You generate a great first shot, then in the next clip your character has a different face, hair or jacket. Character drift is the most common complaint in AI video, and it is mostly solvable with the right inputs.
Why characters drift
Each generation starts from noise and your prompt. Unless you give the model something fixed to copy, it re-imagines details every time. Words like "a young woman with brown hair" describe millions of people. References and repeated anchors narrow that down.
The workflow that works
- Create a character sheet. Generate or photograph your character from the front, three-quarter and side, in the same outfit and lighting. Use plain backgrounds.
- Write a fixed character description of 2–4 traits and reuse it word for word in every prompt: "Maya: short black bob, round silver glasses, mustard-yellow raincoat."
- Use image-to-video or reference mode instead of pure text-to-video for every shot with the character.
- Keep lighting and lens consistent across shots. A face lit differently looks like a different person.
- Generate short clips and cut them together. Drift grows with length.
- Use the last frame of one clip as the first frame of the next for continuous scenes. See first and last frame generation.
Reference features by model
- Google Veo 3.1: up to 3 reference images of a single person, character or product (Standard and Fast).
- Kling 4.0: up to 15 reference assets, including up to 7 subjects, which can carry a specified voice.
- Seedance 2.5: up to 30 images, 10 video clips and 10 audio clips as references in one generation; ByteDance highlights keeping multiple characters' appearance and voices stable.
- MiniMax H3: reference mode with up to 9 images, 3 videos and 3 audio clips.
- Wan 3.0: reference-to-video mode focused on consistent faces, clothing, props and style.
- Gemini Omni Flash: subject references from multiple images and up to 3 short video references.
Sources are listed at the end of this article. Feature availability depends on the platform you use.
Prompt pattern
Use reference image 1 for Maya's face, hair and outfit; keep them exactly the same. Maya (short black bob, round silver glasses, mustard-yellow raincoat) walks into a bookstore, shakes rain off her umbrella and smiles at the cashier. Medium shot, slow dolly-in, warm interior light. Ambient rain and a door bell.
Troubleshooting
- Face changes mid-clip: shorten the clip and avoid the character turning fully away from camera.
- Outfit details change: name the details in every prompt and show them clearly in the reference.
- Two characters merge: reference each character separately and describe their positions ("Maya on the left, Leo on the right").
- Style shifts between shots: keep the same style words and color palette in every prompt.
Related guides
- Kling 4.0 prompt guide
- Cinematic AI video prompt templates
- Faceless YouTube niches using AI video
- How to Make AI Videos Longer Than 10 Seconds
Practise the workflow with image-to-video in the TextVidAI generator.
FAQ
How do I keep the same face in every AI video?
Use a reference image or image-to-video for every shot, reuse a fixed description, keep lighting consistent and keep clips short.
Which AI video model is best for consistent characters?
Models with strong reference systems: Seedance 2.5 and Kling 4.0 accept the most references; Veo 3.1 and MiniMax H3 also support reference images.
Sources
- Google: Veo 3.1 documentation
- Kling: Introducing Kling 4.0
- ByteDance Seed: Seedance 2.5
- MiniMax H3 model card
- Alibaba Cloud: Wan 3.0
- Google: Gemini Omni Flash documentation
Last updated: October 9, 2026.