Models / Seedance / Video to video

Seedance video to video prompting guide

How to prompt Seedance in video-to-video mode. Every point links its source; community tips are marked. Your agent gets the same guide through the Atlas MCP (get_guide).

Prompt structure

video binding→edit instruction→what to keep→constraints

• Formula: precise subject + action details + scene/environment + lighting & colour tone + camera movement + visual style + image quality + constraints. source ↗
• Open with a one-paragraph summary (duration, aspect, one continuous shot, what the first frame looks like and where the last frame lands), then lock subject/world with numbers (8 metres, 85-200mm, golden-hour side sun), then timestamped blocks. community source ↗
• Time-segmented prompts for 10 s+: '0–3s: … 3–6s: … 6–10s: … 10–15s: …'. community source ↗

What the text should describe

• Edit/extend tasks: write 'Video N' with the instruction; reference a video's camera movement/action/style as 'Reference ... in Video N'. source ↗
• Extension: 'Extend @Video1 by 15 seconds.' then timed segments (1–5s, 6–10s…); set generation duration equal to the extension length. Backward: 'Extend backward 10s.' community source ↗
• Edit: describe only the change to @Video1's plot/action and what stays; e.g. 'Subvert @Video1's plot — the man's expression shifts from tenderness to icy cruelty…' community source ↗

Camera vocabulary

• Standard terms work (medium shot, close-up, slow push-in, smooth lateral tracking, fixed shot). Use ONE camera movement per shot; combining push, pull, pan and move raises instability. source ↗

Responds well to

• Name body parts with range, speed and force (slowly raise a hand, quickly turn the head); prefer slow, continuous movement; show emotion through physical detail, not 'very sad'. source ↗

Duration and limits

• fal Seedance 2.0: duration 4–15 s or 'auto'; 480p/720p/1080p/4k; aspect auto, 21:9, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4, 9:16; generate_audio default true. source ↗

Multi-shot

• Complex clips: timeline storyboard 'Shot 1 / Shot 2 / Shot 3', each with who + where + doing what + camera + audio; don't force per-shot durations. source ↗

Avoid and failure modes

• Constraint phrases: 'keep it subtitle-free', 'avoid generating any text or subtitles', 'do not generate a logo', 'do not generate a watermark'. Subtitles cannot be suppressed 100%. source ↗
• Keep dialogue in one language; avoid mixing Chinese and English except proper nouns. source ↗
• Prefer positive mechanisms over long negative lists ('enters through the rear doorway' not 'do not teleport'); keep a few targeted exclusions for observed failures and place each rule next to the event it governs. community source ↗
• Don't ask for 'static camera' and 'orbit' in the same segment; don't overload 4–5 s with many scenes. community source ↗

Negative prompt

Not supported; describe what you want instead. source ↗

Real prompts, credited

Prompt (seedance 2.5 video to video):

ONE FINISHED TAKE, RE-PHOTOGRAPHED

@video1 is one finished take: a single locked-off wide, 19.53 s, with its original audio, a young man at an outdoor cafe table talking to one camera. Do not restage, re-perform, re-time or reinterpret it. Re-photograph the identical event from thirteen new camera positions, as if thirteen extra cameras had been rolling around him in the same moment. Every output frame shows the same body at the same instant of @video1 at the same speed. Output runs the full 19.53 s. Keep the audio of @video1 unchanged and in sync.

DO NOT CHANGE
Performance, body, hands and what they hold, head angle, eyeline, lip movement, blink timing, movement speed, action start and end times, lighting, exposure, white balance, colour grade, wardrobe, props, set. The only variable is camera position and lens.

SPEECH WINDOWS (measured from the

Extend @Video1 by 15 seconds. 1–5s: Light and shadow slowly slide across wooden table and cup through venetian blinds… 6–10s: A coffee bean gently drifts down… 11–15s: English text gradually appears…

Next

Sources

• docs.byteplus.com/en/docs/modelark/seedance-2-0-prompt-guide
• docs.dev.runwayml.com/api/
• fal.ai/models/bytedance/seedance-2.0/image-to-video/api
• github.com/dexhunter/seedance2-skill/blob/main/SKILL.md
• github.com/mattvideoproductions/MVP-Prompts/blob/main/seedance25_prompting_guide.txt