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name: varg-video-prompting description: >- How to prompt varg's video, image, voice and music models so shots come out right on the first or second take: the working loop (references, look bible, environment master, character sheets, approved stills, audio lock, animate, QA), which model for which shot (Seedance 2.5, Kling 4, Veo 3.1, Wan 3, Nano Banana 2.1, GPT Image 2.5, ElevenLabs v4, Lyria, lip sync), prompt anatomy for video, stills and edits, what @image1, @video1 and @audio1 references copy, dialogue and voice rules, a frame and audio QA checklist, and gotchas from paid runs. Use when someone asks to "prompt Seedance", write a Kling or Veo prompt, pick a "varg video model" or asks "which model", does "image to video" or "video to video", needs a "consistent character" or location, makes "storyboard stills" or key frames, wants dialogue or lip sync, or asks why a clip looks like AI slop, drifted or ignored the prompt. license: MIT metadata: author: vargHQ version: "1.0.0" openclaw: requires: anyBins: - curl - ffmpeg homepage: https://varg.ai compatibility: >- Needs the varg MCP connection (https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp, OAuth sign-in) or a VARG_API_KEY for https://api.varg.ai/v2 (see the varg-ai skill). QA uses ffmpeg and ffprobe locally when available; otherwise the MCP analyze_video tool and the hosted ffmpeg tool. allowed-tools: Bash(curl:) Bash(ffmpeg:) Bash(ffprobe:) Bash(jq:) Read Write Edit

varg video prompting

This skill is what a team that makes video on varg every day learned the expensive way: which model to use for which shot, how to write the prompt, what each reference actually copies, and how to check the result before anyone sees it. It extends the basics in varg-ai (references/prompting.md has the shot, lens and light vocabulary); it does not repeat them.

Calling the tools (sign-in, call_tool, jobs, uploads): references/mcp-tools.md. Copy-paste prompts: references/prompt-templates.md. Per-model quirks: references/models.md. Real runs and what they taught: references/examples.md.

0. Five rules before any prompt

1. Fix stills, not clips. A 5 s Seedance 2.5 clip at 720p costs about as much as 25-35 Nano Banana stills. The video model keeps every fault of its first frame or reference. Approve stills, then animate.
2. Every recurring thing gets a frozen text and a frozen image. Character, place, prop and look each get one paragraph pasted word for word into every prompt, plus one approved image passed as a reference.
3. The model draws what you name. Similes become objects, "keep the top calm" becomes a dark band, "TV static" becomes grey mush, a prop in a reference shows up in the shot. Write only what should be visible.
4. Text, logos, UI and numbers are never generated. End every image and video prompt with a no-text line and draw all type in code afterwards (HyperFrames or the title and caption skills).
5. Price first, one pilot, then the batch. estimate_cost on one real request, run one clip of each kind, show it, wait for a go. Quote credits only, never money.

1. The working loop

Every step ends at a gate where the person looks at something cheap before anything expensive is made.

| Step | Make | Gate | Spend | |---|---|---|---| | 1. Brief | brief.md: format, length, platform, the one line to remember, references from real films and designers in refs.md (where to find them and how to skip the obvious pick: below), budget ceiling in credits, the person's own words verbatim with dates | person confirms | 0 | | 2. Look bible | one look line (medium, palette, lens, light quality, grain), one identity paragraph per character, one place paragraph per location, a Never list of 5 things this look would never do | person confirms the words | 0 | | 3. Environment master | one wide establishing still per location, no hero action, layout written as numbered elements. If several cameras share a set and geometry matters, a 3D blockout render first (threejs-animatic, varg-previz) | person approves the plate | a few stills | | 4. Character sheets | front, 3/4, profile, back + a large face crop on flat grey, no text; product or vehicle sheets with a person for scale (varg-character-design) | person approves | a few stills | | 5. Approved stills | one still per beat from master + sheets, on a numbered board (varg-mockups); fix faults here with surgical edits | every still OK at full size | ~6-16 credits each | | 6. Audio lock | every line written with its pauses, breaths and actions (section 7); 2-3 auditioned voices per character; the music track with its beats measured and marked (beats.json); an SFX list with timestamps | person picks each voice and approves the track; the takes are frozen | voice lines (~84 each, ~42 on Turbo) and music (~11 on Lyria, ~25 on Mureka) | | 7. Animate | one pilot per shot kind, then the batch, each run as long as its locked audio says; image-to-video from the approved still, or reference / video-to-video runs per location | pilot approved, batch quoted | the main cost | | 8. QA | measured checks, then a frame sheet + audio check per clip against its still, written as a defect list (section 9) | every clip passes or is re-rolled | 0 (local) or ~6 per analyze_video | | 9. Edit | cut, retime, lip-sync pass, text and graphics in code, loudness | person says ship it | lip-sync ~100 per shot |

Picture is cut to sound, not the other way round. Lock voice, dialogue and music before any clip is paid for: shot lengths come from the frozen takes and the beat grid (section 8), so each run is generated to a known length and every cut lands on a measured beat or the end of a line. A dialogue shot is still generated with sound on for the mouth (section 7); the locked take then replaces that sound by retime or lip-sync. Let the agent audition and shortlist voices; the person picks by ear.

