git:20260616.d8d5d29 to git:20260825.dc9bfc7

1 added, 1 removed. Audit A to A.

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name: epic-grandeur

description: A large-format epic cinematic video style — wide-to-extreme-wide framing, sweeping aerial scope, vast environmental scale, warm high-contrast film grade, and a grand awe-struck tone. Applies to whatever subject the user brings; keep their subject and wrap it in this look. Trigger on /epic-grandeur, "epic cinematic", "monumental / grand cinematic", "IMAX look", or "grand cinematic trailer" style requests.

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# Epic Grandeur

- A trailer-grade, large-format cinematic **style**, not a fixed scene. Keep the user's subject exactly as briefed — a city, a product, a person, a landscape — and render it through the look below. The style supplies the *look*; the user supplies the *what*. Tuned for **Seedance** (vm0's default video model): the prompt follows Seedance's `subject → scene → motion → camera → light → style` ordering, and framing/scale/negatives are expressed the way Seedance follows most reliably.

+ A trailer-grade, large-format cinematic **style**, not a fixed scene. Keep the user's subject exactly as briefed — a city, a product, a person, a landscape — and render it through the look below. The style supplies the *look*; the user supplies the *what*. Tuned for **Seedance** (the platform's default video model): the prompt follows Seedance's `subject → scene → motion → camera → light → style` ordering, and framing/scale/negatives are expressed the way Seedance follows most reliably.

## What this style is

**The essence:** a style whose whole job is to make the subject feel **monumental** — to overwhelm the viewer with scale and reverent awe, like the opening shot of a nature documentary or a prestige-film trailer. The goal is **awe**, not beauty, tension, or nostalgia; every choice below is a means to that end.

**Touchstones** (anchor the look to these, not to loose adjectives): Planet Earth / BBC aerial cinematography · *Dune* and *Interstellar* (Greig Fraser, Hoyte van Hoytema) · Terrence Malick · Ron Fricke's *Baraka* / *Samsara* · large-format IMAX nature films.

**What makes it distinct** from other cinematic styles: **scale + reverence** — not the intimacy and handheld immediacy of indie-naturalistic, not the shadowed tension of film-noir, not kinetic action energy. Two real ingredients combine: the **IMAX part** = large-format scale, depth, and immersion; the **epic part** = the slow, reverent register that lets that scale sink in.

## Style dimensions (locked)

- **Visual tone — cinematic**: high-contrast large-format film look; deep focus front-to-back, rich filmic grade with deep blacks and controlled highlight rolloff, warm golden cast, subtle horizon lens flare.

- **Camera — aerial / drone**: one slow, smooth, stately move using explicit Seedance camera language — `slow push-in`, `crane-up revealing the horizon`, `aerial fly-over`, or `slow orbit`. No abrupt or shaky motion.

- **Shot continuity**: default to **one continuous unhurried long take**. Only when the user wants a montage, allow a `2–3 shot sequence` (Seedance handles multi-shot) — never rapid cutting.

- **Framing & scale (this is how "epic" is rendered)**: lead with shot **size**, not mood words. `wide to extreme-wide establishing shot`, `vast environmental scale`, `layered atmospheric-perspective depth to the horizon`. Vantage suits the subject — high aerial for landscapes and cities, near eye-level for a lone hero. If the subject includes a figure, keep it **small-to-medium within the vast frame — never a close-up**.

- **Light & atmosphere**: low golden backlight (sunrise/sunset), god-rays, haze or cloud layers for depth. Warm, directional, dramatic.

- **Production type — live action**: photoreal real-world footage. Not animation, not stylized CGI.

- **Style reference — IMAX epic**: the large-format scale and immersion of IMAX, rendered in the reverent register of the touchstones above (BBC aerials, *Dune* / *Interstellar*, *Baraka*). Note: the slow, stately pacing comes from the **epic-awe register**, not from IMAX itself — IMAX is the *scale*, "epic" is the *pace*.

## Prompt construction

Write **one cohesive video prompt in your own words**, adapted to the user's subject — don't fill a fixed template. Compose naturally, but hit these beats roughly in Seedance order:

`subject (as briefed) → its grand-scale setting → motion → one slow camera move → golden backlight & atmosphere → warm cinematic grade → epic tone`

**Always convey (the non-negotiable IMAX look):**

- wide / extreme-wide framing; **never a close-up** (a person stays small-to-medium, prominent against a vast backdrop)

- one slow smooth camera move — push-in / crane-up / aerial fly-over / orbit — **pick what fits the subject**

- low golden backlight, lens flare / god-rays, atmospheric depth (haze / clouds)

- warm, high-contrast, deep-focus cinematic grade; photoreal live-action

**Never:** indoor, handheld shake, fast cuts, flat / cold / desaturated, neon.

Adapt everything else to the subject — vantage, exact light moment, and wording should suit what's in frame (a city reads best from a high aerial vantage; a lone hero reads best near eye level on the ridge). If the subject isn't a grand exterior (e.g. a product on white, an indoor scene, an abstract graphic), this style only fits by restaging it in a vast exterior — and if that would distort the user's intent, prefer a different style. See the worked examples below for range.

