This is How I Made an Ultra Realistic AI Short Film Using Seedance 2.0 in 4K (Full Workflow)

2026-07-07 · case-study tutorial · Adil · recording, 33:34 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Video generation & shot direction (also: Pre-production & story, Assets, references & consistency, Prompting & AI assistants, Audio, voice & music, Post-production & finishing) · mode: Tutorial · tags: prompts shared, one creator's experience, fiction

Adil shows how he made "Santiago", a two-minute football drama in eight scenes, generated with Seedance 2.0 in 4K inside Higgsfield. His method is to work as a director: a Claude script on the setup, rising action, climax and resolution structure, then softly lit character and prop sheets on grey from three angles, which in his account also give each character a fitting voice. Scene by scene he adds a Dutch angle, a match cut into a flashback, a wide establishing shot, a speed ramp and whip pans, and warns that Seedance misreads negative prompts.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Thinking like a director: what the video will teach

★★ Adil says the emotions a film gives come not just from a good idea but from its colours, camera angles and storytelling, which is why he teaches making AI films like a real director. — 00:00:00
★★ Adil says his latest cinematic short film, Santiago, was made entirely with Higgsfield and Claude Fable 5. — 00:00:29 · Claude Fable 5 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Thinking like a director

00:00:53 — The short film Santiago played in full

00:02:47 — The script from Claude Fable 5 and the story structure

★★★ Adil says an AI film needs a screenplay because it tells him which characters, locations and props to build; he asks Claude for a 2-minute script with every shot at most 15 seconds, one Seedance 2.0 generation per shot. — 00:02:47 · Claude, Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Write the script with story structure
★★ Given Adil's idea for the footballer drama, Claude Fable 5 writes the whole script of Santiago on its own. — 00:03:29 · Claude Fable 5 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Write the script with story structure
★★★ Adil's first director step: to make a story work, build it on the structure almost every great movie has, setup, rising action, climax and resolution. — 00:03:29 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Write the script with story structure
★★ Adil explains the structure: the setup introduces the main character, the rising action gives him a major problem, the climax is the ultimate challenge (a plot twist or final boss fight), and then everything is resolved. — 00:03:54 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Write the script with story structure

00:04:35 — Scene 1 assets: Santiago, the therapist and the therapist's office

★★★ Adil advises always starting with the character sheet, on a grey background with three angles (front, back and a separate close-up headshot), so the AI knows the hero from every angle; he does the same for every prop and character. — 00:04:38 · character sheet · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Character sheets in Soul Cinema
★★ In a new Cinema Studio project Adil pastes the Claude-written character-sheet prompt, selects Soul Cinema, sets 16:9 at 2K resolution and generates. — 00:05:29 · Cinema Studio, Soul Cinema, Claude, character sheet
★★ Adil uses Soul Cinema for characters because it gives a different character on every run for less than half a credit, so he always has options to pick from. — 00:05:29 · Soul Cinema · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Character sheets in Soul Cinema
★★★ Adil says the light on a character sheet must be soft, with no harsh shadows on the face and no glare in the hair, because the main secret of cinematic AI videos is a high-quality image of the character. — 00:05:29 · character sheet · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Character sheets in Soul Cinema
★★ Adil saves the chosen character as an Element: Claude can then reference it by name in every prompt, and pasting that prompt into Higgsfield pulls the image in automatically. — 00:06:06 · Elements, Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Character sheets in Soul Cinema
★★ For a location in Cinematic Locations, Adil sets the mood through light in the prompt: whether the tones are warm or cold, the weather and the time of day. — 00:06:41 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Locations with the 3/4 angle
★★★ Adil advises writing "3 quarters angle" into every location prompt: it adds volume and depth, and the model gets a much better sense of the distance between objects and where everything is. — 00:07:09 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Locations with the 3/4 angle

00:07:35 — The prompt-builder skill, Seedance 2.0 4K settings and the voice tip

★★ Adil built a custom prompt-builder Claude skill loaded with director hacks: it splits a scene into shots and picks the framing (close-ups, medium shots), so generations get real camera-angle changes; it is downloadable from the description. — 00:07:35 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The prompt-builder skill and first Seedance run
★ To install the prompt-builder skill, Adil opens Claude, clicks Customize, goes to Skills, hits the plus button and uploads it. — 00:07:35 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The prompt-builder skill and first Seedance run
★★★ Adil generates the videos with Seedance 2.0 in 4K inside Higgsfield, calling it the most specialised tool for realistic, detailed cinematic shots, at the highest quality possible. — 00:08:03 · Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The prompt-builder skill and first Seedance run
★★ To prompt a scene, Adil drops the script into Claude, attaches the assets and describes the scene shot by shot, including where the camera is (a push-in, then a close-up). — 00:08:03 · Claude
★★ Adil's Seedance 2.0 settings in Cinema Studio: 4K, 16:9, and always 15 seconds. — 00:08:28 · Seedance 2.0, Cinema Studio
★★★ Adil says Seedance 2.0 automatically generates a unique voice for each character from the character sheet, matching its tone to how they look, so locking the visuals also locks the voice. — 00:08:56 · Seedance 2.0, character sheet · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The prompt-builder skill and first Seedance run

