Most AI video projects do not fall apart because the model is incapable, they fall apart because the character in shot two does not quite look like the character in shot one. The face is slightly off. The hair has shifted. The wardrobe has changed in a way nobody approved. Once that drift starts, every generation that follows has to fight upstream against it.
In the first installment of The Build, our GenAI Creator and Editor Alexander Rydell walks through the technique we use to prevent that problem before it starts. Here’s the framework behind it.
Start With a Clear, Specific Character Definition
The first move is also the most important one. Before any generation happens, the character needs to be defined in detail. Not “a woman in her thirties,” but a specific set of traits that will hold across every shot.
That includes the obvious anchors: age, face shape, hair, skin tone, wardrobe. It also includes the less obvious ones: posture, demeanor, how the character carries themselves. The more specific the definition, the less room the model has to interpret. Interpretation is where drift lives.
This is the part of the process that often gets rushed. A vague character definition leads to a character that morphs every time you generate, and no amount of prompt patching downstream will fully fix it. The discipline up front is what makes everything that follows possible.
Build a Structured Prompt That Locks the Details In
Once the character is defined, the next move is to build a structured prompt that captures every locked-in detail in a consistent format. This is the seed your character will grow from.
A structured prompt is not a long sentence. It is a deliberately organized set of attributes that the model can read and reproduce reliably. The structure matters as much as the content, because it gives you a repeatable foundation you can reuse across scenes. Same structure, same character, same result.
When you generate your first version of the character and it feels right, you have your anchor. That generation becomes the reference point everything else builds against.
Generate a Turnaround Sheet as Your Reference Asset
This is where the workflow becomes truly repeatable. Take your approved character and generate a turnaround sheet: a close-up, a front view, a side view, a three-quarter view, and a back view, all in a neutral pose on a plain background.
The turnaround is not a creative asset. It is a reference asset. A clean, neutral document of who this character is, free from scene-specific lighting, environments, or styling. It is what you return to every time you need to place the character in a new shot.
The value of this step is hard to overstate. Without a turnaround, every new shot is starting from scratch. With one, you have a consistent foundation that lets you generate the same person across an entire project, at any angle, in any setting.
Keep Wording Consistent to Prevent Drift Over Time
The last piece of the discipline is the smallest one, and the one that gets skipped most often. When you describe your character in prompts across a project, use the same wording every time.
Same phrasing for traits. Same order of attributes. Same vocabulary for wardrobe and physical features. Small changes in language create small changes in output, and across a long project, those small changes compound. A character that started crisp can slowly drift into something unrecognizable simply because the language describing them shifted. Consistent wording is what keeps the character intact across dozens or hundreds of generations.
Why This Matters for Brand-Ready AI Video
For client work, a character that drifts is not a stylistic problem. It is a deliverable problem. Brands need talent they can rely on across spots, sequences, and campaigns. AI-generated characters can absolutely meet that bar, but only when the production process around them is built to enforce consistency from the first prompt to the final frame.
This is what production expertise looks like when applied to generative AI. The model does not produce a reliable character on its own. The workflow does.
Watch the workshop above for the full walkthrough, and stay tuned for the next installment of The Build.
If you’re ready to discuss how AI video can fit into your marketing mix, set up a quick call with one of our experts for a no-pressure consultation.
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