osidemedia / higgsfield-seedance-2-5

Higgsfield Seedance 2.5 Director

Seedance 2.5 is a different dialect from Seedance 2.0, not a version bump you can
prompt through by habit. 2.0 is a reference-driven shot generator with a 4K lane and a
genre hint. 2.5 is an omni-reference production model: up to 50 reference
materials, 30-second native runtime, and three non-generation modes — it can edit a video
you already have, and extend one forward or backward from its boundary frame.

The prompt grammar changes with it. Reference roles are declared in prose (`@Image 1
defines …`), audio and text get bracket syntax, long videos are staged with explicit end
states, and first/last frames live inside omni_reference — either as the platform's
start_image / end_image roles or announced inside the prompt — never as a separate
mode.

Model split — read this before writing anything. 2.5 tops out at 1080p (no 4K
lane) and has no genre hint. Since the 2026-09-26 snapshot it does expose
start_image / end_image roles — but only in omni_reference mode. If the job needs
4K or a genre hint, it is a Seedance 2.0 job — ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md.
See § Choosing 2.0 vs 2.5.

QUICK FACTS

Generated-checked block (scripts/build_index.py verifies anchors). Routing aids — read the linked sections for the rules themselves.

• Four modes, picked before writing: t2v · omni_reference · video_edit · video_extension; the mode changes what the prompt is →
• Higgsfield surface: 480p/720p/1080p (no 4K), duration 4–30s, start_image/end_image only in omni_reference, t2v takes zero references, no genre hint, extension_mode required for (and only for) video_extension →
• video_edit ignores duration and aspect_ratio and bills by the source video's length; video_extension inherits the source's aspect ratio →
• Every reference material gets an explicit role and an exclusion — "what to use" plus "what not to use"; never let the model infer the mapping →
• Each material also declares a fidelity grade — full-preserve / partial-preserve / attribute-transfer (name the target) / loose-guide; beat lines name characters (name + one visible marker), never handles →
• Material budget: 30 images / 10 videos ≤30s total / 10 audio ≤30s total, 50 materials max (Dreamina's figures — the platform enforces only the 30-image and 50-material caps) — a platform start_image/end_image counts against both; stability ranges are 1–8 subjects (images), 1–5 subjects at 5–10s (video/audio) →
• Multi-reference is a 5-step workflow — map → group → profile → select-by-scene, one line per subject; @Images 1 through 4 define four characters is the canonical failure →
• Long videos are staged, not paragraphed: one primary change per stage + an explicit end state; timestamps allocate a budget, they are not frame-accurate edit points →
• Staging fixes too many EVENTS; two incompatible JOBS in one generation (physics + performance) is a separate cut — split into two prompts and stitch →
• Bracket syntax: () music · <> SFX · {} dialogue · 【】 subtitles; non-Chinese dialogue needs a language line before the line; a music suppression never goes inside () — (no music) there reads as a music cue (house inference, the default) →
• First/last frames are omni_reference work: the platform start_image/end_image roles or an in-prompt declaration (@Image 1 is the first frame) — which holds better is unmeasured; keyframes 3+ are always in the prompt; never merge two anchors into one sentence →
• Editing needs a sole editing master + edit scope + Timeline Inheritance; extension needs the boundary frame aligned before any new content: MODE-PLAYBOOKS.md
• Storyboard grids, coarse-vs-fine blockouts, one-click video, seamless transitions: MODE-PLAYBOOKS.md
• AI-VFX production pipeline — model-per-asset-class routing, the size-ref frame, location batching, the omni_reference v2v lane (source ≥4s, duration = source), the four-batch rule, the slop catalog: VFX-PIPELINE.md
• Emotion needs 2–4 observable cues, not adjectives; niche camera terms get translated into a visible result →
• The real-person formula is 7 slots — and slot 1 is role, never age: the age-blind engine rule outranks the source guide's [Age/Race] label →
• Hard limits that must not be over-promised (frame accuracy, locked parameters, pixel-identical transitions) →
• Dreamina-product features that are not on the Higgsfield surface — Ultra Long Video 180s, mark-based editing, Clay Renderer →

Provenance

Two primary sources, labelled throughout, plus the secondary sources below. What each
label means — and the evidence it requires — is the repo-wide legend in
../shared/provenance.md.