00:09:29 — Scene 1 video: no negative prompts, three shots, the Dutch angle

★★★ Adil says that if all four videos in a batch come out wrong, the issue is probably the prompt, so he asks Claude for more specific movements and emotions. (hedged) — 00:09:29 · Claude, rebatching · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Read your failed takes
★★★ Adil says Seedance 2.0 does not understand negative prompts and does the opposite: "he's not crying" just confuses it. — 00:09:29 · Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Read your failed takes
★★★ Instead of a negative prompt, Adil tells Seedance 2.0 what he wants, for example "an anxious look". — 00:09:29 · Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Read your failed takes
★★ Adil's early Seedance 2.0 4K takes of the therapy scene had wrong proportions, a changed location and extra objects spawning in the frame. — 00:09:29 · Seedance 2.0
★★ Adil splits the first scene into three shots instead of two with more interesting angles, saying movement alone cannot carry the emotion in a good film; dynamic camera work has to take over. — 00:10:18 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The Dutch angle and combining takes
★★★ Adil uses the Dutch angle, a tilted camera shot that builds tension and makes the audience uncomfortable; leaving almost no space between the character and the edge of the frame makes the hero feel trapped. — 00:10:18 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The Dutch angle and combining takes
★★ Adil takes the best parts of each generation and combines them into the scene. — 00:11:46

00:12:32 — Scene 2 assets: the kit, the goalkeeper, the stadium and the ball

★★ After making the football kit's prop sheet in Soul Cinema, Adil changes the logo and the player's number in GPT Image 2 with the simple prompt "change the logo and swap the number 7 to 23". — 00:13:13 · GPT Image 2, Soul Cinema · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Scene 2 assets: kit, keeper, stadium
★★ To dress Santiago in the kit, Adil uploads the final kit and his character sheet to GPT Image 2 with "create a character in this uniform, make him clean shaven with neat hair, looking fresh", and GPT Image 2 combines them. — 00:13:56 · GPT Image 2, character sheet · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Scene 2 assets: kit, keeper, stadium
★★ When moving to a different location or cutting to a flashback, Adil always sets the colour palette in the prompt: dark, muted tones for the night stadium because the genre is drama. — 00:13:56 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Scene 2 assets: kit, keeper, stadium
★★ Because the ball recurs in several scenes, Adil gives it a separate prop sheet, prompted by Claude and generated in GPT Image 2. — 00:14:36 · GPT Image 2, Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Scene 2 assets: kit, keeper, stadium

00:14:58 — Scene 2: the match cut into the flashback, handheld camera, the old man in the crowd

★★★ For a match cut into the flashback, Adil attaches the last frame of scene one, Santiago closing his eyes, so scene two starts from the exact same position for a smooth transition. — 00:14:58 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The match cut, flares, fog and handheld
★★ Adil says that in Seedance 2.0 4K everything set up beforehand, the light, the palette and the details, actually shows on screen. — 00:14:58 · Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The match cut, flares, fog and handheld
★★ Adil adds handheld camera movement to the stadium shot to give the effect of a real camera operator, with the subtle movements of walking and breathing. — 00:15:46
★★★ Adil made no separate image for the old man in the crowd and got him from the prompt alone: a character who appears only once can usually be handled this way. — 00:16:46 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: One-off characters: the grandfather

00:17:44 — Scene 3: the wide establishing shot and the close-up of the hands

★★★ Adil's tip for placing characters: start the video with a wide establishing shot, and Seedance 2.0 places everyone where they need to be and keeps them locked for the whole video. — 00:17:44 · Seedance 2.0 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Establishing shots and realistic hands

00:19:54 — Scene 4: the speed ramp on the penalty kick

★ Adil says the tips in the second half of the Santiago breakdown are the ones that helped his team make the full AI movie they presented in Cannes. — 00:20:05 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The speed ramp: freezing the penalty
★★★ For the penalty, Adil uses a speed ramp: as the ball flies toward the goal the footage dips into slow motion, then snaps back to full speed as it hits the net, which films use to freeze time at a crucial moment. — 00:20:37 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The speed ramp: freezing the penalty

