Samurayich

reverse-engineering AI-video. one creator, one file, zero permission.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

An MIT professor offered his students a simple bet:

Heads: you win $175.
Tails: you lose $150.

Mathematically, this is a steal. On average you make +$12.50 per game. Economists call it a "more than fair" bet.

Most of the class said no.

They were not stupid. They were human.

The professor pushed further. He said: "I will force you to take this bet... unless you pay me to avoid it."

How much were they willing to pay?

$43.

Almost half of their money... to avoid a bet that was on their side.

This is not weakness.

It is called risk aversion.

And it is the exact reason insurance, extended warranties, and almost every "safe" decision we make with money exist.

You are not irrational when you turn down a good bet.

You are just putting a price on the fear of losing.

This lecture at MIT teaches how expected utility actually works.

Why risk aversion is not a flaw, but a human trait.

And how it explains almost every economic decision we make every day.

Save it to watch later

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

An MIT professor offered his students a simple bet:

Heads: you win $175.
Tails: you lose $150.

Mathematically, this is a steal. On average you make +$12.50 per game. Economists call it a "more than fair" bet.

Most of the class said no.

They were not stupid. They were human.

The professor pushed further. He said: "I will force you to take this bet... unless you pay me to avoid it."

How much were they willing to pay?

$43.

Almost half of their money... to avoid a bet that was on their side.

This is not weakness.

It is called risk aversion.

And it is the exact reason insurance, extended warranties, and almost every "safe" decision we make with money exist.

You are not irrational when you turn down a good bet.

You are just putting a price on the fear of losing.

This lecture at MIT teaches how expected utility actually works.

Why risk aversion is not a flaw, but a human trait.

And how it explains almost every economic decision we make every day.

Save it to watch later

[Superior @andreysuperior]

https://t.co/rUN1cPDY65

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Woke up to the third DM this week from the same source. But this time it's not one or two photos. A whole box.

Italian family from Milan. The grandfather passed last month. The granddaughter found 27 family photos in the attic, from the 1890s through the 1920s. She wants them all animated as a gift for her grandmother's 80th birthday.

Here are the first three finished.

We took our time on the package. Came out to $2,400. Not all 27 - she picked 12, I suggested 5 more (where the motion would land hardest). 17 portraits. $141 per unit.

30% deposit in the morning. Second half after approval on every batch of 5 files. Deadline - 3 weeks before the birthday.

This isn't "one photo for one second" anymore. This is a project.

Day one, closed 4 portraits. At 2 per day pace I hit the deadline with room to spare.

The client asked me not to let the grandmother see anything before the birthday. So I'm only sharing three frames where no faces from her circle are visible.

Noticed: family archive projects don't come through "I need a video". They come through "we have an occasion". A funeral. An anniversary. A grandchild born. This market doesn't need ads. It needs a trigger.

Today I'll share the fourth prompt. The one that keeps hands alive without fake fingers. The hardest part of Seedance, and 90% of people fail it.

Here's what it looks like right now:

• keep: face, hands, grain, tone

• motion: slight finger adjustment on lap, wrist relaxes, one breath

• camera: locked static

• no: color, extra fingers, hand teleport, zoom

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

Hope you've got a box in the attic too

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Full prompt as promised. Image-to-video, any 5-6 second model. Drop your portrait.
Animate this vintage portrait into a 6-second cinematic clip.
Keep the face, eyes, hands, fingers, hair, clothing, and background completely consistent with the source image. Preserve the original film grain, tonal range, and lighting exactly. Critical: maintain exact finger count and hand position — do not regenerate hands.
Motion (one only): subject's hands rest naturally where they are in the source. A single small adjustment happens over 2 seconds — one thumb shifts slightly against the index finger, wrist relaxes by 1-2 degrees, fingers do not separate or reposition. Chest rises once with a slow breath. Eyes remain fixed forward.
Camera: locked static. No zoom, no pan, no drift.
Mood: quiet presence, someone caught mid-thought while waiting for a photograph to finish exposing.
Do not colorize. Do not sharpen or upscale. Do not change facial features. Do not add or remove fingers. Do not teleport hands to new positions. Do not add head or eye movement. Do not add mouth movement. Do not zoom.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Woke up to the third DM this week from the same source. But this time it's not one or two photos. A whole box.

Italian family from Milan. The grandfather passed last month. The granddaughter found 27 family photos in the attic, from the 1890s through the 1920s. She wants them all animated as a gift for her grandmother's 80th birthday.

Here are the first three finished.