Where the two disagree about what is settable, the platform snapshot wins — it is what
the API actually accepts.

The Mode Router

Pick the mode first. The same sentence means different things in different modes, and two
of the four modes are not generation at all.

Two rules that fall out of this:

1. First/last frames, keyframes, storyboard grids, and blockouts are all omni_reference.
   2.5 has no separate first/last-frame mode on this platform. The first and last frame
   can go in two ways: the platform start_image / end_image roles (allowed only in
   omni_reference — the catalog rejects them in t2v, video_edit and
   video_extension), or ordinary references whose role sentence says they are the first
   and last frame. Which of the two holds the boundary better is unmeasured; keyframes
   3+ exist only in the prompt form. `[OFFICIAL — Dreamina: "no need to switch to a separate
   first/last-frame mode"]·[OFFICIAL — platform, snapshot 2026-09-26]`

2. Editing is not regeneration. If the user wants the shot rebuilt, that is
   omni_reference with the old clip as a motion reference — not video_edit. video_edit
   preserves the master's timeline and changes one scoped thing inside it.

Video-to-video is not automatically video_edit. The field VFX workflow — swap the
person in this plate, keep every other pixel — runs in **omni_reference with the source
attached as a video reference**, because that is the lane where duration is settable and
must be matched to the source (and where the source therefore has to be ≥ 4 s, the
duration floor). video_edit is the lane for a scoped change inside a master whose
timeline must survive untouched. Full routing table + the performance-inheritance clause:
VFX-PIPELINE.md § Stage 4. [FIELD — AI-vs-VFX, 2026-08-08]

The Higgsfield Parameter Surface

[OFFICIAL — platform, snapshot 2026-09-26] · verify against ../../specs/model-specs.json
before quoting (HARD RULE 3).

The catalog also carries reference-count rules that the table cannot show
[OFFICIAL — platform, CLI rules 2026-09-26]:

• t2v takes zero references — no image/video/audio references and no start/end frame.
• omni_reference needs at least one reference (a start or end frame counts).
• start_image / end_image are accepted only in omni_reference.
• image references + start frame + end frame ≤ 30; all references + start + end ≤ 50.

Three consequences worth stating to the user before they spend credits:

• video_edit bills by the source video's duration, and neither duration nor
  aspect_ratio is settable — a 20-second master costs a 20-second render no matter how
  small the edit.

• video_extension inherits the source's aspect ratio; only the extension's
  duration is yours to set.

• No genre parameter. 2.0's genre hint does not exist here — genre lives in the
  prompt's visual-style clause instead.

Preflight the same way as 2.0:

python3 scripts/seedance_lint.py --preflight --model seedance_2_5 "<prompt>"

The linter reads the enums out of ../../specs/model-specs.json, so an out-of-range duration, a
4K request, or a video_extension missing its extension_mode is caught before the
render.

The Core Prompt Formula

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] Combine only the parts the shot needs; omit the rest rather than
padding empty slots.

<Subject> performs <primary action or event> in <scene and environment>.
The visuals feature <visual style>.
Use <shot size, camera angle, camera movement, or cuts>.
Audio includes <dialogue, ambience, sound effects, or music>.

• Subject + action is load-bearing — make it concrete. "The man runs" → "the man
  accelerates into a sprint while his jacket reacts to the airflow."

• Scene and environment — location, time, weather, spatial relationships, background state.

• Visual style — lighting, color, materials, texture, mood. Only descriptors that add
  information; stacked buzzwords ("cinematic, 8K, masterpiece") sample nothing in particular.
  The named-substitute discipline in ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md § Prompt-Craft Laws
  applies unchanged.

• Camera — shot size, angle, movement, focus subject, transitions. Motion matches the
  action; it is not decoration.

• Audio — dialogue, voice characteristics, ambience, SFX, music, synchronized to the visuals.

Generation parameters are not prompt text. Resolution, duration, and aspect ratio are
set on the generation page or via the API — writing them into the prose does nothing except
in the modes that auto-lock them, where they are not settable at all.