00:21:43 — Scene 5: whip-pan transitions

★★★ When prompting a whip pan, a fast sideways swing of the camera, Adil says two things matter: give it a duration and label the subjects A, B, C. — 00:21:43 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The whip pan and readable text
★★ When Santiago smiled in scene five right after crying in scene four, Adil gave Claude the context of the situation to fix the prompt. — 00:21:43 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The whip pan and readable text
★★ Adil says a whip pan has to end on the same type of shot it started on; a jump from a medium shot to a close-up is a mistake. — 00:22:37 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The whip pan and readable text
★★ In Adil's scene five the therapist's notebook showed only scribbles, which he called slop with no place in a cinematic film, so he regenerated that shot. — 00:23:03 · AI look · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The whip pan and readable text

00:23:37 — Scene 6 assets: kid Santiago, the old town field, the old ball and the cup

★★ For the childhood flashback, Adil attaches Santiago's adult character sheet and asks Claude for a prompt that turns him into a seven-year-old with Santiago written on his shirt. — 00:23:37 · character sheet, Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Age your character for flashbacks

00:25:17 — Scene 6: a separate shot for the voiceover line

★★ For a voiceover line over the flashback, Adil generates a separate shot of Santiago talking in the office just to grab the line, and overlays its audio. — 00:25:17 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Directing the voice-over
★★ In the prompt for a spoken line Adil also describes the tone of voice and the pauses: micro pauses, a little self-resentment, a trembling voice. — 00:25:44 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Directing the voice-over

00:26:20 — Scene 7: the dialogue scene, a pause after the flashback, split in two

★★★ Adil says a film cannot jump straight into dialogue right after a flashback: the character needs a one-to-two-second pause to process it. — 00:26:49 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Dialogue pacing after a flashback
★★ With too much happening in one 15-second dialogue scene, Adil splits the scene in two so it no longer feels rushed. — 00:27:27 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Dialogue pacing after a flashback

00:28:48 — Scene 8: three shots, 8A, 8B and 8C

★★ For the long final scene Adil has Claude write the full prompt first, then split it into three separate 15-second shots, which come out more detailed. — 00:28:48 · Claude · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The final scene in three shots
★★ Adil says Seedance 2.0 in 4K gave almost zero slop on the objects in the fan scene, with every take of the first batch usable. — 00:30:08 · Seedance 2.0, AI look · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The final scene in three shots

00:30:34 — The full film

00:32:30 — Recap: approaching the film as a director, and sign-off

★★★ Adil says Santiago feels like a drama only because it was approached as directors: scripting the camera movements, mapping emotions step by step, planning transitions and curating the colour palette. — 00:32:30 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Full film and recap
★ Adil left all the prompts of Santiago in the description. — 00:33:09 · also in: Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Full film and recap

