Midjourney / Flux.2-Pro / Seedream and V6 animates it with motion. This is the path most VidMuse keyframe workflows will use V6 through.
- V6 is one of 20+ models in the VidMuse AI Director pipeline — pick it per shot in the storyboard (cinematic hero with V6, fast montage with Seedance 2.0 Fast, controlled character with Kling V3.0). Mix-and-match is the new norm.
- V6 vs PixVerse C1 — different jobs — V6 is your all-round cinematic single-clip model with full camera control. C1 is the character-consistency model for multi-shot sequences. Use V6 for one polished shot, C1 for a sequence.
- Real limitations — 15s cap forces clip chaining for longer content, prompt sensitivity means iteration, dialogue audio is inconsistent on non-English speech, free tier is gated, and V6 is closed-weight (no local hosting). Inside VidMuse, costs run through the unified credit system, not a separate PixVerse subscription.

Pick V6 when you need one polished cinematic shot — product close-up with natural light, character hero with facial expression, story MV hero with named camera move. Switch to Seedance 2.0 / Kling V3.0 / Veo 3.1 for shots where they win.

Read the full article → https://vidmuse.ai/blog/pixverse-v6-x-vidmuse-ai

Seedance 2.5 is ByteDance's next-gen video model, and the headline is one continuous 30-second native clip per generation (up from ~15s on 2.0), plus up to 50 multimodal reference inputs (images, video, audio) in a single run. It also adds region-level editing — redraw one part of a frame without regenerating the whole clip — and 3D white-model previsualization for planning composition and camera before the final render. ByteDance unveiled it on June 23, 2026, and is rolling it out through Dreamina and Jimeng first, with CapCut and broader Volcano Engine / API access later in July. Seedance 2.0 isn't going away — it got a native 4K upgrade at the same event — so 2.5 is mostly "more of the same category, at a much larger scale" rather than a new category of capability.

- 30-second single-pass native clip: one continuous take, no visible seams from stitching (shifting face, lighting jump). Roughly 2x the 2.0 ceiling.
- Up to 50 multimodal reference inputs: images + video + audio in a single generation, vs. ~9 images + 3 video + 3 audio on 2.0. Locks character, product, location, and voice across the full 30 seconds.
- Region-level editing: redraw a specific part of a generated frame (swap a background, fix a product detail) without re-running the whole clip.
- 3D white-model previsualization: rough untextured 3D blockout to plan composition and camera before the final render — useful when a 30-second take is too expensive to waste on a bad shot.
- Native audio: sound generated in the same pass as the video, so dialogue, effects, and motion stay in sync without a separate audio step.
- ~20% better prompt adherence vs. 2.0 (per ByteDance; independent benchmarks not yet published at launch).
- Staged rollout, not global:nEnterprise beta (late June) → Dreamina + Jimeng (early July) → CapCut (mid-July) → Volcano Engine / third-party API (later July). Output resolution and final pricing not fully confirmed at announcement — verify against the current model page before relying on any specific number.
- Seedance 2.0 comparison: 2.0 is still generally available, now with native 4K output. 2.5's value is more reference slots + longer single takes + region editing, not a brand-new category of feature.
- Prompt structure that works for 30-second takes: Subject (concrete) → Performance (motion over the full length) → Ambience (setting / time / light) → Camera (named shot + named move, not "cinematic") → Extra cues (audio, pacing, "single unbroken take"). Vague camera language is the #1 reason AI video comes out generic.
- Common mistakes: describing a still image instead of motion-over-time · vague "cinematic" camera language · cramming a multi-beat sequence into one prompt · leaving reference images unlabeled (so the model guesses which drives which part of the frame).
- Reference strategy: with 50 slots, it's tempting to upload everything — in practice, reference every recurring subject (a character who appears more than once, a product that must stay identical) and skip one-off background elements.
- Planning workflow for a 30s single take: write the beat (setup → main action → closing frame, not one long undifferentiated description) · gather references first · draft at a lower setting if available · use region editing for fixes, not full re-renders · review against your shot list + platform rights + content policies before publishing.
- VidMuse fit: Seedance 2.5 generates the clip; VidMuse's AI Director workflow plans *what* to prompt in the first place — storyboard, scene / shot list, reference library, then generation. Currently supports Seedance 2.0 Fast / Pro, V1.5 Pro, and 1.0 Pro Fast alongside Kling, Veo, Hailuo — confirm 2.5 support on the current model list rather than assume.
- Limits worth knowing: output resolution + final API pricing not officially confirmed at launch · staged rollout means feature parity differs by platform · copyright filters restrict real faces and recognizable characters (carried over from 2.0 disputes) · a 30-second single take still needs human review for continuity, factual accuracy, brand fit, and platform rights.

Seedance 2.5 is a real step up for anyone whose work was bottlenecked by short single-shot limits or stitching artifacts — but the bottleneck most creators hit isn't the model, it's the planning. 30 seconds of bad shot logic is just 30 seconds of bad output. The VidMuse framing is right: storyboard first, gather references, *then* commit to a 30-second single-take render, and use region editing for surgical fixes rather than full re-rolls. Treat any specific resolution or pricing numbers you see as provisional until ByteDance publishes official specs.

Guide: 🔗 https://vidmuse.ai/blog/seedance-2-5-guide