How to keep characters consistent in AI videos
AI image models redraw a character from scratch in every scene. Here is how reference faces, a fixed description and a few prompt habits keep your hero recognisable from the first scene to the last.
You generate the first scene and your hero looks great. In the second scene he has a different jaw, in the third a different age. For a story channel that is fatal: viewers follow characters, and a face that changes every few seconds breaks the story.
Why AI images lose your character
An image model does not remember the last picture. Every scene starts from zero, and "a gunslinger in a black coat" can be drawn as a thousand different men. Writing a longer description helps a little, but the face is exactly the part words describe worst.
The reliable fix is to give the model a picture of the face instead of a description: a reference face.
Step by step in Seedflows
- Create the face once. In the Face Studio, upload a photo or generate a face, and give it the character's name, for example "Marcus".
- Detect the character names. On the Images setup, the Cast card lists the recurring names found in your script ("Detect character names"). Name your faces exactly like that.
- Pick the faces for this story. Under Reference faces, choose up to two faces.
- Assign them per scene. Turn on Per-segment style. The table gets Reference Face columns, so each scene uses only the faces of the people who are actually in it. A face never lands in an empty landscape shot.
- Generate, then fix single scenes. If one scene still drifts, regenerate just that scene instead of the whole batch.
Two faces per scene is the sweet spot. Dialogue scenes with two people work well. With three or more people in one frame, models start mixing faces, so stage crowded moments as two shots.
Five habits that keep characters stable
1. Fix the wardrobe in words
The reference face carries the face, not the clothes. Keep one short description per character, such as "long black coat, black hat, dark scarf", and keep it identical in every scene where that character appears.
2. Keep one image style per story
Switching from cinematic to watercolor between scenes changes how faces are drawn. Use one style for the story, and change it only on purpose, for example for a flashback.
3. Prefer medium shots for important moments
In a wide shot the face is a few pixels and can drift without anyone noticing. In a close-up or medium shot the reference face does its best work, so put emotional beats there.
4. Vary the camera, not the character
Long dialogue scenes stay alive when the camera moves: eye level, over the shoulder, top-down. The faces stay the same; only the angle changes.
5. Name characters consistently in the script
"Marcus", "Mark" and "the young man" look like three people to an AI. Use one name per character throughout the script, and the per-scene matching stays correct.
Quick checklist
- Face created and named exactly like the character in the script
- Per-segment style on, faces assigned only where the character appears
- Same wardrobe description in every scene
- One image style for the whole story
- Close-ups and medium shots for the important moments
Want the voices to match the performance? Read Expressive AI voiceover: laughs, whispers and pauses.