How to Create AI Videos with Seedance in Under 60 Seconds

AI video generation has come a long way, and ByteDance's Seedance models represent the cutting edge. Whether you're creating content for social media, marketing materials, or creative projects, Seedance makes it incredibly easy to bring still images to life.

What is Seedance?

Seedance is ByteDance's image-to-video AI model family. It takes a static image and a text prompt describing the desired motion, then generates a high-quality video. There are two variants available:

Seedance 1.0 Lite — Fast and affordable at just 36 credits per generation. Supports up to 1080p and 12-second duration. Perfect for quick iterations.
Seedance 1.0 Pro — Professional quality with 1080p default output. Superior motion coherence and cinematic results at 124 credits per generation.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Prepare Your Source Image

The quality of your source image directly impacts the output video. Here are some tips:

Use high-resolution images (at least 720p)
Ensure good lighting and clear subjects
Avoid overly complex scenes for your first attempts
Front-facing subjects work best for natural animation

2. Write Your Prompt

Your prompt should describe the motion you want to see, not the image itself (the model already sees the image). Focus on:

Action: "walking slowly", "hair blowing in the wind", "waves crashing"
Camera movement: "slow zoom in", "camera panning left"
Atmosphere: "cinematic lighting", "dramatic shadows"

Example prompts:

"The woman turns her head slowly and smiles, soft golden hour lighting"
"Waves crash against the rocks with dramatic spray, camera slowly zooms in"
"The flower blooms in time-lapse style, soft focus background"

3. Configure Settings

Resolution: Choose 720p for speed, 1080p for quality
Duration: Start with 5 seconds, extend up to 12 for longer scenes
Aspect Ratio: Match your platform — 16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for TikTok/Reels
Camera Fixed: Enable this to prevent unwanted camera movement

4. Generate and Download

Click Generate and wait 30-120 seconds depending on the model and settings. Once complete, preview your video and download it in full resolution.

Pro Tips

Start with Lite, finish with Pro: Use Seedance Lite for rapid iterations to find the right prompt, then switch to Pro for the final high-quality version.
Use End Frame control (Pro only): Upload an end frame image to guide where the animation should end up. Great for controlled transitions.
Lock the camera for portrait videos: When animating portraits or headshots, enable Camera Fixed to prevent unwanted camera drift.
Chain with Seedream: Generate your source image with Seedream first, then animate it with Seedance. This gives you full creative control over both the image and the motion.

What's Coming Next

Seedance 2.0 is currently in early access, offering cinema-grade generation with native audio synthesis, multi-shot narratives, and up to 2K resolution. Stay tuned for its public launch on Seedance.it.

Ready to create your first AI video? Sign up free and start with 50 credits — no credit card required.