Reference Roles — Say What to Use and What Not to Use

The moment there is more than one material, or a material sitting next to a text
description, the prompt must state what each material contributes. [OFFICIAL — Dreamina]

@Image 1 defines <subject>'s <appearance, clothing, structure, or material>.
@Video 1 defines <motion, camera movement, or pacing>.
@Audio 1 defines <character or sound type>'s <voice, dialogue, ambience, or music>.

Every material that could leak something unwanted gets an explicit exclusion in the same
sentence:

@Image 2 defines the workbench and window light. Do not use the people in the image.

Rules:

• Mappings live in the prompt. Text labels drawn inside an image are not a mapping, and
  the model will not infer which person or prop a material represents.

• Video-only references are motion/pacing references by default, not identity — say so
  explicitly when you mean otherwise.

• Several views of one subject must say they are one subject: "All four images define
  one folding desk lamp. The output must contain only one lamp throughout." Without it the
  model duplicates the subject.

• **When a reference video already carries the motion accurately, state only which
  attributes to inherit.** Restating every action fights the reference. A blockout or motion
  video carries motion and spatial structure — not identity — so the prompt still has to
  define subjects, scene, action, and visual style.

• Never place a reference handle in a shot where that subject is absent — the same rule
  as 2.0's tag discipline; the model forces it into frame.

• Character sheets leak their staging. A sheet's neutral backdrop and multi-view panel
  layout are the most common character-material leak — the flat gray studio renders as the
  actual set. Pair every character-sheet role with its own exclusion: *"Do not take the
  gray backdrop, the panel borders, or the multi-view layout."*

• Beat lines name characters, never handles. In action/beat prose, a character appears
  as name + one visible marker at their first appearance in the beat — *"Mira — silver
  streak, rust-red jacket — crosses the stall line"* — not as @Image 2. The model binds
  by what it can see in the material, and a handle used as a sentence subject is the
  classic way one character comes back as two people. `[EMPIRICAL — sd25-pe mapping
  priority, re-derived 2026-08-09: material content outranks upload order]` Scope:
  this is the 2.5 rule. On 2.0 the house convention is the opposite — the acting paragraph
  leads with the character's tag so the model binds the performance to the right person
  (../higgsfield-acting/SKILL.md § Scene adaptation, ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md
  § Tag naming). Handles stay in the role map on 2.5 — the [Characters] lines, a staging
  legend (@A = the BLUE figure) — and out of the beat prose (../shared/house-rulings.md
  P2-13). Handle spelling follows the surface: Dreamina's guide writes upload-order
  handles with a space (@Image 1); the Higgsfield field build writes the upload-order form
  without one (@video1) and named asset tags (@size-ref, @dragon-v3). Pick one form per
  project and never mix them in one prompt.

Fidelity — say how much of each material must survive

`[EMPIRICAL — MiniMax H3 skill corpus, re-derived 2026-08-09; cross-model structure,
unmeasured on Seedance]` A role says what job a material does; it still doesn't say how much of the
material must reach the pixels. Declare one fidelity grade per material, in the same
sentence as its role:

• full-preserve — the subject appears as-is: face, build, wardrobe, all of it.

• partial-preserve — the named parts survive, the rest is free: *"the jacket and the
  scar; hairstyle may change."*

• attribute-transfer — named traits lift onto a different, named target: *"apply
  this fabric's weave and sheen to Mira's coat."* The target must be named — this is the
  one case a bare role line cannot express, and the one that goes wrong silently.

• loose-guide — mood, palette, or energy only; nothing is copied literally.

@Image 4 defines the brocade fabric — attribute-transfer onto Mira's coat only.
Do not carry the garment's cut, the mannequin, or the studio backdrop.

Material budget

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] Hard limits vs the ranges that actually stay stable:

50 reference materials total. On Higgsfield the platform enforces two of these caps and
counts a start_image / end_image against both: image refs + start + end ≤ 30, all
materials + start + end ≤ 50 [OFFICIAL — platform, CLI rules 2026-09-26]. The 10-video,
10-audio and ≤30 s-combined figures are Dreamina's; no platform rule states them — treat
them as the vendor's model limits, unverified on Higgsfield. Above the stable ranges (9–12 subjects in images, 6–10 in
audio/video, 6–8 edit reference images) generation still works but stability drops and the
shot may need several attempts — budget for it, or split the scene.

