AI video · Case study
Tradecraft: character correction, a four-shot prompt and a 61-second film
Watch the film, then trace the shared character file, environments, storyboard, twelve-second four-shot prompt and edit decisions.
Published · Reviewed
The work and part of its process are inspectable; no client order, income or profit is evidenced.
Check this resultTradecraft began with Ryan Duggan's own fantasy-football story and became a short film. He did not send one long prompt straight to a video model: his Story Guru and First A.D. projects helped examine the script and shots, followed by characters, environments and still storyboards before Seedance 2.5 clips and editing. The public files include an actual twelve-second four-shot prompt, while the making-of retains a character image that turned Danny into an unintended muscular man. The useful question for a reader is how a mistake changed the character description, how images were prepared before motion and how editorial choices made the film work.
Verified material
Start with the 61-second film
The maker's channel provides both the complete film and a separate process breakdown.
Tradecraft is a complete film of roughly 61 seconds that turns a fantasy-football trade between brothers into a spy joke. At the end, a child catches Uncle Danny at Dad's computer again. A separate 10:34 breakdown walks through conception, characters, environments, boards, generation, audio and spend. Both YouTube videos are credited to Ryan Duggan. Seeing the film first helps separate the final images from decisions shown in the process account.
This is a maker-led personal project. The public record establishes a finished film and documented production steps, but includes no client brief, campaign dashboard, contract or settlement. Visual polish does not establish a sale or profit.
Sources for this section: Ryan Duggan: complete Tradecraft film · Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Ryan Duggan's original post about the personal short
Public account
The maker wrote the story; AI helped examine it and plan shots
Story Guru, First A.D. and Hold State served story review, shot planning and record-keeping.
Duggan wrote a spy-flavoured joke about a fantasy-football trade with his brother Danny, then used two Claude projects he built: Story Guru to challenge story logic and First A.D. to organize filmable shots. Their instructions are in the shared folder. The projects did not decide why he wanted to tell the story; he judged which shots served it.
He used his Hold State app to retain prompts, model choices and timing, with assets organized by character and setting. The making-of shows clips and shots prearranged before final video generation. That record makes it possible to revisit a specific character, set or shot instead of guessing among unnamed outputs. The shared pack shows the method, not every generation or his personalized Midjourney style.
Sources for this section: Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Maker's six shared production files · Shared pack README and usage note · Ryan Duggan's original post about the personal short
Public account
A likeness cue turned an ordinary character into a muscular man
The wrong image appears in the breakdown; the character file documents removing the cue and describing an ordinary middle-aged face.
The character file says a Jason Statham-style head-shape cue led Midjourney to produce a batch of overly muscular versions of Danny. The making-of shows the unwanted look at about 4:33. The problem was not insufficient resemblance: the celebrity cue shifted body and tone away from the ordinary middle-aged brother needed for this story.
Rather than piling restrictions onto the celebrity comparison, he removed it and specified an ordinary face, normal proportions, a close-fitting dark cap on a balding head and short scruffy stubble. The file gives before and revised descriptions and the video shows the bad image. There is no fixed seed, complete generation log or controlled pair, so this is not a one-word A/B proof. Selection and later image work also shaped the final character.
Documented process
A traceable character-description correction
The maker's file records the wording change, his breakdown shows the failed look and the finished film shows the chosen character. Each source answers a different question.
Earlier wording · celebrity head-shape cue
The character file records the cue and the resulting mismatch with an ordinary brother.
Read the original character fileWrong look · around 4:33 in the breakdown
The video shows the overly muscular result; BitShovel did not recreate it.
See the maker's failed imageRevised wording · remove the analogy
Directly describes an ordinary middle-aged face, cap and stubble before the maker selects a usable look.
Check the revised descriptionFinal character · see the selected look
The film shows the selected character, not a single controlled after image.
Return to the film
Evidence limitThe maker's video and file document this correction, not a universal causal effect from one phrase. His personalized Midjourney style and complete reference set are not shared.
Sources for this section: Original Danny character prompt file · Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Ryan Duggan: complete Tradecraft film
Public account
Build settings and still frames before motion
Location colours drifted, so the maker corrected them in Photoshop and tested composites.
Duggan generated unoccupied settings in Midjourney first. The breakdown and environment file report inconsistent colour across views of one world; he corrected it in Photoshop, then used image tools in Weavy to place characters into the adjusted locations. A felt-like character texture did not carry into Seedance motion, so he accepted a smoother animated look and adjusted later style wording to make the film coherent.
The making-of shows a still storyboard around 5:41; he checked whether images and shots would join before spending on motion. He also reports missing hands or arms and a grey character-card background leaking into a scene, then adding constraints. The public record does not map every bad shot to complete inputs, repaired clips and retry counts, so these remain the maker's account rather than a constructed A/B comparison.