References. Left alone, an agent picks the safe, average version of every look. Before the look bible, collect real references: film stills from Film-Grab, ShotDeck or Shot Cafe, curated Pinterest boards; name the feeling, skip the obvious first pick, and write down what each frame lends (palette, framing, lens, light, texture, motion). The look bible's Never list keeps later prompts from drifting back to the average. Sources, search patterns and the refs.md format: references/look-references.md.

Group shots by location: all coverage of one place comes from the same master and sheets, ideally one multi-shot generation with hard cuts, cut back into the timeline afterwards. A retake of one broken shot is a short run of just that shot, not the whole scene.

2. Which model for which shot

Credits are the public catalog's typical prices (varg-ai → references/models.md, October 2026); always confirm with estimate_cost. Live list: list_models or https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt.

| Task | Model | Why | Credits / time | |---|---|---|---| | Hero shot with people; several shots of one place in one take; video-to-video from a previz | seedance_2_5 | best faces and physical performance; ≤9 image, ≤3 video, ≤3 audio refs; 4-30 s; obeys timed hard cuts | ~210 per 5 s 720p, ~480 at 1080p; 480p drafts billed ~16/s in our runs; 3-5 min | | Animate an approved still faithfully; start-frame to end-frame moves; long calm single moves | kling_v4 | stays closest to the still (keeps everything in it, unwanted logos too); two files = start and end frame; native ambient audio | ~82 per 5 s 720p, ~123 at 1080p; 5-8 min per batch | | Cheap motion test before paying for the hero model | minimax_h3_max_turbo, kling_v4_flash, or the hero model at 480p | same prompt, lower price; upgrade the winner | ~42 per 5 s | | Best value text-to-video, lots of B-roll | wan_3 | top text-to-video rank, 2-30 s, refs; audio only through its provider option | ~53 per 5 s 720p | | Short shots that fit 4, 6 or 8 s, 16:9 or 9:16 only | veo_3_1 (_fast, _lite) | strong image-to-video, first/last frame | ~105 silent, ~210 with audio per 5 s | | Fastest top-tier clip, quick video edit | omni_flash_1_1 | ~30 s generation, 3-10 s | ~53 | | Many short clips for a fast-cut visualizer | seedance_2_mini | cheapest Seedance, 720p, 4-15 s, strict moderation | ~74 per 5 s | | Sheets, masters, scene stills, most edits | nano_banana_2_1 | ≤10 refs, holds identity, generates and edits | ~6 (1K), ~8 (2K), ~16 (4K) | | Stills that must follow exact instructions or a blockout's geometry; dense text designs | gpt_image_2_5 | #1 for text-to-image and edits; follows "mapping" instructions | several times a Nano Banana still, depends on quality tier: estimate | | Extend a still to a new aspect ratio, keeping its pixels | bria_fibo_edit_1_5_expand | outpaint without redrawing the subject | estimate | | Voice-over and character lines | eleven_v4 (eleven_v4_turbo for drafts) | audio tags such as [whispers], 90+ languages | ~84 / ~42 per line | | Song with vocals | lyria_3_5 | full songs, timestamped structure in the prompt | ~11 | | Instrumental bed | mureka_9_5 | instrumental only | ~25 | | Lip-sync onto a generated clip | sync_v3 (sync_v2_pro) | redraws only the mouth against the real voice | ~105 per short shot | | Talking head from one still + audio | veed_fabric_1_0; long talks minimax_h3_max_lipsync | simplest path; lively but restrained on shouts | ~160-470; ~10-20 per s | | Watch a clip and report what is in it | analyze_video (MCP) | timeline, transcript, on-screen text | ~6, same URL again is free |

Rules of thumb: Seedance for performance and multi-shot scenes, Kling 4 to move a frame you already love, a cheap model to test motion, 480p or 720p for drafts, 1080p only for faces that stay on screen. More in references/models.md; for Kling-specific prompting use kling-4-prompting.

3. Prompt anatomy: video

Long, structured prompts (up to a few hundred words) worked on Seedance 2.5 when every sentence was a fact about the frame. Kling 4 did best with a short director's prompt over strong key frames (kling-4-prompting). Write the blocks in this order (full template in references/prompt-templates.md):

1. Reference roles, one line each: @image1 is the woman's character sheet: same face, short copper hair, green rain jacket. For a previz or rough clip: @video1 is a black-and-white grey-box previz. Copy from @video1 ONLY the camera, the hard-cut timing and the blocking. Do not copy its look; the result must not look like @video1.
2. Winner rule when refs disagree: Where @image1 and @image2 differ in pose, light or setting, @image1 wins; @image2 only defines the person.
3. Counts and anatomy: Only one person in the room; every visible hand and sleeve belongs to her. She has exactly two arms. Her hands are empty: no phone, no card, no glowing object at any time.
4. Light of this run: weather, time, practical lights. Never put light in the shared look line.
5. Look line, verbatim from the bible.
6. Timed beats: 3 shots, hard cuts: then 1. 0.0-1.8 s. Medium close-up from the left: she .... Times are absolute from the clip start. One action per shot, a time for every event inside it (at 0.9 s the door slams).
7. Camera: one move per shot (push in, arc, crane). Never blend two moves in one shot.
8. Sound: either No dialogue, no lip-sync. plus the ambience you want, or the spoken line in quotes with its delivery (section 7).
9. Frame: Full-bleed 9:16 frame, no borders, no letterbox.
10. Text ban: No text, letters, numbers, logos or UI anywhere in the frame.

Image-to-video from one approved still (any model) is shorter, and d