ugc-video-prompts

UGC-Style Video Prompts

Core principle

Video models are decent at motion but worse than image models at solving "doesn't look AI" from zero — skin, lighting, and identity drift across many frames in ways a single still doesn't. Don't text-to-video a UGC clip from scratch. Generate the anchor still first (with the ugc-photo-prompts skill, or reuse one already in the media library), then animate it. The still already solved realism; the video model only has to solve movement and speech, which is what it's actually good at.

The pipeline

1. Anchor still. Already exists in the media library, or generate one with ugc-photo-prompts. This locks subject identity, wardrobe, product, lighting, and skin texture before any motion is added.
2. Motion prompt. Describe only what changes from that frame — camera behavior, body motion, speech. Don't redescribe the subject/setting; the still already carries that.
3. Model pick. Based on whether the beat needs synced dialogue, multiple combined references, or just clean simple motion — see the table below.
4. One clip = one beat. A full UGC ad is a sequence of short jump-cut beats (hook, demo, reaction, CTA), not one continuous shot. Generate each beat as its own clip off the same anchor (or a small consistent set of anchors), then cut them together on the timeline.
5. Lock the voice across beats. Same problem as appearance drift, different mechanism — describe the voice explicitly in every beat's prompt (or pin it with a referenceAudioMediaRefs clip on Seedance) so the speaker doesn't sound like a different person from one cut to the next.

Motion-prompt formula

The still already did slots 1–4 and 6–8 from the photo formula. This is just what's added for motion:

1. Seed reference. State plainly that this animates the provided still — most models infer this from startFrameMediaRef/referenceImageMediaRefs alone, but naming it keeps the prompt focused on change, not redescription.
2. Camera behavior. Default to handheld micro-shake or a static phone propped on a surface — not a smooth gimbal move or a dolly/crane. "Smooth cinematic camera move" is as strong an AI tell in video as studio lighting is in stills.
3. Subject motion. Small, continuous, natural movement — a weight shift, a blink, hair moving, a hand gesture mid-sentence. Avoid big choreographed actions unless the beat specifically calls for one (e.g., the demo beat).
4. Speech, if any. Put the exact line in quotes, written the way someone actually talks — contractions, a small pause, not ad copy. "okay wait this actually smells amazing" reads as real; "Introducing our revolutionary new formula" doesn't, regardless of delivery. If this speaker appears in more than one beat, describe the voice itself — and always include all four: pitch, tone, accent, and pace, not just one or two. "A warm, slightly raspy voice" alone is incomplete; "a warm, friendly tone, medium-pitched, neutral American accent, relaxed conversational pace" is the actual bar. Reuse that exact wording verbatim in every beat's prompt — each generate_video call has no memory of any other, so the same anchor face will get a different voice per clip unless all four are pinned down explicitly every time. Seedance can do better than words: pass the rendered audio from beat one as a referenceAudioMediaRefs input on later beats to lock the actual voice rather than approximate it in text.
5. Duration matched to the beat. Pick the shortest duration the model offers that fits one beat (often 4–6s) rather than padding a single clip to cover multiple actions — multi-action clips are where motion starts looking choreographed.
6. Negative motion cues. Add: no smooth gimbal stabilization, no cinematic camera move, no professional production polish, no overly choreographed motion, no studio lighting. Carry over the standing negative list from ugc-photo-prompts for the visual frame itself.

Model selection

Grounded in this project's actual model catalog and observed behavior, including real failures — not just the catalog spec sheet.

Default to Grok Imagine Video or Kling V3 for most beats. Between those two: Kling for anything needing a longer or more nuanced line, Grok when a quick draft is enough.

Model	Best for	Notes
Grok Imagine Video	Default pick for most beats	Renders synced dialogue audio with accurate lip-sync in this project's tests. Caps at 720p — fine for most UGC use, not a 4k hero asset.
Kling V3 / Kling O3	Default pick, especially longer/dialogue-heavy beats	Renders synced dialogue audio automatically when the prompt has a quoted line — confirmed repeatedly in this project. O3 allows more references (7 vs 3) if anchoring more than one element. Up to 4k, 3–15s, 16:9/9:16/1:1.
Seedance 2 / Seedance 2 Mini	Beats combining multiple elements — person + product + a reference audio style	Never default to 1080p/4k on Seedance 2 — it's expensive. If a beat doesn't specifically need that resolution, use Seedance 2 Mini (720p cap) instead, and if full Seedance 2 at 1080p/4k seems warranted, tell the user it costs significantly more and let them opt in manually rather than generating it by default. Most flexible model otherwise: up to 9 image refs, 3 video refs, 3 audio refs, 12 total combined.
Veo 3.1 / Veo 3.1 Fast	Avoid as a default — use only if the user names it specifically	Fails with a content-checker error often in this project (multiple failures across unrelated prompts/anchors in testing here) — unpredictable enough that it's not a safe default pick even though output quality is good when it works.

Hailuo 2.3 Pro and other catalog models are available but not part of the default rotation — only reach for them if the user asks by name.

Running this inside Palmier Pro

1. Get the anchor. Check get_media for an existing still that fits; otherwise generate one via. If you have the skill, check ugc-photo-prompts first.
2. Match the canvas. get_timeline for the project's width/height/fps before picking aspect ratio and duration.
3. Generate. generate_video with startFrameMediaRef set to the anchor still's id (most models), or referenceImageMediaRefs if using Seedance to combine multiple elements. Apply the motion-prompt formula above.
4. Verify. Async, same as images — get_media or inspect_media on the placeholder id, confirm generationStatus is none before treating it as ready. One short wait and recheck, don't poll in a loop.
5. Assemble the beats. Once each beat clip is ready, add_clips/insert_clips onto the timeline in sequence; use split_clip/ripple_delete_ranges to tighten cuts between beats rather than leaving each clip at its full generated duration.
6. Voiceover-only alternative. If a beat doesn't need lip-synced dialogue (pure b-roll with a VO laid over it), use generate_audio (TTS) separately instead of forcing a dialogue-capable video model — cheaper and the audio doesn't have to match mouth movement at all.

Reference-image rule

Worked example

Continuing the skincare-serum still from ugc-photo-prompts: animate it on Kling V3 with a spoken hook line — "Starting from this image: she glances down at the bottle in her hand, then looks back up at the camera with a small grin and says, in a warm, friendly tone, mid-pitched voice, neutral American accent, relaxed conversational pace, 'okay wait, this actually smells amazing,' a slight handheld shake throughout, no cinematic camera move, no smooth gimbal, no studio lighting, no professional production polish." That's the hook beat. The demo beat (her actually applying it) and a CTA beat would each be separate, shorter clips off the same anchor — and the full voice description ("a warm, friendly tone, mid-pitched voice, neutral American accent, relaxed conversational pace") gets repeated verbatim in both, not just implied by reusing the same face.

Guardrails

• Build fictional, generic personas — don't generate a specific real, identifiable person without their consent, and don't use this to recreate a named public figure's likeness.
• Keep wardrobe/pose/action choices brand-safe and non-sexualizing by default; only go further if the user explicitly asks for it.