Fixing a failed take

Name the failure and its level, then change one thing in that layer only.

The retry rule [official guidance]:

1. Review the result against your shot plan's intent for it.

2. Name the failure in one line ("the camera stalls after 4 s"), not "it's not good".

3. Name its level, and fix the lowest failing level first: 1 references (which images are attached and what each owns), 2 structure (action, timing, format, performance), 3 camera, 4 style and audio. If the rest works and one defect appears once, it is a roll (chance): generate again with no change.

4. Change one thing, in that layer only. Save every prompt, and patch only the block that failed; a full rewrite loses what worked.

5. The same defect in every attempt means the prompt, the references or the method is wrong, not the luck. Change that, not the count.

6. Escalate by simplifying, cheapest first: a prompt edit, a setting, a new attempt, a rebuilt anchor, one model edit of the result, a re-planned shot (shorter, closer, split into real cuts, one action dropped). If attempts get worse, strip the prompt to subject, action and camera, and add back only what is needed.

7. Log it before the next attempt.

Example. The take: the chef's face changes between the two shots, and the camera stalls after 4 s. That is two failures at two levels. Fix level 1 first: the second shot was given only the character sheet, so attach the identity close-up too, and change nothing else. The next take holds the face; the camera still stalls. Now fix level 3: write the push stronger ("a 60 cm push over 6 s; her face grows by about a quarter"). One change per take, each logged.

The symptoms and their levels are in Video with Seedance → The failure table; for stills, Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Anchor failures and fixes.

Edit or make it fresh (decided):

• No pixel fixes, by you or anyone else. Nobody paints, retouches, regrades a region of, or composites panels into a generated picture, and no compositor fixes a take or a still. Regenerate a faulty take with one diagnosed change, or give it one model edit pass. A crop, a zoom and background removal redraw nothing and are allowed. Exposure or white balance on a whole still is done only as a declared grade in the edit.

• Stills: one model edit pass where possible, at most two, then a new image. Each pass makes one named change, with the identity close-up attached again, and is followed by a full-size check (a hands check after any hand edit). Regenerate a structural miss (wrong composition, pose, contact or likeness) at once (see Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Edit passes, then a fresh image).

• Video takes: regenerating is the default. Allow one video edit per take for one local fault, saved as a new take with a full-size face and label check; never chain edits (see Video with Seedance → Joins, endings, extension and the video edit).

• Never drop a chosen design because one attempt failed. Find why it failed and make it again correctly; stop only by the stop rules.

Sources

• Higgsfield Academy (courses) (failure levels, which it names asset, action, camera and roll); ByteDance's Dreamina Seedance 2.5 guide (the layer order).