More than five subjects needing multiple views → one view per image. Independent view
images beat a single collage of views; the collage is the less stable form.

Spend one view on a strong expression, not four resting faces. `[OFFICIAL — Higgsfield
Seedance 2.5 deck, PART 2]` A set of neutral views teaches the model the face at rest and
nothing else, so the first line of dialogue invents a mouth. Generate the views on a neutral
light-grey ground (shade and mechanism: ../../templates/ad-asset-prep.md § Design for win
rate) and make one of them a strong expression — anger, or a wide smile —
so the model learns the character's facial dynamics and teeth structure, not only the
resting face. The canonical four: front view · back view · facial details at neutral ·
facial dynamics and teeth under strong emotion. Close the set with the identity line
(§ Reference Roles) so all four are read as one person.

Multi-Reference — the Five-Step Workflow

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] The goal is not to cram every reference into one sentence. It
is to define the relationships among characters, props, scenes, actions, and audio so the
model picks the right material for the right moment.

Step 1 — name and map each subject individually. One line per subject:

<Character A> corresponds to @Image 1. Use only the appearance, hairstyle, and clothing.
<Character B> corresponds to @Image 2. Use only the appearance, hairstyle, and clothing.
<Prop A> corresponds to @Image 3. Use only the structure, material, and color.
<Scene A> references @Image 4. Use only the spatial layout, architecture, and lighting.
Do not use the people in the image.

The canonical failure: @Images 1 through 4 define four characters respectively.
That sentence does not say which image is which character, and the model will guess.

Step 2 — group by type once several subjects are in play: [Characters] → [Props] →
[Scenes] → [Motion and Audio]. Add the non-interchange lock to the character group:
"Do not interchange these characters' appearances, clothing, actions, positions, or dialogue."

Step 3 — profile any recurring subject. A character crossing several scenes, or
carrying several materials, gets one consolidated block:

[Subject Profile: Conservator]
Appearance and clothing: @Image 1.
Fixed prop: <Sample Case> from @Image 5.
Locations: <Conservation Lab> and <Gallery>.
Motion references: the case-opening motion from @Video 1.
Do not use: other characters' clothing. Do not give this character other equipment.

Step 4 — select references by scene. Per scene, list only the subset actually used,
then the event and its end state:

Scene 1 | Inspection in the Conservation Lab
Use: <Conservator>, <Sample Case>, <Conservation Lab>, and the case-opening motion from @Video 1.
Event: <Conservator> opens <Sample Case> at the workbench and inspects the sample inside.
End state: <Conservator> remains on the inner side of the workbench. <Sample Case> stays
beside the conservator's right hand.

Step 5 — check ownership. Props belong to exactly one character ("belongs only to
<Conservator>"); character count, clothing, and spatial direction stay constant across scenes.

Long Video — Stages and End States

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] 2.5 generates up to 30 seconds natively. Anything with several
events gets staged — one flat paragraph is where dropped beats come from.

Each stage carries exactly one primary state change and closes on an **explicit,
directly visible end state**. Each new stage restates what carries over.

[Generation Goal]
Generate a <video type>. The central subject is <subject>, and the primary event is <story summary>.

[Stage 1]
Initial state: <initial state of characters, props, and scene>.
Primary event: <one primary action or event>.
End state: <character positions, prop ownership, or visible scene state>.

[Stage 2]
Continue from the previous stage: <state that must remain unchanged>.
Primary event: <one primary action or event>.
End state: <observable state>.

[Stage 3]
Primary event: <closing event>.
End state: <final visible state>.

[Maintain Consistency]
Keep <character identity, number of characters, clothing, prop ownership, spatial direction,
and audio relationships> consistent.

Split by JOB, not only by length

Staging solves too many events in one paragraph. It does not solve **two
incompatible jobs in one generation**, and that is a separate cut worth making
[DEMO — Higgsfield "AI Love Stories" tutorial, 2026-08].

