A character can look convincing in every individual shot and still feel like a different person across a sequence. The jacket changes shade. A shoulder bag moves to the other side. The street becomes wider, or the lighting suddenly suggests another time of day.
These small changes matter because viewers use them to understand whether events belong together. A continuity brief gives an AI video project a stable visual foundation before camera directions and dramatic action enter the prompt.
Separate identity from performance
Start with the details that define the character. Keep this description short enough to reuse without rewriting it from memory.
For a fictional bicycle courier, the brief might specify an adult woman with short dark curls, a mustard rain jacket, a teal cross-body bag, and a dark blue bicycle. These are identity details. Reaching into the bag, looking over her shoulder, or stepping away from the bicycle are performance details.
Keeping the two categories separate makes revisions more precise. You can change the action without accidentally changing the person performing it.
The Seedance 2.0 video creation page describes a workflow that accepts image, video, and audio references alongside a written prompt. That makes a compact continuity brief useful for explaining which information each reference should contribute.
Assign every reference a single purpose
A portrait might establish the face and clothing. A street image might define the location. A movement clip might demonstrate the pace of a turn or a camera follow.
Avoid adding references simply because they look attractive. A bright studio portrait, a foggy nighttime street, and a sunny action clip can introduce competing visual cues unless their intended roles are explicit.
Write a reference map before generating:
- Character reference: preserve the face, hairstyle, jacket, and bag.
- Location reference: use the narrow street and wet pavement.
- Motion reference: borrow the restrained camera follow, without copying its subject or environment.
This map is an instruction for the creative process. It is not a promise that every detail will remain unchanged in the output.
Track object state as carefully as appearance
Continuity includes what has happened, not just what things look like. If the courier removes an envelope from her bag, the next moment should not show both hands empty unless she has put it somewhere.
For each beat, note the character’s position, the object’s position, and the direction of movement. A simple sequence could begin with the courier beside the bicycle, continue as she removes an envelope, and end when she looks toward a doorway while holding it.
That sequence contains a small story and a clear state change. It is easier to evaluate than a list of cinematic shots with no causal relationship.
Write connected actions before adding camera language
Use an ordinary sentence to establish the event: “The courier stops beside the doorway, takes out an envelope, and checks the address.” Then decide how the viewer should see it.
An original prompt brief could read:
Follow the referenced courier on the same rain-darkened street at blue hour. Begin with a medium view beside her dark blue bicycle. She opens the teal bag and removes one cream envelope with her right hand. Move gently closer as she looks from the envelope toward the doorway. Keep the mustard jacket, short dark curls, bag strap, street lighting, and envelope consistent. Finish with the envelope still visible in her right hand.
The requested continuity is concrete. “Keep everything consistent” would leave much more room for interpretation.
Review the sequence at its transitions
Inspect moments where hands touch objects, the character turns, or the framing changes. These transitions deserve attention because they connect one visible state to another.
Compare the opening, middle, and final frames, then watch the complete motion. A frame-by-frame check can reveal a changed bag strap; normal playback can reveal an awkward pause or an action that never quite completes.
Creators exploring multimodal video generation with Seedance 2.0 can use this review process to decide what to revise next. Keep the successful identity and location instructions, adjust the unclear action, and retest that specific issue. A reusable continuity brief becomes more valuable as it accumulates decisions that have already been made.