Threads in this video

refine · How do you write the script for an AI film? — Adil's first director step: to make a story work, build it on the structure almost every great movie has, setup, rising action, climax and resolution. (00:03:29)
refine · How long should a generated clip be? — Adil says an AI film needs a screenplay because it tells him which characters, locations and props to build; he asks Claude for a 2-minute script with every shot at most 15 seconds, one Seedance 2.0 generation per shot. (00:02:47)
restate · How do you keep a character the same across shots? — Adil advises always starting with the character sheet, on a grey background with three angles (front, back and a separate close-up headshot), so the AI knows the hero from every angle; he does the same for every prop and character. (00:04:38)
refine · How do you keep a character the same across shots? — Adil made no separate image for the old man in the crowd and got him from the prompt alone: a character who appears only once can usually be handled this way. (00:16:46)
restate · Which image model should be used for keyframes, edits, text and outfits? — Adil uses Soul Cinema for characters because it gives a different character on every run for less than half a credit, so he always has options to pick from. (00:05:29)
refine · Which image model should be used for keyframes, edits, text and outfits? — After making the football kit's prop sheet in Soul Cinema, Adil changes the logo and the player's number in GPT Image 2 with the simple prompt "change the logo and swap the number 7 to 23". (00:13:13)
refine · How do you avoid the AI (plastic) look? — Adil says the light on a character sheet must be soft, with no harsh shadows on the face and no glare in the hair, because the main secret of cinematic AI videos is a high-quality image of the character. (00:05:29)
refine · How do you keep a location, product or prop the same across shots? — Adil advises writing "3 quarters angle" into every location prompt: it adds volume and depth, and the model gets a much better sense of the distance between objects and where everything is. (00:07:09)
restate · How do you keep a location, product or prop the same across shots? — Because the ball recurs in several scenes, Adil gives it a separate prop sheet, prompted by Claude and generated in GPT Image 2. (00:14:36)
restate · Which LLM should be used to write video prompts? — Adil built a custom prompt-builder Claude skill loaded with director hacks: it splits a scene into shots and picks the framing (close-ups, medium shots), so generations get real camera-angle changes; it is downloadable from the description. (00:07:35)
refine · Which video model should be used for realistic people and film shots? — Adil generates the videos with Seedance 2.0 in 4K inside Higgsfield, calling it the most specialised tool for realistic, detailed cinematic shots, at the highest quality possible. (00:08:03)
first on record · How do you keep a character's voice the same across shots? — Adil says Seedance 2.0 automatically generates a unique voice for each character from the character sheet, matching its tone to how they look, so locking the visuals also locks the voice. (00:08:56)
kept · Higgsfield: break down how the same voice was kept in every scene of the Seedance 4K film, in the next video (2026) — Adil says Seedance 2.0 automatically generates a unique voice for each character from the character sheet, matching its tone to how they look, so locking the visuals also locks the voice. (00:08:56)
refine · When a generation fails, should you generate more takes, fix the prompt or start over? — Adil says that if all four videos in a batch come out wrong, the issue is probably the prompt, so he asks Claude for more specific movements and emotions. (00:09:29)
restate · When a generation fails, should you generate more takes, fix the prompt or start over? — Adil takes the best parts of each generation and combines them into the scene. (00:11:46)
refine · How do you direct a character's acting in a video prompt? — Instead of a negative prompt, Adil tells Seedance 2.0 what he wants, for example "an anxious look". (00:09:29)
refine · How do you get a cinematic look in a generated image or shot? — Adil uses the Dutch angle, a tilted camera shot that builds tension and makes the audience uncomfortable; leaving almost no space between the character and the edge of the frame makes the hero feel trapped. (00:10:18)
refine · How do you put a new outfit on a person in a photo? — To dress Santiago in the kit, Adil uploads the final kit and his character sheet to GPT Image 2 with "create a character in this uniform, make him clean shaven with neat hair, looking fresh", and GPT Image 2 combines them. (00:13:56)
restate · How do you make a transition between two shots? — For a match cut into the flashback, Adil attaches the last frame of scene one, Santiago closing his eyes, so scene two starts from the exact same position for a smooth transition. (00:14:58)
refine · How do you make a transition between two shots? — When prompting a whip pan, a fast sideways swing of the camera, Adil says two things matter: give it a duration and label the subjects A, B, C. (00:21:43)
restate · Is generating video in 4K worth it over 1080p? — Adil says that in Seedance 2.0 4K everything set up beforehand, the light, the palette and the details, actually shows on screen. (00:14:58)
refine · Is generating video in 4K worth it over 1080p? — Adil says Seedance 2.0 in 4K gave almost zero slop on the objects in the fan scene, with every take of the first batch usable. (00:30:08)
refine · How do you direct a multi-shot sequence? — Adil's tip for placing characters: start the video with a wide establishing shot, and Seedance 2.0 places everyone where they need to be and keeps them locked for the whole video. (00:17:44)
restate · How do you direct a multi-shot sequence? — With too much happening in one 15-second dialogue scene, Adil splits the scene in two so it no longer feels rushed. (00:27:27)
refine · How do you make a voice-over for a video? — For a voiceover line over the flashback, Adil generates a separate shot of Santiago talking in the office just to grab the line, and overlays its audio. (00:25:17)
mentioned · Adil goes from bartender in Canada to premiering an AI film in Cannes — Adil says the tips in the second half of the Santiago breakdown are the ones that helped his team make the full AI movie they presented in Cannes. (00:20:05)
restate · What does an AI clip, shot or film cost? — Adil uses Soul Cinema for characters because it gives a different character on every run for less than half a credit, so he always has options to pick from. (00:05:29)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Higgsfield: break down how the same voice was kept in every scene of the Seedance 4K film, in the next video (2026) — kept

Mentioned

Central: Claude · Santiago (production) · Seedance 2.0

Also: Concepts: AI look · character sheet · dutch angle · match cut · negative prompt · product sheet · speed ramp · whip pan

Products: Cinema Studio · Cinematic Locations · Claude Fable 5 · Elements · GPT Image 2 · Seedance prompt Claude Skill (Santiago) · Soul Cinema

Only in the description or credits: 180-degree rule

Also centred on Santiago (production): How To Direct an AI Short Film Like a Filmmaker (Full Workflow + Prompts) · Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Thinking like a director · Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Age your character for flashbacks · Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: The prompt-builder skill and first Seedance run · Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Scene 2 assets: kit, keeper, stadium · Build an Ultra-Realistic Short Film in 4K: Write the script with story structure

← Previous: How to Make Realistic AI Talking & LipSync Videos in 2026 (Avatars, Voice & Consistency) · Next → Changelog: Higgsfield App Contest. $100,000 for the best apps