The reported case: an arena scene containing a fight (a giant throw, a sword
snatch, a takedown) and, in the same beat, the acting around it (a hidden
worry, a flirtatious exit, hope draining from a face). Run as one prompt it
held — badly, in both directions at once: *"the fight gets softer, the faces get
flatter."* The model spends its attention budget once. Asked to nail physics
and micro-performance in one generation, it half-does each.

Split into two prompts, one job each, stitched in the edit:

How to tell which cut you need. Length-driven splits are decided by
counting events. This one is decided by asking: *what is this shot's dominant
job?* If a prompt has two honest answers, it has two shots in it. That is the
same question the Feasibility Veto asks about a single frame, applied to a
whole generation.

Note the direction of the second case: it fit, and was split anyway. "It
generated" is not the bar — a scene that renders every beat but rushes the one
that matters has failed at the thing you were making it for.

Practical consequence, stated plainly by the same production: **a perfect 30s
render does not exist.** Generate raw footage per job, then assemble. Several
of the finished scenes in that film take the background from one take and the
foreground action from another.

Timestamps and pacing

Stages are the default. Reach for one-second precision only when a specific handoff,
entrance/exit, transition, or beat must land on a moment.

• Ranges are consecutive and non-overlapping, and they are a time budget, not a
  frame-accurate edit point — actions may land slightly either side of a boundary.

• Too little content in a range hands the model freedom you did not intend; too much causes
  excessive cutting or dropped events.

• Never demand a frequency inside one second ("complete three actions in one second").
  Timestamps allocate time; they do not enforce cadence.

• Every timestamped segment still ends on an explicit end state, exactly like a stage.

Relationship to 2.0's beat arithmetic. ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md § Output
Format requires timed beats to sum to the declared duration. That still holds — but sum
to 4–30s here, and remember that on 2.5 the sum is a budget the model approximates, not a
cut list it honours to the frame.

Audio and Text — Bracket Syntax

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] Prompts can be written entirely in natural language. Use the
brackets when music, SFX, dialogue, and subtitles must be told apart explicitly:

Dialogue language reinforcement. For non-Chinese dialogue — or when English text comes
back spoken in Chinese, or a specific regional variety is wanted — state it before the line:

Dialogue language + regional variety or accent + delivery style + speaker + {dialogue}

Dialogue language: authentic Los Angeles English. The man says in natural Los Angeles
vernacular: {No way, you actually made it.}

*Adapted: as first recorded here, this example inside the [OFFICIAL — Dreamina] section
named the speaker by an age word; rewritten age-blind per
../higgsfield-seedance/ENGINE-RULES.md rule 1. The structure is Dreamina's.*

Two house rules carry over from ../higgsfield-audio/SKILL.md and the film pipeline in
../higgsfield-seedance/HELL-GRIND.md:

• Speech lives in the audio clause only — not a word of dialogue inside the action
  description, or the model narrates it as behavior. The trap is that writers do not think
  of subtext as speech: they exchange a look that says "you too?" is a line the script
  never wrote, and it comes back spoken. `[EMPIRICAL — nutllwhy/seedance-tvc-director skill
  (MIT), re-derived 2026-08-09; the failing take is timecoded in that evaluation]` Anything readable is a
  voicing request — quoted subtext, a remembered line, a slogan, a sign read aloud. Write
  the visible behavior instead (jaw sets, eyes hold), and note that adding "no dialogue"
  does not undo it: the readable text is still there being asked for.

• Diegetic-only is a project choice, and 2.5 finally obeys it. Random subtitles and
  unrequested BGM were 2.0's most-reported nuisance; ByteDance calls suppression of both a
  headline 2.5 fix [OFFICIAL — Dreamina]. Still say it — and no 【】 block — rather
  than trusting the improvement. One part is settled: **lead with the positive diegetic
  list (the sources and room tone the audio is). One is a default: never put the
  suppression inside the () bracket** — () is the music channel, so (no music) there
  is most likely read as a music cue. That is a [HOUSE] inference, not a measurement; it
  stands as the default because writing the suppression as plain audio text after the list
  costs nothing (../shared/house-rulings.md P2-7). Which token to write —
  NO BGM (one third-party skill: a production term reads as a hard spec,
  ../higgsfield-audio/SKILL.md § Suppressing music [EMPIRICAL]) or No music. (the
  form 12 of 13 harvested projects shipped, ../../templates/seedance/global-style-prefix.md
[FIELD]) — is OPEN, unmeasured here (../shared/house-rulings.md P2-7).

