AI Video Character Consistency

 This is currently the "Holy Grail" challenge in AI filmmaking. You are not alone—most creators struggle with this because AI models are designed to be random and imaginative, not consistent.

To solve this, you must stop trying to generate video directly from text. You cannot achieve character consistency with Text-to-Video alone.

Here is the professional workflow (The "Asset-First" Method) to fix character continuity.

The Golden Workflow: Image First, Video Second

The secret is to generate a perfect "Master Image" of your character first, and then use Image-to-Video tools to animate it.

Phase 1: Create Your "Anchor" Character

You need one consistent reference point.

1. The Midjourney --cref Method (Easiest & High Quality) If you use Midjourney, this is the game-changer.

  • Step A: Generate your character until you have the perfect look. Get the URL of that image.

  • Step B: For every new shot, add --cref [URL] to your prompt.

  • Step C: Use --cw (Character Weight).

    • Use --cw 100 to keep the face, hair, and outfit identical.

    • Use --cw 0 to keep only the face but change the outfit/body.

2. The "Character Sheet" Method Prompt for a "Character Sheet" (e.g., a character sheet of a cyberpunk detective, front view, side view, back view, white background).

  • Slice these images in Photoshop. These become your ground truth inputs for animation.

Phase 2: Animate with Image-to-Video (Img2Vid)

Once you have your consistent images from Phase 1, do not use text prompts to create the video. Use the image as the input.

Recommended Tools:

  • Runway Gen-3 Alpha / Gen-2: Upload your anchor image. Use the "Motion Brush" to highlight only the parts you want to move (like hair or eyes) to prevent the face from morphing.

  • Kling AI / Luma Dream Machine: These currently handle character preservation better than most. Upload your character image as the First Frame.

  • Leonardo AI: Excellent for subtle "Motion" animation that doesn't distort the face.

Pro Tip: Keep the "Motion" or "Creativity" settings LOW (usually around 3-4 out of 10). High motion forces the AI to hallucinate new details, which destroys facial consistency.

Phase 3: The "Fixer" Layer (Face Swapping)

Even with the best workflows, the face will slightly morph during animation. This is where professionals fix the continuity.

1. InsightFace (Discord Swap):

  • Upload your "Master Face" to the InsightFace bot.

  • Run your generated AI video clips through the bot. It will overlay the Master Face onto the video, ensuring 100% identity match across different clips.

2. ReActor / Roop (For Local/Stable Diffusion users):

  • If you are technical and use Stable Diffusion, the ReActor extension performs deepfake-style face replacement on every frame of your video to ensure the character looks identical.

Summary Checklist for Consistency

StepGoalTool
1Create Master CharacterMidjourney (using --cref) or Stable Diffusion (using LoRA)
2Generate ScenesGenerate the character in different poses as Images first.
3Animate ScenesRunway, Kling, or Luma (Image-to-Video mode).
4Fix FaceInsightFace (Post-production swap).

What to avoid

  • Avoid Text-to-Video for characters: Never type "A man walks down street" into Sora/Kling and expect it to look like the man from your previous clip. It won't.

  • Avoid Long Clips: AI loses consistency over time. Generate 3-5 second clips and stitch them together in an editor (Premiere/CapCut).

Prompt structure for Midjourney's Character Reference (--cref) feature

Here is the step-by-step workflow for using Character Reference (--cref) in Midjourney. This is the most reliable way to keep your actor looking the same across different scenes.

The Syntax

The basic formula you will type into Discord is:

/imagine prompt: [Scene Description] --cref [URL] --cw [0-100]

Step 1: Create Your "Master" Character

First, generate the character you want to star in your film. Do not stop until you have one image you love.

  1. Prompt: /imagine prompt: a cinematic shot of a rugged explorer, wearing a leather jacket, forest background --ar 16:9

  2. Select: Uphale (U1, U2, etc.) the version you like best.

Step 2: Get the Image URL

Midjourney needs a link to "see" your character.

  1. PC/Mac: Click the upscaled image in Discord so it expands. Right-click and select "Copy Link" (or "Copy Image Address").

  2. Mobile: Tap the image, tap the three dots (or Share icon), and copy the link.

    • Note: Ensure the link ends in .png, .jpg, or .webp.

Step 3: Use --cref to Move the Character

Now, let's put that character in a new location.

Scenario A: Keep Everything Same (Face + Clothes)

You want your explorer sitting in a cafe, wearing the same leather jacket.

  • Prompt: sitting in a modern cafe drinking coffee --cref [PASTE URL HERE] --cw 100

  • Explanation: --cw 100 (Character Weight 100) tells Midjourney to copy the Face, Hair, and Outfit exactly.

Scenario B: Keep Only the Face (Change Clothes/Body)

You want your explorer wearing a tuxedo instead of the leather jacket.

  • Prompt: wearing a black tuxedo, at a gala dinner --cref [PASTE URL HERE] --cw 0

  • Explanation: --cw 0 tells Midjourney to look ONLY at the face. It ignores the original outfit, allowing you to dress the character in new costumes while keeping the actor's identity.

Practical Example

Let's say your Master Image URL is http://image.png.

GoalYour Prompt
Same clothes, new action/imagine prompt: running away from an explosion --cref http://image.png --cw 100
New outfit, same face/imagine prompt: wearing a space suit, on the moon --cref http://image.png --cw 0
Slight outfit change/imagine prompt: wearing a winter coat --cref http://image.png --cw 50

Pro Tips for Continuity

  • Use the same Aspect Ratio: If your master image is --ar 16:9, try to keep your new generations in --ar 16:9 for the best results.

  • Multiple References: You can use more than one image to stabilize the look.

    • Syntax: --cref [URL1] [URL2]

    • This is useful if you have a "front view" and "side view" of your character.

Here is the specific prompt structure to generate a Character Turnaround Sheet. This gives you the same character from the front, side, and back in a single generation—a standard asset used in professional animation studios.

The "Character Sheet" Prompt Template

Copy and paste this structure into Midjourney, replacing the bracketed text with your character details.

Option 1: Photorealistic (For Live Action Style)

/imagine prompt: character sheet of [YOUR CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], full body, showing three angles: front view, side view, and back view. consistent character, neutral expression, standing straight, isolated on a white background, cinematic lighting, 8k, highly detailed --ar 3:2 --style raw

  • --ar 3:2: This wide aspect ratio provides enough horizontal space for three distinct poses.

  • white background: Makes it easy to crop these images later without background noise interfering.

  • --style raw: Reduces Midjourney's artistic "opinion," making the character look more like a neutral reference photo.

Option 2: Animated / Stylized (For Pixar/Anime Style)

/imagine prompt: character design concept sheet of [YOUR CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], split screen, multiple views including front view side view and back view, flat color, clean lines, white background --ar 3:2 --niji 6

  • --niji 6: This model (Niji Journey) is specifically tuned for anime and illustration styles and is often better at consistency than the standard model.

How to use this sheet for maximum consistency

Once you generate a sheet you like, don't just use the whole image. You have a powerful new workflow:

  1. Crop the images: Use any photo editor to slice the image into three separate files: front.jpg, side.jpg, and back.jpg.

  2. Multi-Reference Prompting: Now, when you generate a new scene, you can feed two angles into the --cref command to give the AI a 3D understanding of the head.

The Syntax for Dual-Reference:

/imagine prompt: [Scene Action] --cref https://design-encyclopedia.com/?T=Front%20View https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/face-side-view --cw 100

By giving the AI both the front and side URLs (separated by a space), you significantly reduce the chance of the AI "hallucinating" the shape of the nose or ears when the character turns their head in a video.

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