Example scene
A company party. Lin Xia stands in the crowd and hears her own layoff announced. One wide shot for the room and one medium on her reaction, 7 seconds total.
Steps
Manage the lead and extras separately: the lead uses the master; extras get only a costume palette and a headcount.
Use the wide shot only to establish the room; give the lead no acting there and keep the crowd still or near-still.
In the medium, blur the crowd with shallow depth of field and give the lead at least the middle third of the frame.
Dress the lead in a colour that separates from the crowd, e.g. extras in dark formalwear, Lin Xia in a light grey jacket.
State in the video prompt that the crowd stays still or claps lightly, with a locked-off camera.
Check the wide shot for duplicated faces or merged bodies; if found, reduce the headcount and redo the first frame.
Prompts
Wide first frame
Company party in a hotel ballroom. About 20 employees in dark formalwear stand facing the stage, backs to camera; just right of centre in the crowd, a woman in a light grey jacket with shoulder-length black hair. Warm stage lighting, wide shot, high angle looking down, vertical 9:16. The banner on stage has no readable text.
Medium video
[Paste fixed character description, jacket changed to light grey] stands in the crowd. When the announcement lands, her smile freezes, the corners of her mouth slowly drop, and her gaze moves from the stage to the floor. The crowd around her is blurred and only claps lightly, no one walks. Locked-off camera. Keep her face, hair and jacket unchanged; no new people move toward her.
Negative
duplicated faces, merged bodies, crowd walking around, someone stepping in front of the lead, banner text, distorted faces
✕ Failed take
One shot said “a lively party crowd, the lead shocked among them” with a push-in through the crowd: three identical faces appear, someone walks across in front of her, and when Lin Xia reappears her hair has changed.
✓ Passing take
The wide shot instantly says “she's in the crowd”; the medium instantly shows her reaction. Pass criteria: no duplicated faces or merged bodies in the wide; lead sharp and crowd blurred in the medium; she's never blocked and her face matches the master.
Before/after clips are in production. Follow the steps and prompts to reproduce the result.
Related problems