1In one sentence
A Seedance prompt is one flowing paragraph, in this order: subject, action, setting, camera, light, mood, then the practical details, with plain physical words and no poetry.
2New words
- Subject — the main thing in the picture: a loaf, a person, a cup of coffee.
- Action — what the subject does during the clip. Even "steam rises" is an action.
- Camera move — how the imaginary camera travels: push-in, pull-back, pan, orbit, handheld, locked-off. Chapter 1.7 has a list.
- Negative line — a short last sentence saying what you do not want ("no text, no extra hands"). Seedance has no separate box for this; it goes inside the prompt.
3Why you would want it
Seedance reads your paragraph like a film crew reading a shot list. If the list has a gap (no light, no camera), the model guesses, and its guesses are the strange parts you will see. If the list is a jumble, it may do the actions in the wrong order. One clean paragraph fixes most bad clips before they happen.
4The order that works
| Part | Sam's Bakery example |
|---|---|
| Subject | A loaf of fresh sourdough bread |
| Action | steam rises from the crust; a hand with a serrated knife cuts one slice |
| Setting | on a worn wooden counter in a small bakery, shelves of bread behind |
| Camera | slow push-in from waist height, ending in a close-up of the cut |
| Light | soft morning sunlight from a window on the left, warm shadows |
| Mood | calm, warm, homey |
| Practical | 8 seconds, vertical 9:16, natural kitchen sounds only, no music, no text |
Put together as one paragraph: A loaf of fresh sourdough bread sits on a worn wooden counter in a small bakery with shelves of bread behind it. Steam rises from the crust, then a hand with a serrated knife cuts one slice and the crust crackles. Slow push-in from waist height, ending in a close-up of the cut. Soft morning sunlight from a window on the left, warm shadows. Calm, warm, homey mood. 8 seconds, vertical 9:16, natural kitchen sounds only, no music, no text, no extra hands.
5Try it now
- Run the paragraph above on the Draft version, 8 seconds, audio on.
- Now remove the camera and light sentences and run again.
- Compare. The second clip usually has a drifting camera and flat light.
6What you will see
The full prompt gives a clip that moves in one direction, with the knife entering on time and a soft crackle on the cut:
The stripped prompt still shows bread, but the shot feels aimless.
7Watch out
- Mood words alone ("cinematic", "dramatic", "beautiful") do little. Describe the light's source and direction instead.
- One action per few seconds. A list of ten tiny movements in 5 seconds produces jitter.
8Go further
When the picture matters more than the words, start from a photo. Chapter 1.6 shows how.