VODOOHow to make AI video look realistic, not plastic: twelve fixes that work
By VODOO AI · · 5 min read
Everyone can spot the "AI look": waxy skin, glassy eyes, perfect symmetrical faces, light from nowhere, and movement with no weight to it. None of it is the engine's limit any more. It's mostly the brief.
These twelve fixes are the rules we write every example on this site by. Each one targets a specific giveaway, and each comes with something to paste so you can see the difference yourself.
Skin and faces
- 011. Ask for real skin, by namePores, fine hair, a little redness, uneven tone, a shine where skin is oily. Say 'no smoothing, no beauty filter'.
- 022. Break the symmetryReal faces aren't mirror images. Ask for natural asymmetry, a crooked tooth, a small scar.
- 033. Put the light in the eyesCatchlights should come from a real source in the scene, like the window or the lamp. Name it.
Close portrait of a red-haired woman in her twenties with heavy freckles and no makeup, looking just past the camera. A single hard window light from the side, the other half of her face in shadow. Every freckle different, fine hair on her cheek lit by the window, green eyes with the window reflected in them. 85mm.Make this in VODOO →
Light
- 014. Use one hard lightSoft, even light hides exactly what engines get wrong and makes everything look rendered. One hard source shows texture.
- 025. Let shadows go darkReal photos have deep shadows. Ask for them.
- 036. Name the sourceWindow light, low sun, a tungsten work lamp, on-camera flash. Light from somewhere looks real.
Two women in their forties at a small candlelit table in a crowded bistro, mid-story, one laughing so hard her eyes close. Only candlelight on their faces, warm and moving; the room behind falls into soft dark. 50mm at f/1.4. Laugh lines, smudged mascara, a wine stain on the cloth.Make this in VODOO →
Hands, objects and contact
- 017. Give the hands a jobHands holding something with weight, like a jar, a phone or a cup, come out better than hands floating in the air.
- 028. Describe the contactCondensation on the fingers, knuckles whitening on a grip, a fingertip turning a crown.
A woman holds a cold can close to camera, condensation running over her fingers, hard midday sun. Real nail beds, tendons moving as she grips.Make this in VODOO →
Motion and camera
- 019. Catch a moment, not a poseMid-stride, mid-laugh, between takes. Posed people look generated.
- 0210. Move the camera like a person wouldHandheld with a slight drift, a slow push-in, a crane. A camera that glides perfectly looks synthetic.
- 0311. Give things weightMotion blur on fast movement, cloth that folds, water that splashes. Ask for physics with weight.
A sprinter in a cropped black training top explodes out of the blocks on an empty track at dawn, mist on the infield; the camera tracks low alongside for four strides. She walks back breathing hard, sweat catching the low sun, a strand of hair stuck to her cheek. Motion blur on the fast part.Make this in VODOO →
The finish
- 0112. Add a little grain and a real lensFine film grain, a named focal length and real depth of field take away the too-clean render look.
In VODOO this finish is added for you: every photographic brief carries the same instructions for real skin, real materials and filmed motion, so you can write the moment and leave the realism to the studio.
Sound sells the picture
People forgive a slightly soft picture long before they forgive wrong sound. A room has a hum, a street has distant traffic, a kitchen has a fridge and a tap. Silence, or music laid over a scene that should have its own sound, reads as fake even when every frame is perfect. Engines that make the sound with the picture give you this for free; for the rest, add room tone and two or three real sounds in the edit.
A tight professional kitchen in service. A chef tilts a pan and the brandy catches, a column of flame lighting her face for a second. Sound: the whoomph of the flame, the extractor fan, a ticket printer, someone calling an order behind her. 35mm, slow half-orbit.Make this in VODOO →
A two-minute check before you post
Before anything goes out, watch it once at full size and once on a phone, and look for the eight giveaways in order. Most bad clips fail on the first two.
- Hands: count the fingers on every frame where they move.
- Faces: is it the same person at the end as at the start?
- Teeth: the right number, moving with the lip.
- Eyes: both looking at the same thing, with a real reflection in them.
- Hair: strands at the edge, not a cut-out outline.
- Text: anything written in the picture spelled exactly right.
- Physics: nothing melting, merging or floating.
- Sound: the room sounds like the room.
Then pick the engine for the shot
Even with a perfect brief, engines have strengths. Faces that hold through a move, physical motion and light that falls off like a real lens are each led by a different one. The best AI video generator guide goes through which is which, and every engine has examples on its model page.
Try the twelve fixes on your own idea with 300 free credits, and put a before-and-after side by side. The difference is the brief.
Questions people ask
- Why does AI video look fake?
- The usual giveaways are skin smoothed to plastic, symmetrical faces, eyes with no real reflection, flat light from nowhere, posed bodies and motion with no weight. Most of them come from the brief, not the engine.
- What prompt makes AI people look real?
- Ask for real skin texture with pores and no smoothing, one hard named light source, natural asymmetry, catchlights from a real source, hands holding something with weight, and a caught moment rather than a pose.
- Which AI video model is the most realistic?
- It depends on the shot: some lead on faces and lip sync, others on physical motion or on lens-like light. Use the engine that's best for the shot you're making.