Sources for this section: Original environment prompt file · Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Original Danny character prompt file
Verified material
An actual twelve-second, four-shot prompt
The shared file separates identity, setting, cast size, timing, cuts and audio.
The maker shares a Seedance 2.5 prompt used for an opening section of about twelve seconds. It establishes a 16:9 three-dimensional toy-like look, asks for sound effects without generated music and keeps exactly two people on screen. @Image1 and @Image2 anchor character identity; @Image3 and @Image4 anchor the exterior and porch. Grey backgrounds from character cards are not meant to become story locations. Assigning each reference a role is more precise than asking the model to use all images indiscriminately.
The file then divides the clip into four beats—0–3.5, 3.5–6.5, 6.5–8 and 8–12 seconds—with actions, hard cuts and camera boundaries, repeating the camera rule at the end. It is one multi-shot generation input, not the sole prompt for the 61-second film. Duggan says music sometimes appeared despite the no-score instruction. The file proves the instruction was given, not that every output obeyed it.
Documented process
From reference roles to one four-shot generation
Open the maker's complete prompt to inspect one opening segment. BitShovel explains its structure without reproducing the full prompt.
Character references · @Image1/2
Anchor the two identities without importing the character-card backgrounds.
Inspect the reference rolesSetting references · @Image3/4
Assign exterior and porch references and constrain the cast.
Read the setting constraintsFour time windows · action and cuts
Four windows carry distinct shot tasks, with camera limits stated within and after them.
Read the complete four-shot promptOpening edit · inspect its use
Inspect the final opening edit; the film is not necessarily an untouched generation.
Watch the film's opening
Evidence limitThe file gives one actual input, not every retry, all reference images or a controlled prompt A/B. Editing and sound followed, and the twelve-second prompt cannot account for the whole 61-second film.
Sources for this section: Original Seedance 2.5 four-shot opening prompt · Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Ryan Duggan: complete Tradecraft film
Public account
Generation made footage; the director chose what stayed
The maker reports 23 saved video generations among 155 saved outputs; several scenes were cut for pace.
The maker says five working sittings across three days produced 155 saved generations, 23 of them videos. That is not 155 video runs or 155 accepted shots. His breakdown shows prearranged shots, selected material and finishing; roughly three or four scenes were cut for pace. The final 61 seconds reflect those decisions, not one long-form generation command.
Video clips were chiefly generated through Seedance 2.5 in Weavy; the maker also names Topaz for moving 720p footage to 1080p, Photoshop and After Effects for finishing, and ElevenLabs for audio. These tools served different stages rather than each producing the whole film. The six-file pack is not a complete edit project or audio-mix archive, so it shows division of work and order, not a one-click way to reproduce the film.
Sources for this section: Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Shared pack README and usage note
Public account
“Under $50” covers Weavy credits only
An existing Midjourney subscription and other tool and labour costs are not fully accounted for; shared files are not a media republication licence.
Duggan says the Weavy credits cost less than $50 on top of the Midjourney subscription he already had. That describes one part of generation spend: other tools, existing subscriptions, labour and finishing are not fully itemized. No client contract, platform payout, income or profit is published. Under $50 is neither the total project cost nor evidence of earnings.
The maker shares six process files without signup, including instructions for his two Claude projects, character and setting descriptions, a Seedance shot structure and a README. The README invites learning, use and modification but provides no standard open-source licence or separate permission for BitShovel to copy the film, character images or complete prompt files. We link to the originals and explain them in our own words. A new project should begin with material one may use and keep records of spend, failures and selected shots.
Sources for this section: Ryan Duggan: How I made Tradecraft · Maker's six shared production files · Shared pack README and usage note
Sources and limits
Where the material comes from
- Ryan Duggan: complete Tradecraft filmMaker's finished YouTube filmChecked
Shows the roughly 61-second result and chosen characters, not finances or distribution analytics.
- Ryan Duggan: How I made TradecraftMaker's 10:34 process breakdownChecked
Story, character error, sets, boards, generation, audio, editing and reported credit spend.
- Ryan Duggan's original post about the personal shortMaker's firsthand postChecked
The maker describes a 61-second spy short about his brother and a fantasy-football trade.
- Maker's six shared production filesMaker's public process folderChecked
Project instructions and character, setting and video prompts for inspection; not a complete project or media licence.
- Shared pack README and usage noteMaker's READMEChecked
Defines the pack and its learn/use/change language; no standard licence is specified.
- Original Danny character prompt fileMaker's character fileChecked
The celebrity head-shape cue, unwanted muscular result and revised ordinary middle-aged description.
- Original environment prompt fileMaker's environment fileChecked
Setting references and Photoshop colour correction, supplemented by the visual breakdown.
- Original Seedance 2.5 four-shot opening promptMaker's actual video-generation inputChecked
Reference roles, four time windows, cuts, sound and camera rules for a roughly twelve-second segment.