We took our time on the package. Came out to $2,400. Not all 27 - she picked 12, I suggested 5 more (where the motion would land hardest). 17 portraits. $141 per unit.

30% deposit in the morning. Second half after approval on every batch of 5 files. Deadline - 3 weeks before the birthday.

This isn't "one photo for one second" anymore. This is a project.

Day one, closed 4 portraits. At 2 per day pace I hit the deadline with room to spare.

The client asked me not to let the grandmother see anything before the birthday. So I'm only sharing three frames where no faces from her circle are visible.

Noticed: family archive projects don't come through "I need a video". They come through "we have an occasion". A funeral. An anniversary. A grandchild born. This market doesn't need ads. It needs a trigger.

Today I'll share the fourth prompt. The one that keeps hands alive without fake fingers. The hardest part of Seedance, and 90% of people fail it.

Here's what it looks like right now:

• keep: face, hands, grain, tone

• motion: slight finger adjustment on lap, wrist relaxes, one breath

• camera: locked static

• no: color, extra fingers, hand teleport, zoom

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

Hope you've got a box in the attic too

[Superior @andreysuperior]

https://t.co/rUN1cPDY65

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Woke up to notifications. Three new orders in DMs overnight.

Here are a few completed works.

Money is coming to me on its own. In exchange for living memories.

And this is while I haven't even bought the marker yet.

Three orders. $210, $290, $350. $850 total for 4 hours of night work.

If I keep this pace 5 nights a week - $4,250/week. $17,000/month. And this is while I'm alone, no assistant, no ads.

Cost - Seedance tokens and coffee. Less than $5 for all three.

Noticed: clients don't ask the price BEFORE seeing the reference. They ask AFTER. They see their grandmother looking into the camera again, and the price stops mattering. 3 out of 3 paid without haggling.

This isn't a market. It's something else. People aren't buying a product. They're buying one second with someone who's already gone.

The post below - 298K views in 2 days. One archival photo of Warsaw. This isn't about craft, it's about demand. A small Polish market ate 300K views in 48 hours. Imagine what the American one will do when it wakes up.

Today I'll share another prompt. The one that makes the face come alive through the corner of the mouth, not the eyes.

Here's what it looks like right now:

•keep: face, eyes, grain, tone

•motion: gentle smile from mouth
corners, 2mm lift, eyes crinkle, 1 breath

•camera: locked static

•no: color, teeth, zoom, head movement

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

Hope you still remember how your grandmother smiled.

Now that can be brought back.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Full prompt as promised. Seedance 2.5 i2v. Drop your portrait.
Animate this vintage portrait into a 6-second cinematic clip.
Keep the face, eyes, hair, clothing, and background completely consistent with the source image. Preserve the original film grain, tonal range, and lighting exactly.
Motion (one only): a gentle smile begins forming at the corners of the mouth over 2 seconds, lifting slightly upward. Cheeks rise faintly with the smile. Fine skin lines appear around the eyes as they crinkle slightly (Duchenne authentic smile). Smile reaches natural peak by second 3, holds for 1 second, then slowly relaxes back. Range of motion at mouth corners: maximum 2mm. No teeth reveal. No head movement. Eyes remain fixed on camera. Chest rises once with a slow breath.
Camera: locked static. No zoom, no pan, no drift.
Mood: warm, present, alive. The kind of smile that emerges when someone is being seen, not performed for.
Do not colorize. Do not sharpen or upscale. Do not change facial features. Do not open the mouth. Do not show teeth. Do not add other expressions. Do not zoom.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Woke up to notifications. Three new orders in DMs overnight.

Here are a few completed works.

Money is coming to me on its own. In exchange for living memories.

And this is while I haven't even bought the marker yet.

Three orders. $210, $290, $350. $850 total for 4 hours of night work.

If I keep this pace 5 nights a week - $4,250/week. $17,000/month. And this is while I'm alone, no assistant, no ads.

Cost - Seedance tokens and coffee. Less than $5 for all three.

Noticed: clients don't ask the price BEFORE seeing the reference. They ask AFTER. They see their grandmother looking into the camera again, and the price stops mattering. 3 out of 3 paid without haggling.

This isn't a market. It's something else. People aren't buying a product. They're buying one second with someone who's already gone.

The post below - 298K views in 2 days. One archival photo of Warsaw. This isn't about craft, it's about demand. A small Polish market ate 300K views in 48 hours. Imagine what the American one will do when it wakes up.

Today I'll share another prompt. The one that makes the face come alive through the corner of the mouth, not the eyes.

