AI-Driven Development — Motion-Plate Prompt Guide

Use generated video as a quiet moving plate beneath the existing edit. Dialogue, captions, reports, graphs, UI and music remain deterministic layers in HTML and the final compositor. The model supplies physical life, not the storytelling.

The shot contract

Write prompts in this order:

1. Source contract — say this is the exact source frame and name everything whose identity, wardrobe, geometry or placement must remain unchanged.
2. Shot purpose — one sentence describing what the audience should feel or notice.
3. Subject motion — allow one small, physically plausible action.
4. Camera motion — choose one restrained move, or explicitly lock the camera.
5. Environment motion — add only low-amplitude movement such as reflections, rain, display light or breathing.
6. Look — name lighting, contrast, lens character and mood.
7. Exclusions — prohibit speech, lip movement, identity drift, new objects, text generation, shake, rapid moves, cuts and transitions.
8. Exit frame — request a one-second steady hold for an editable cut.

Default series prompt

Animate this exact source frame as a restrained premium technology-thriller insert. Preserve the subject's identity, age, facial structure, hair, wardrobe, environment, framing and colour palette. The subject performs one subtle natural action: [ACTION]. The camera makes one extremely slow stable [CAMERA MOVE]. Only faint monitor reflections and natural breathing move in the environment. Deep blacks, controlled practical lighting, subtle film texture, realistic physics. Silent shot: no speaking and no lip movement. No cuts, camera shake, fast zoom, face morphing, wardrobe change, new objects, subtitles, logos or generated text. End on a steady one-second hold.

Evidence and document plates

AI video models are not trusted to reproduce legible copy. Use the generated clip for the desk, page, hand, light and camera movement; composite the real report and highlighted words over it afterward.

Animate this exact source frame as a forensic evidence insert. Preserve the A4 page position, rectangular geometry, margins and surrounding dark bank environment. Do not invent or rewrite text. The page remains perfectly flat and still. An extremely slow, stable camera push-in creates subtle parallax while a faint monitor reflection passes across the desk. No hands enter frame. No cuts, shake, rotation, page warping, new graphics, subtitles or logos. End on a steady one-second hold with clean compositing space over the page.

Sam continuity plate

Animate this exact source frame as a quiet premium streaming-drama shot. Preserve Sam's identity, age, facial proportions, long dark hair, black blazer, charcoal top, desk, laptop, papers and glass-walled bank environment. Sam breathes naturally, makes one small eye movement towards the report and one subtle hand adjustment. The camera performs an extremely slow stable push-in. Faint monitor reflections move in the background; everything else remains still. Deep blacks, restrained practical lighting, natural skin texture, subtle film grain. Silent: no speaking or lip movement. No cuts, shake, face morphing, wardrobe change, additional people, text, logos or dramatic gestures. End on a steady one-second hold.

Seedance input choice

• Use image when the still must be the exact first frame and composition.
• Use reference_images when identity, wardrobe or visual style matter more than reproducing the starting composition. Name them as [Image1], [Image2], etc.
• Do not combine first/last-frame images with reference images in Seedance 2.0.
• Keep generated audio disabled for this series. Existing narration, score and effects provide continuity and avoid fighting the edit.
• Prototype at five seconds and 720p. Increase duration or resolution only after the motion language and continuity pass review.

Reference-image example:

Sam from [Image1], with exactly the same face, long dark hair, black blazer and charcoal top, sits in the secure bank investigation room shown in [Image2]. Quiet late-night concentration. She glances once from the report to the monitor. Locked medium camera with only a nearly imperceptible push-in. Preserve the realistic visual style, practical lighting and deep black palette of [Image2]. Silent, no speech, no lip movement, no new people, no cuts, no identity or wardrobe drift. End on a steady one-second hold.

Time-coded shots

Use one generated shot wherever possible. If a longer Seedance shot genuinely needs beats, state the camera, subject action and light state for every interval:

[0–2s] Locked medium shot; Sam studies the report, breathing naturally.
[2–4s] Extremely slow push-in; her eyes move once towards the monitor.
[4–5s] All motion settles into a steady hold for the cut.

Do not ask the model to create an edit that the compositor can perform exactly. Highlights, extracted words, charts, interface messages and cuts remain code-native.

Dialogue coverage

For precise dialogue, generate coverage as separate silent plates and cut them in the compositor:

1. establish both speakers with a two-shot;
2. cut to the current speaker just before their line begins;
3. hold their face through the sentence, allowing only restrained eye, breath and head movement;
4. cut to the listener for the reaction or pause;
5. return to a wider shot when the conversation changes direction.

This produces an exact speaker A → speaker B edit and lets the existing voice track determine timing. Do not generate new dialogue audio. Lip movement is optional: for most current scenes, restrained non-speaking reaction coverage is more reliable and still feels cinematic under voiceover.

Seedance 2.0 accepts time-coded multi-shot prompts up to 15 seconds, and Kling 3.0 can accept up to six shot definitions. Use those features for exploratory montages or action contained inside one generation. Do not depend on them for a critical line-by-line edit when separate plates can be cut precisely and revised cheaply.

Review test

A clip passes only if it answers yes to all four questions:

• Does it feel cinematic at full-screen size?
• Does the source identity and set remain recognisably unchanged?
• Is the motion stable enough to sit under narration without distraction?
• Is it actually useful in the episode after overlays are restored?

The comparison page records each answer from 1–5 and saves the review locally.