First-Last Frame and Multi-Keyframe Control

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] On 2.5 these are not a mode — they are omni_reference work.
Since the 2026-09-26 snapshot the platform also exposes start_image / end_image roles
(omni_reference only), so the first and last frame have two routes:

• Platform roles — attach the anchors as start_image / end_image. Keep a short role
  sentence in the prompt anyway (what the frame fixes, what may change) so the prose and the
  attachment agree. [OFFICIAL — platform, snapshot 2026-09-26]

• In-prompt declaration — attach the anchors as ordinary image_references and name
  their roles in prose (template below). This is the form ByteDance's guide documents, and
  the only form for keyframes 3+.

Which route holds the boundary better is unmeasured — no O-Side generation compares
them. Don't do both for the same image (one image, one role).

@Image 1 is the first frame. It defines the opening composition, subject position, pose,
prop state, scene, and camera direction.
@Image 2 is the last frame. It defines the ending composition, subject position, pose,
prop state, scene, and camera direction.
@Image 3 defines <Subject A>'s <appearance, clothing, structure, or material>. Do not change
the first-frame composition defined by @Image 1 or the last-frame composition defined by @Image 2.

<Describe one continuous action or event>.
The video begins naturally from the first frame defined by @Image 1 and reaches the last
frame defined by @Image 2 after the continuous action.
Between the first and last frames, maintain continuity in <character identity, prop structure
and ownership, scene layout, and camera direction>.

Three failure sources, all avoidable:

1. Never merge the anchors — @Images 1 and 2 are the first and last frames is the
   documented wrong form. One role sentence per image.

2. First and last images must share an aspect ratio, or the last frame stretches. The
   output ratio locks to the first image; duration stays settable. (Dreamina doctrine for
   the in-prompt form; unverified for the platform start_image role.)

3. Supplementary references supplement only their named attribute — each one repeats the
   "do not change the first/last-frame composition" clause.

Multi-keyframe sequences (3+ ordered stage images) open with `Use @Image 1 through
@Image N as keyframes in this order`, then describe the key state each image represents.
Independent keyframe images align far more reliably than several frames combined into one
grid. Keyframes control stage order and key states — they do not reproduce every
intermediate frame.

Storyboard grids and blockout references (coarse vs fine) are the next rung up:
MODE-PLAYBOOKS.md § Storyboard grids and § Blockout references.

Editing, Extension, and the Composite Modes

The long templates live in MODE-PLAYBOOKS.md in this directory. What you need to know
before opening it:

• Video editing — define the source as the sole editing master, then edit goal, edit
  scope, target material, and the preserve list. Subject replacement additionally needs a
  Timeline Inheritance clause so the new object inherits the old one's exact timing,
  path, occlusion, and exit. Background replacement scopes the edit to *outside the
  subject's silhouette*. Audio categories (dialogue, language, voice, BGM, SFX) edit
  independently.

• Video extension — the one rule that decides success: **align the boundary frame before
  describing new content.** Forward extension continues from the source's last frame;
  backward extension must land on the source's first frame as its explicit end state.
  "Then connect to the source video" is the documented failure phrasing — it leaks later
  elements in early and lets the image drift after it arrives.

• One-click video (images → one edited video) — `Material Roles → Image Order → Motion
  Amount → Editing Style → Visual Treatment → Audio`. "Turn these into a video" is never enough.

• Seamless transitions (bridge content between two clips) — `Before Video → After Video →
  Trigger Action → Camera Movement → Visual Transformation → Arrival State → Audio`.

• Transition vocabulary — natural shot switch · fade in/out · stacking · white/black flash ·
  erase · mask · similar-object · action · dynamic relay · zoom in/out · ink-wash. Each
  named with its own trigger and arrival composition.

