The Omni reference sheet method.
A long prompt asks a video model to hold timing, identity, camera, motion, continuity, and an ending in working memory. An Omni reference sheet turns those instructions into one visual production blueprint the model can inspect at once.
Why one sheet can beat one long prompt
An Omni Reference Sheet is a single planning image that shows the subject, environment, beat timing, motion path, camera move, continuity locks, ending, and hard “do not” rules in one readable layout. The model can see the plan instead of reconstructing it from a paragraph.
Visual blueprint
Shorter prompt
Better consistency
Six moves, in order
Choose your template
Pick the duration and format: 5, 10, or 15 seconds; 16:9 or 9:16.
Give it to an image model
Attach the blank template, its matching instruction image, and any character, vehicle, location, lighting, or style references.
Describe the idea
A full scene idea or a rough partial idea is enough. The image model turns it into a completed reference sheet.
Move the completed sheet to Seedance
Upload the finished sheet and its supporting references to Seedance or Dreamina Omni Mode.
Use a short master prompt
Tell the model to follow the sheet and references. The duration and production plan already live in the image.
Refine the control surface
If the result is close, improve the sheet before making the text prompt longer.
Choose the amount of story first
The format follows the delivery surface: 16:9 for YouTube, vehicles, wide environments, and landscape action; 9:16 for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, mobile tutorials, and character-centered shots. Duration follows the number of useful beats—not how much footage you wish you had.
5 seconds
10 seconds
15 seconds
Fill the sheet with short, video-useful information: the beat plan, Critical Final Beat Lock, subject and environment anchors, motion/blocking map, camera and motion locks, continuity locks, Hard NO rules, a final one-sentence model command, and the storyboard or keyframe strip. The sheet should clarify the shot, not become another essay.
What to give the image model
Start with the blank template and its matching “How to Use” instruction image. Then add only the visual evidence the sheet needs:
- character or subject images
- vehicle or prop images
- location references
- lighting or mood references
- style references
- keyframes or previous-generation stills
The stronger your visual anchors are, the less the video model has to invent. The exact sheet-creation prompt and both master prompts stay beside the downloadable templates, where they are useful while you work.
What it is good at—and where it fails
This method is good at turning rough ideas into visual plans, helping Seedance read scene structure, maintaining a subject and environment, locking a motion direction, planning 5-, 10-, and 15-second clips, reducing random surprises, and teaching creators to direct instead of merely prompt.
It is not a frame-perfect control rig or a guarantee that every tiny label will be followed. The model can still interpret motion, timing, and details creatively. It works best with clear images and simple motion, and it works better when you improve the sheet before expanding the prompt. That trade is the sweet spot for idea-to-video exploration, tutorials, social clips, and cinematic tests: enough structure to stay coherent, enough flexibility to come alive.
Fix the sheet before the paragraph
Text or captions appear
Put NO TEXT OVERLAY, NO CAPTIONS, NO SUBTITLES in the Hard NO box.
The subject changes
Make the subject anchors larger and clearer. Add front, side, rear, and detail views.
The ending is wrong
Rewrite the Critical Final Beat Lock in larger, simpler language.
The action becomes chaotic
Use one subject, one direction, one motion path, and one dominant camera move.
Part of the idea is ignored
Put the important detail visually into the sheet. The sheet is the control surface.