Video and UGC
Seedance 2.5 Prompts: 12 Ready-to-Use Examples for Video Ads
A vague prompt gets you a vague video. Twelve Seedance 2.5 prompts for ads you can copy, how each part works, and the pitfalls we hit along the way.
Written by Genly's AI team, reviewed by Marlon Bonink
· 7 min read
You type one sentence into Seedance 2.5 and get a beautiful video that sells nothing. Your product changes colour, or the camera sits still for eight seconds. That is usually the prompt, not the model. Here is the structure, plus 12 ad examples to copy.
Short answer: A strong Seedance 2.5 prompt follows the order ByteDance recommends: subject, action, scene, style, camera and sound. Give every reference a job ("@Image 1 is the product"), split the clip with per-second timestamps and describe what you do want to see. Add on-screen text afterwards: the model still misspells words.
How to structure a Seedance 2.5 prompt
Seedance 2.5 is ByteDance's video model for clips up to 30 seconds, with up to 50 references: images, video and audio. Features and pricing are on our Seedance 2.5 page.
The order in the short answer comes from the BytePlus tutorial; for ads, we add lighting and duration.
| Part | What you describe | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | Who or what, plus reference | @Image 1 is the product |
| Action | What happens in each beat | a hand pours the oil |
| Scene | Where it happens | stone kitchen counter |
| Lighting | Type of light, what is brightest | soft morning light |
| Style | The look | realistic commercial |
| Camera | Shot size and movement | close-up, slow push-in |
| Duration | Length and timestamps | 0-3s ... 3-8s |
| Sound | Music ( ), effects < >, dialogue { } |
<pouring> |
Two rules from the BytePlus prompt guide:
- Split the time sensibly. Too much per time block gives messy cuts; too little and the model improvises.
- Describe in the positive. Negatives only work for subtitles and audio ("no subtitles", "no BGM"), and even those slip through sometimes.
12 Seedance 2.5 prompt examples for ads
Brands are fictional, people are AI personas, format is 9:16. Upload your product photo as @Image 1.
1. Product shot: Verde Olive Co.
8 seconds, commercial look, morning light. @Image 1 is the product: keep the label exactly as shown.
0-3s: close-up, a hand sets the bottle on a stone counter.
3-8s: slow push-in, oil pours over a salad. <pouring>
One product, one action, label locked.
2. Faceless unboxing: Luna & Leaf
10 seconds, handheld phone footage, UGC style. @Image 1 is the jewellery box.
0-4s: first-person view, hands open the box on a bed. <paper rustling>
4-10s: hard cut, close-up, a hand holds the necklace up to the window.
No music.
No face or dialogue, so any voice-over fits.
3. UGC with a persona: Kettle Roasters
12 seconds, UGC style, kitchen. @Image 1 is the woman: keep her face and clothes. @Image 2 is the coffee bag.
0-4s: she opens the bag and smells it.
4-8s: hard cut, close-up, coffee pours into a mug.
8-12s: hard cut, she sips and says in English: {"Okay, this is my new morning."}
Separate references, and the English line is native audio.
4. Local service: Van Dam Painting
10 seconds, overcast daylight. A painter paints a window frame dark green.
0-4s: close-up of one slow brush stroke.
4-10s: hard cut to a wide shot from the street: the finished house.
The detail shows craft, the wide shot the result.
5. Before and after: Gleam Patio Cleaning
10 seconds, daylight. @Image 1 is the patio before cleaning, @Image 2 the same patio after.
0-4s: overhead shot as in @Image 1, a pressure washer cleans one strip.
4-10s: hard cut, same angle, the patio looks exactly like @Image 2.
Same angle, obvious difference. Use real photos, and keep before and after to things and places, not bodies or skin.
6. Hair salon: Snip & Co
8 seconds, warm salon light, shallow depth of field. A hairdresser blow-dries long brown hair.
0-4s: slow orbit around the chair. <hair dryer>
4-8s: hard cut, fingers run through the smooth hair. (soft lo-fi beat)
No promise, just a feeling.
7. Restaurant: The Weigh House
8 seconds, evening terrace. The candle is the brightest thing in the frame.
0-4s: close-up, a chef places a steak on a board. <sizzling>
4-8s: hard cut, two friends raise their glasses.
The candle is a yardstick that keeps it evening.
8. Bakery: Cornfield Bakery
8 seconds, early morning, warm oven light. A baker pulls sourdough loaves from the oven.
At 2s: one puff of flour dust. By 4s the air is clear.
4-8s: hard cut, close-up, hands break a loaf open, steam rises.
The flour cloud gets an end, otherwise it lingers.
9. Sale: Pedal Bike Shop
6 seconds, studio, soft white light. @Image 1 is the e-bike: keep colour and logo exactly as shown.
The bike turns slowly on a turntable. The top third of the frame is plain light grey.
Room for offer text, added later: Seedance still misspells words.
10. Hook: Greenfeed Plants
6 seconds, bright living room.
0-2s: a potted plant tips off a shelf, slow motion.
2-4s: a hand catches it just above the floor.
4-6s: hard cut, the plant back on the shelf.
Something unexpected in the first two seconds.
11. A 30-second story: Tally Bookkeeping
30 seconds, realistic, warm colours. @Image 1 is the man: keep his face and clothes.
0-8s: late evening, he sits at a table full of receipts.
8-18s: hard cut to a new camera position: he hands the receipts to a smiling accountant.
18-30s: hard cut to a new camera position: he plays football with his kids.
Problem, solution, result: a hard cut for every beat.
12. Editing an existing video: Wick Atelier
Edit @Video 1. Keep the candle, the hand and every movement exactly as they are. Change only the background: from a white wall to a cosy living room with a Christmas tree.
"Edit" makes it an edit. Describe the change from A to B and what stays.
Pitfalls: what we learned using Seedance 2.5
Our experience with Seedance 2.5 in Genly:
- Your prompt decides the task type. "Edit the supplied video" becomes an edit: length and shape follow your source video, which must be 4 to 30 seconds long (BytePlus).
- Say what something should be. "No lava texture" was ignored; "the same cream-white belly fur as in the first frame, opaque" worked.
- Give a yardstick, such as "no part is ever brighter than the moon".
- An effect is a moment, not a costume. Otherwise it stays for the whole clip.
- Ask for hard cuts. "One continuous take" often gives eight seconds of the same angle. Request a hard cut to a new camera position per beat.
- Not every language is built in. Seedance does not speak good Dutch, which is not among its 11 languages. In Genly, Dutch voice-over comes from a separate voice.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my own face as a reference?
Not directly: BytePlus does not accept references with real human faces. Use an AI persona; Genly registers those with the provider automatically.
What does a Seedance 2.5 video cost in Genly?
2 credits per second at 720p, so 10 credits for 5 seconds and 60 for 30 seconds. 480p costs half. Lite includes 100 credits for €39 a month; see the plans.
Do Seedance 2.0 prompts work in 2.5?
Mostly, but 2.5 understands per-second timestamps while 2.0 only responds to shot numbers. More differences in Seedance 3 vs Seedance 2.5.
The bottom line
A good prompt is a shot list, second by second. Start with one example and change one thing at a time. In Genly you prompt Seedance 2.5 directly, with your product and persona as references, and add a separate voice-over. New to this? Read how to make AI video ads.
Editor
Marlon Bonink
Co-founder of Genly
This article was written by Genly's AI team and reviewed by Marlon before it went live. How we work with AI: AI transparency.