Emotional Direction and Camera Terms

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina]

Emotion. Abstract words ("tense", "warm", "oppressive") set a direction and leave the
rest to interpretation. Pair them with directly visible or audible cues — eye movement, brow
tension, mouth movement, breathing, gaze direction, hand movement. **Two to four cues is
enough for one transition**; listing every facial detail is counterproductive.

The overall emotion shifts from <starting emotion> to <ending emotion>.
After <triggering event>, <subject> first shows <immediate observable reaction>.
Then, <eyes, brows, mouth, breathing, gaze, or hand movement> gradually <changes>.
Finally, <subject> expresses <target emotion> through <restrained or explicit outward behavior>.

Use event-triggered multi-stage form only when the emotion genuinely changes several times.
For muscle-level control beyond this, ../higgsfield-facs/SKILL.md (AU codes); for the
behavior-under-pressure layer that makes the cues mean something,
../higgsfield-acting/SKILL.md.

Camera terms. Basic language works directly — shot size (extreme wide / wide / medium /
close-up / extreme close-up), movement (push in, pull out, pan, lateral move, follow, orbit,
dive, dolly out, tilt up, handheld shake), position (low angle, overhead, first-person).

Popular techniques (one-take, dolly zoom, aerial, FPV, bullet time, handheld, bounce speed
ramp) also work directly — but with several subjects in frame, still say which subject
the camera follows or orbits, where the move starts, and where it ends.

For a niche or ambiguous term, keep the term and translate it into an observable result:

Cinematography term + target subject + visual change + foreground/background relationship + direction or speed

Rack focus: shift focus smoothly from the leaves in the foreground to the person in the
background. The leaves gradually blur while the person's face changes from soft to sharp.

For a precise transition moment, add the trigger time, the occluding object, the direction,
and what continues afterwards. Aperture/focal-length/shutter numbers are allowed but the
intended visible result is clearer than a raw value alone.

FOV degrees still beat millimetres. The discrete-anchor FOV bank in
../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md § FOV anchors is house doctrine across the Seedance
family and applies here unchanged.

The Real-Person Character Formula

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina] The vendor's answer to "my characters look AI, or look like twins"
is a seven-slot character block. It works for stylized characters too.

[Role]  [Skin color / skin texture]  [Facial details]  [Eyes / soul]
[Hairstyle / hair color]  [Clothing / clothing texture]  [Body type / mood / temperament]
[Other requirements, if any]

Slot notes:

• Skin — carry real texture: visible micro-pores, translucency, capillary flush. This is
  the single slot that most separates "photo of a person" from "AI render".

• Facial details — eye shape, brow line, nose bridge, lips, jawline. Specific beats pretty.

• Eyes / soul — what the gaze is doing and what it carries. Dead eyes are the number-one
  tell; see ../higgsfield-acting/SKILL.md § Eye life.

• Body type / mood / temperament — the body as biography, not a compliment.

House override on slot 1. The source guide labels the first slot [Age/Race]. **Do
not write age.** Engine rule 1 in ../higgsfield-seedance/ENGINE-RULES.md is age-blind
characters, and Higgsfield's own feature-film brief gives the reason: the content filter
tightens sharply the moment it reads a minor. Write role, build, clothing, and action
instead — "a lean courier in a soaked parka", not "a 22-year-old". Ethnicity stays a normal
descriptive slot; age does not.

Choosing 2.0 vs 2.5

The honest default: draft and structure on 2.5 when the job is long, reference-heavy, or
edit-shaped; finish on 2.0 when the deliverable needs 4K. They are not
interchangeable takes — a 2.5 draft validates the prompt, not the 2.0 render, for the same
reason ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md § Drafts Validate the Prompt gives: there is no
seed to pin.

What carries over from 2.0 unchanged

The engine rules are shared. ../higgsfield-seedance/ENGINE-RULES.md applies in full —
age-blind characters, exit-frame = implicit cut, off-screen = nonexistent, avoid reflection
shots, ≤3 tracked characters, double-contrast cuts, micro-expressions as physics. So do the
positive-phrasing law (stated for 2.0 as an empirical law — Seedance parses negative-list
syntax as scene description; for 2.5 it is carried over by house assumption, unmeasured),
the homograph trap, and the block scaffold for production-scale briefs.