Here's what it looks like right now:

•keep: face, eyes, grain, tone

•motion: gentle smile from mouth
corners, 2mm lift, eyes crinkle, 1 breath

•camera: locked static

•no: color, teeth, zoom, head movement

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

Hope you still remember how your grandmother smiled.

Now that can be brought back.

[Maciej Dobrodziej @M_Dobrodziej]

Warszawa, której nie ma. Lata 30.

Zamroziłem całą ulicę i przeleciałem przez nią kamerą - między przechodniami, tramwajem, szyldami.

Seedance 2.5, jedno archiwalne zdjęcie. Prompt w komentarzu.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@hedo_ist `2.5. But not because it's "prettier." Because in 2.0 the car exists separately from the scene, in 2.5 the scene reacts to the car. that's the difference that will decide who survives the next generation of AI-video

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Turns out I lied to you. Yesterday wasn't just one client.

Before bed, a young lady reached out.

Keeps her great-grandmother's old album from 1924. We talked it through, went over the details, ran the numbers.

She sent the deposit right away.

Tried to sleep, couldn't. Wanted to get on it right away. Especially knowing what I'd get for it.

Picked 7 photos. 6 at $85, one at $120. $630 total.

That's my floor. Family archive projects (20-50 photos) go for $2,000-5,000 on the market. Wedding memorials for $8,000. Documentary agencies pay $15K for a license.

$630 is my second order. In 2 weeks I'll be charging double. In 3 months I'll have a family archive in the pipeline.

Cost of the whole order - tokens, less than $3 for the batch.

Worked till morning. Didn't notice the time.

She let me share short clips. I'm blown away by the result myself.

The album has a few damaged photos. She asked if I could restore them. With Seedance + Grok that'll be easy. Taking it on. But after some sleep.

Noticed: most DMs don't come from the States. Italy, Ireland, Australia, Poland. Diaspora looking for the faces of grandparents they never got to meet.

By the way, haven't run any ads yet. Just starting to put the strategy together. Found an interesting article, picked a few ideas. Need to buy a whiteboard with a marker like in the movies. Going to lay the whole marketing plan out on it. Kaif. Been wanting this.

The article below is about 5 financial equations. One is about compound interest. That's exactly what's happening here: every day without ads your CAC goes up, because competitors are already outbidding you at auction.

Today I'll share another prompt. The one that makes eyebrows rise and fall.

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Full prompt as promised. Seedance 2.5 i2v. Drop your portrait, tweak the direction if you want.
Animate this vintage portrait into a 6-second cinematic clip.
Keep the face, eyes, mouth, hair, clothing, and background completely consistent with the source image. Preserve the original film grain, tonal range, and lighting exactly.
Motion (one only): subject's eyebrows slowly rise over 1.5 seconds as if hearing something unexpected, hold at peak for half a second, then return to neutral. Range of movement: maximum 3mm. Forehead skin subtly follows the brows. A faint horizontal line appears at peak, fades on return. No head movement, no eye movement, no mouth movement. Chest rises once with a slow breath.
Camera: locked static. No zoom, no pan, no drift.
Mood: quiet surprise, as if catching a thought mid-air. Subject feels alive but held in one moment.
Do not colorize. Do not sharpen or upscale. Do not change facial features. Do not add mouth movement or smile. Do not add other expressions. Do not zoom. Do not add background elements.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Turns out I lied to you. Yesterday wasn't just one client.

Before bed, a young lady reached out.

Keeps her great-grandmother's old album from 1924. We talked it through, went over the details, ran the numbers.

She sent the deposit right away.

Tried to sleep, couldn't. Wanted to get on it right away. Especially knowing what I'd get for it.

Picked 7 photos. 6 at $85, one at $120. $630 total.

That's my floor. Family archive projects (20-50 photos) go for $2,000-5,000 on the market. Wedding memorials for $8,000. Documentary agencies pay $15K for a license.

$630 is my second order. In 2 weeks I'll be charging double. In 3 months I'll have a family archive in the pipeline.

Cost of the whole order - tokens, less than $3 for the batch.

Worked till morning. Didn't notice the time.

She let me share short clips. I'm blown away by the result myself.

The album has a few damaged photos. She asked if I could restore them. With Seedance + Grok that'll be easy. Taking it on. But after some sleep.

Noticed: most DMs don't come from the States. Italy, Ireland, Australia, Poland. Diaspora looking for the faces of grandparents they never got to meet.

By the way, haven't run any ads yet. Just starting to put the strategy together. Found an interesting article, picked a few ideas. Need to buy a whiteboard with a marker like in the movies. Going to lay the whole marketing plan out on it. Kaif. Been wanting this.

