Why your AI video looks wrong, and how to fix it

How to use this list

Change one thing per attempt. If you change the prompt, the image and the duration at once, you will not know which one helped. Keep a short log of what you tried.

1. The subject morphs or melts

• Likely cause: too much motion, or a clip that is too long.
• Try: ask for a slower, smaller movement, shorten the duration, and add a constraint such as keep the shape unchanged.

2. The logo or label changes

• Likely cause: small details are the hardest for the model to hold constant.
• Try: use a sharper source image, a static or slow camera, and a clear constraint. Add the logo or text again in an editor if it still drifts.

3. The model ignores part of the prompt

• Likely cause: the prompt asks for several actions at once or contains contradictions.
• Try: keep one subject action and one camera move. Put the most important instruction first.

4. The camera does something unexpected

• Likely cause: no camera instruction, or conflicting ones such as zoom in and pull back.
• Try: name exactly one move, for example a slow push-in, and say the camera does not otherwise move.

5. A face drifts away from the original

• Likely cause: faces change as the clip lengthens or when the head moves a lot.
• Try: use a high-resolution portrait, ask for subtle motion only, and shorten the clip. Only animate photos of people who have given consent.

6. Text is garbled

• Likely cause: video models are unreliable at rendering readable text.
• Try: avoid text in the scene and add it in an editor afterward.

7. The motion is too fast or too slow

• Likely cause: no speed cue in the prompt.
• Try: add words like slowly, gently or smoothly, or the opposite for energetic motion, and keep the rest of the prompt unchanged.

8. The framing is wrong for the platform

• Likely cause: the wrong aspect ratio was selected.
• Try: generate in the final ratio, for example 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, instead of cropping a wide clip.

9. Results vary a lot between runs

• Likely cause: AI generation is not deterministic.
• Try: generate several versions per prompt and keep the best one. Save prompts that work and reuse their structure.

When to change approach

If a problem persists after a few simple changes, switch method. Use image-to-video instead of text-to-video for anything that must look exact, split a complex idea into several short shots, or finish the hard parts, such as text and logos, in an editor.