Hard Limits — Do Not Over-Promise These

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina]

• Timestamps allocate time; they are not frame-accurate edit points. Never imply a beat
  will land on an exact frame.

• Video-editing prompts raise the probability that critical events align with the source —
  they cannot guarantee frame-by-frame overlap.

• Multi-reference selects and combines the right materials per scene; it does not make
  every material appear at once.

• Frame-level text accuracy is not promised. Subtitles, formulas, signs, and product
  specs need prepared reference materials plus post — the same conclusion as 2.0's text-rendering
  high-risk row.

• Video editing locks the input's aspect ratio and approximate duration; output may differ
  by up to ~0.3s from transition-frame handling.

• First/last-frame generation locks aspect ratio to the first image; mismatched ratios
  stretch the last frame.

• Video extension locks aspect ratio to the source; the extended segment's audio volume may
  differ slightly.

• Boundary frames connect naturally, not identically — review both sides of the seam plus
  the whole extended segment.

• Seamless transitions aim for visual and audio continuity, not pixel-identical preservation
  of either source clip.

Dreamina-Only — What Higgsfield Does Not Expose

[DREAMINA-ONLY] These exist in ByteDance's own Dreamina/Jimeng product and appear in the
guides, but there is no Higgsfield parameter behind them on the 2026-09-26 snapshot. Do
not offer them here.

Extension chain math. The model-side rule is: a source within 30 seconds can be
extended by 4–30 seconds in one operation, so a 30s source plus a 30s extension is the
60-second ceiling for a single chain. Beyond that, re-anchor from the original references
rather than extending an extension — the same degradation curve as 2.0's chain cap in
../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md § Extension Prompting.

Pre-Submission Checklist

[OFFICIAL — Dreamina], plus the house preflight. Only the rows for techniques actually used:

• [ ] Subject and primary action or event stated plainly
• [ ] Every reference states what to use and what not to use
• [ ] Every character, product, and prop named and bound to a specific material
• [ ] References selected per scene, not all required at once
• [ ] Each long-video stage has one primary change and a clear end state
• [ ] Character count, clothing, prop ownership, and spatial relationships consistent throughout
• [ ] Editing prompts define the sole master, edit scope, target quantity, and preserve list
• [ ] Abstract emotions and niche camera terms paired with observable cues
• [ ] First/last frames: omni_reference only; one route per image (platform role or in-prompt role), matching aspect ratios, anchors not merged
• [ ] Storyboards state which structure to inherit, not literal panel reproduction
• [ ] Blockouts: coarse vs fine identified first, inheritance list stated
• [ ] Auto-locked parameters respected for edit / first-last / extension
• [ ] Extension: boundary frame, motion trend, and audio continuity all checked
• [ ] One-click video: roles, order, motion amount, editing style, audio all defined
• [ ] Transitions: both clips' roles, trigger, process, and arrival state defined
• [ ] No age words anywhere (engine rule 1)
• [ ] seedance_lint.py --preflight --model seedance_2_5 run and clean

Related Skills

• ../higgsfield-seedance/SKILL.md — Seedance 2.0 director: the filter model, block scaffold,
  FOV anchors, prompt-craft laws, engine rules. Everything model-agnostic lives there.

• ../higgsfield-seedance/ENGINE-RULES.md — the shared hard rendering constraints

• ../higgsfield-seedance/HELL-GRIND.md — Higgsfield's open-sourced feature-film pipeline
  (assets, GEO spatial layout, dialogue construction, iteration discipline)

• ../higgsfield-acting/SKILL.md — performance: objective, obstacle, tactics, beats, eye life
• ../higgsfield-facs/SKILL.md — facial control by Action Unit code
• ../higgsfield-seedance-vfx/SKILL.md — video-to-video footage transforms on 2.0
• ../higgsfield-models/SKILL.md — model choice against the specs layer
• ../higgsfield-pipeline/SKILL.md — assembling 30-second pieces into a longer deliverable
• MODE-PLAYBOOKS.md — the editing / extension / one-click / transition / blockout templates

• VFX-PIPELINE.md — the AI-VFX production pipeline: asset-class model routing, the size-ref
  frame, location batching, the omni_reference v2v lane, the four-batch rule, the slop catalog