Every AI video tutorial tells you to "describe the scene in detail." Almost none tell you how to keep the SAME character across a 25-second video, or how to reproduce a specific film look instead of a vague "in the style of."
I've shipped 30+ AI shorts (character PVs, a 35s photorealistic slice-of-life film, style-replication tests). These are the rules that actually survived production:
1. Never generate long. Segment by story beats.
Models are stable for ~5-10s. A 25s video = 3 segments × 8.4s. A 35s film = 5 segments. Cut on narrative beats, generate independently, stitch in your editor.
2. The Character Lock Block
Write your character ONCE as a fixed block — hair, eyes, outfit, signature accessories, special traits — and paste it VERBATIM into every segment prompt. Miss one item, that item drifts.
3. For style replication: image-to-video beats text, every time
Writing "X's art style" gets you an approximation. Feed 1-2 real stills as reference images, keep motion minimal (slow push-in, micro-movement), and let the reference carry the look.
4. Independent generation + same reference > tail-frame chaining
Chaining from the previous segment's last frame drifts the worst (faces and outfits quietly mutate). Re-anchor every segment to the same character sheet instead.
5. Pre-delivery frame check
Same face? Accessories complete? Outfit colors unswapped? Prop states continuous (a bottle cap can only be open AFTER the segment where it opens)? No stray generated text? Re-run single segments, never the whole film.
I packaged the full system — the complete methodology plus 36 ready-to-fill templates (character PVs, slice-of-life, e-commerce, mini-drama storyboards, pets, ambience loops) — here:
👉 AI Short-Video Prompt Pack Vol.1
Every template lists the tool, aspect ratio, duration and segmentation it was verified with. $4.99, pay once, yours forever.
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