Put framing ratio, negatives, and seed in the **params** (next section), not in the prose.

## Generation parameters

Set these through the model's own parameters (not in the prompt text):

- **aspectRatio**: `21:9` for the cinematic letterbox (fall back to `16:9` if 21:9 is unavailable).

- **resolution & model tier**: target resolution must be supported by the chosen model tier — fast/draft tiers cap lower (often `720p`), and `1080p` needs a full-quality tier. Confirm the tier supports your resolution before locking it.

- **duration**: `5–10s`; pace the single camera move to fill the whole clip.

- **negativePrompt**: `close-up, indoor scene, handheld shake, fast cuts, flat or desaturated grade, cold color, neon, low resolution, distorted subject`.

- **generateAudio**: Seedance generates ambient sound, not spoken narration. Leave **on** for atmospheric wind / room tone; turn it **off** if you'll add your own voiceover or music in edit.

- **seed**: some run-to-run determinism, but for text-to-video it's a **mild** lever — it does not carry the look across different subjects. Use it to re-roll variations of the *same* prompt, not as the main consistency tool (that's `firstFrameImageUrl`).

- **firstFrameImageUrl** (strongest stability lever): generate one still in this look (see *Reference stills* — these were made with Seedream at a fixed seed) and pass it as the first frame for image-to-video. This anchors the style far harder than text alone.

## How to apply

Take the user's subject and stage it at grand environmental scale in this look. The subject becomes the epic focal point of a vast space, seen through one slow sweeping aerial move, deep focus, warm golden grade, with an awe-struck tone. Do **not** swap the subject for a generic landscape, and do **not** push in to a close-up.

## Worked examples

Same locked look every time; the subject — and the wording around it — adapts to each brief. These are illustrative, not a fixed template to echo.

1. **"a coastal city at dawn"** *(full paragraph)*

> A coastal city at dawn, set within a vast environment at grand scale. Wide to extreme-wide large-format establishing shot, high aerial vantage, deep focus, layered atmospheric depth to the horizon. Slow crane-up revealing the full coastline and skyline, one continuous unhurried take. Low golden backlight with god-rays and a subtle horizon lens flare, warm high-contrast cinematic color grade with rich shadow and filmic rolloff. Grand, awe-struck, photoreal live-action, IMAX epic look. Safe for all audiences, positive and uplifting, no violence, no explicit content.

2. **"a mountaineer reaching the summit"** → SUBJECT = `a mountaineer in a red jacket cresting a snow ridge toward camera, a sea of clouds below snow-capped peaks`; CAMERA = `push-in as the horizon opens`. (Canonical look — see reference still.)

3. **"our new sports car"** → SUBJECT = `a sports car on an empty desert salt flat`; CAMERA = `aerial fly-over descending toward the car`. Subject stays small-to-medium in the vast flat; no close-up on the badge.

4. **"a herd of wild horses"** → SUBJECT = `a herd of wild horses crossing a vast open plain`; CAMERA = `slow sweeping aerial alongside the herd`.

## Reference output

| Field | Value |

| --- | --- |

| Picker thumbnail | `https://cdn.vm0.io/artifacts/user_3EWY21Oe3f15kfs3yYmbGgDb3NV/2c0eb943-f65a-4225-beaa-78246f7c4a1b/thumbnail-imax-epic-cinematic.jpg` |

| Reference still — mountaineer (Seedream, seed 42) | `https://cdn.vm0.io/artifacts/user_3EWY21Oe3f15kfs3yYmbGgDb3NV/cf0fe91e-34ba-4760-b2be-c7dd8c020636/image-cf0fe91e.png` |

| Reference still — coastal city (Seedream, seed 43) | `https://cdn.vm0.io/artifacts/user_3EWY21Oe3f15kfs3yYmbGgDb3NV/307a3304-d1a0-41bd-a704-b144790510b2/image-307a3304.png` |

| Canonical | wide vista · subject small-to-medium, never close-up · sunrise + flare · warm saturated · one slow aerial/crane move · 21:9 |

> The two reference stills show the look holding across different **grand-exterior** subjects (a climber vs. a city). Non-exterior subjects (a product on white, an indoor scene, an abstract graphic) fall outside this style and need restaging — or a different style. Either still can be passed as `firstFrameImageUrl` to lock the look for image-to-video.