The failure table

Symptom

Level

Fix (one change)

A different face across shots

1

Attach the character sheet and the identity close-up, and write the short anchor line in ACTIVE REFERENCES. If a reference is low-resolution or taken from an extreme angle, replace it; don't fight it with words.

The character appears twice

1

Add a count lock to POSITIVE LOCKS: "exactly one {ALIAS}". Add to the sheet's role line: "the sheet gives identity and wardrobe, not layout".

A cut-off head

1

Add the panel line to the character's role line ("face and hair only from the close-up panel…"), and attach the identity close-up.

Characters swap or blend

1

Attach one sheet per character. Keep each on a fixed side in LOCATION MAP and FIRST FRAME AND BLOCKING. Add a WHO IS WHO line saying how to tell them apart ("the one in the green scarf, always frame-left").

A subject where it isn't

1

Remove its @image tag from the lines where it isn't on screen.

An attached image leaks its own details (nails, a backdrop, a logo)

1

Remove that image, and say in the role lines which reference owns the detail ("the nails come only from the character sheet").

Framing copied from the plate

1

In the plate's role line, say it gives the materials and light only and sets no camera position; write the angle you want in CAMERA.

The set morphs

1

Count the key details in LOCATION MAP ("three stalls, eight bulbs"), and add to POSITIVE LOCKS: "the set stays exactly as in {PLACE}".

Product wrong or doubled

1

Attach the client's product photos as the product reference, and add to POSITIVE LOCKS: "exactly one {PRODUCT}".

Label garbled

1

Don't use that part of the take for the label; build the readable moment instead (see Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → Built label moments).

Night too bright

1

Attach a darker plate, made as a new still. The video follows the plate's exposure, so words won't darken it.

Shots morph, not cut

2

Make neighbouring shots clearly different in size, angle and action, and end each shot's block with its cut marker ("HARD CUT").

A slow first second

2

Start FIRST FRAME AND BLOCKING already in motion ("already lowering the bottle"), and leave a head handle (extra time at the start) to trim.

Shortcuts: a prop tossed, a hand frozen, someone rising from behind an object

2

In ACTION / TIMELINE, give the shot one primary action. Give an entrance its own window, from a named frame edge, with a real-time distance and duration ("walks in from frame-right, 3 m in about 2 s").

A robotic entrance or a slow walk-out

2

In ACTION / TIMELINE, write the weight shifting at a natural pace from a named edge, and put the exit early in its window.

A listener mouths words

2

In PERFORMANCE, add a line saying the listener stays silent through this beat, plus a listening task (see Performance → Listening).

Glassy eyes

2

In PERFORMANCE, add an eye line: the eyes stay engaged, the pupils move, a blink comes where the thought turns (see Performance → Blinks mark thought).

Overacting

2

In PERFORMANCE, clamp the emotion from both sides ("pleased, never grinning"). If it persists, write the reaction pair (see Performance → The reaction pair).

A reaction repeats

2

Write the reaction once, with its end state ("…and it stays there"), then the next movement (decided).

Wrong posture in close shots

2

Open the generation on a short full-body wide in the wanted pose, before the first close shot [official guidance].

A speaking shot reads stiff, the line flat

2

In CAMERA, during the words, write a breathing frame or a very slow push, large enough to show; put bigger moves before or after the line (see Speaking shots and lip sync → The camera during speech).

A floaty walk; one even speed

2

In ACTION / TIMELINE, write the heel contact, the weight transfer and the hip shift; in PHYSICS, every move gathers, travels and settles.

Hair moves as one mass

2

In PHYSICS, write hair as a material with weight: "strands lag the head and settle one by one".

Cream or liquid with the wrong body

2

In PHYSICS, describe its body positively, with weight ("a thick gel that holds a peak"; see Video with Seedance → Physics).

Extras in sync

2

Give each visible extra one ordinary task, at their own tempo and direction, in that shot's BACKGROUND line.

The background freezes

2

Name the place's live motions in LOCATION MAP, each with a cause, a direction and a rate.

Extra hands

2

Name at most two hand roles ("exactly two hands, both hers"), and give contact its own insert generation.

An extension restarts or opens frozen

2

Write the CONTINUITY paragraph naming the final frame, and say any held pose starts moving by 0.25 s.

A jerky camera

3

In CAMERA, write one dosed move, not several.

A weak move

3

In CAMERA, write a stronger dose, and state it twice.

Gimbal-smooth handheld

3

In CAMERA, write the operator's body: the shoulder and breath, a fraction late on the turns (see Camera and lens → The honest, fallible operator).

A flat-card background

3

In LOCATION MAP, give each layer its distance, and have the move pass one named foreground element.

A locked shot drifts

3

In CAMERA, write the lock out in full: "the camera stays still the whole time: no zoom and no push-in".

The lens drifts

3

In OPTICS, restate the lens at the start and check it at the end of each shot (see Camera and lens → Extreme lenses and same-lens sequences).

The landing missed

3

In CAMERA, write a landing the move can reach in its time.

A parked or slow ending where the edit cuts in motion

3

In CAMERA, write the ending the cut needs, leave a tail handle, and put the out-point before the settle.

Unrequested glow

4

Remove the effect words, and generate again; never paint it out.

A flat, evenly lit image

4

In LIGHTING, name one source, where it is and which way it falls.

Washed-out colour

4

In STYLE, write the clean look line (see Light and look → The clean look is a fix, not the default).

Waxy skin

4

In PERFORMANCE, write two or three skin conditions the day would cause, and no sharpening words; judge it on the 1080p finish. A retry may add "no smoothing, no airbrushed skin" once, with nothing else changed.

A plastic "AI" look

4

Add a TEXTURE block with 2–4 worn materials, and frame off-centre.

Stutter

4

In PHYSICS, add the 180-degree shutter line (see Video with Seedance → Physics).

Burned-in captions

4

Early in the prompt, add a line ruling out subtitles and any on-screen text.

Music or voices

4

Exclude them in AUDIO, and mute that part of the take.

A refusal

Platform

Reword any innocent ambiguity plainly, once; never disguise the content.

A timeout

Platform

Check the job list before you submit again; a blind resubmit can charge twice.

The same defect in every take

Route

Patch the failed block. If it returns, simplify the shot: split it into real cuts, drop an action, or change the angle. If it still returns, reduce the prompt to three things, who is in it, what they do and the camera, then restore only what the shot needs.