The article below is about 5 financial equations. One is about compound interest. That's exactly what's happening here: every day without ads your CAC goes up, because competitors are already outbidding you at auction.

Today I'll share another prompt. The one that makes eyebrows rise and fall.

Full version in the replies. Dropping in a few.

[Lumen @lumenxbt]

https://t.co/3hWKMIBJcw

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@Timeless_aiart you're the only one who picks the exact word. that's why it works

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@iamahmedfaraz66 "preserve her exact identity throughout" is the hardest part of Seedance i2v and you nailed it. prompt saved

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@M_Dobrodziej camera fly-through on a single still - most Seedance users don't even try that. you brought back a city that didn't exist for 6 years in 26 seconds. Prompt saved, thanks for the roadmap

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@promptdlvry so, as I understand it, the children won't have a choice. which parents are ready for that? is a zombie apocalypse actually coming soon? I’m off to stock up on canned food

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

@tibo_maker you’ve grasped something that most AI creators don’t think about at all. we train ourselves to generate, but no one trains children to recognize

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Started testing a new niche. Already got my first happy client. Even left a tip.

Thinking about launching my own challenge.

It goes like this: "A Month of Living Stories, or How to Pay Off a Loan with AI." Sounds kind of basic, but haven't come up with better yet. All my brain power is going into building prompts.

Some prompts are already in the draft folder. Already have ideas for polishing them and moving them into my catalog.

Some I'll share here.

Good part: subscriptions for Seedance, Grok, Kling already paid themselves back. Moving in the right direction.

Pulled a few useful ideas from the article, ran the numbers on the management side. Thanks to the author for the work.

The setup is simple. Three channels, different prices:

• organic traffic, free portfolio

• DM orders, $30-80 per video

• "Bring them back" bundles, $150 for 3 scenes

One client is coffee for a week. Five clients is rent. Ten clients is the loan.

And before I forget. The blink and gaze prompt is almost done. Still rough, sitting in the draft. But it already delivers what 90% of AI-video doesn't. The look you recognize. The one from childhood.

Here's what it looks like right now:

• keep: face, eyes, grain, tone

• motion: 1 blink, eyes shift right, return, 2° tilt, 1 breath

• camera: locked static

• no: color, zoom, mouth, teeth, extras

Rest of the prompt in the replies. Will add in a few.

Hope you didn't throw away your story. Didn't burn your emotions, your nostalgia.

Now you can go back there. Back to where it all started. Back to where your name and your DNA came from.

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Full prompt as promised. Seedance 2.5 i2v, drop your photo, tweak the eye direction if needed.
Animate this vintage photograph into a 6-second cinematic portrait.
Keep the face, eyes, skin texture, hair, clothing, and background completely consistent with the source image. Preserve the original film grain, tonal range, and lighting exactly as they appear.
Motion (one only): subject blinks slowly once, then eyes shift softly to the right as if noticing someone off-camera, then return to center. Extremely subtle head tilt, no more than 2 degrees. Faint micro-expression around the eyes, hint of a smile forming at the corner of the mouth. Chest rises once with a slow, natural breath.
Camera: locked static. No zoom, no pan, no drift.
Mood: contemplative, quiet, nostalgic. The subject feels alive, but the moment feels frozen in time.
Do not colorize. Do not sharpen or upscale. Do not change facial features. Do not add mouth movement, speech, or teeth. Do not add background elements or extra people. Do not zoom

[Samurayich @xSamurayich]

Started testing a new niche. Already got my first happy client. Even left a tip.

Thinking about launching my own challenge.

It goes like this: "A Month of Living Stories, or How to Pay Off a Loan with AI." Sounds kind of basic, but haven't come up with better yet. All my brain power is going into building prompts.

Some prompts are already in the draft folder. Already have ideas for polishing them and moving them into my catalog.

Some I'll share here.

Good part: subscriptions for Seedance, Grok, Kling already paid themselves back. Moving in the right direction.

Pulled a few useful ideas from the article, ran the numbers on the management side. Thanks to the author for the work.

The setup is simple. Three channels, different prices:

• organic traffic, free portfolio

• DM orders, $30-80 per video

• "Bring them back" bundles, $150 for 3 scenes

One client is coffee for a week. Five clients is rent. Ten clients is the loan.

And before I forget. The blink and gaze prompt is almost done. Still rough, sitting in the draft. But it already delivers what 90% of AI-video doesn't. The look you recognize. The one from childhood.

Here's what it looks like right now:

• keep: face, eyes, grain, tone

• motion: 1 blink, eyes shift right, return, 2° tilt, 1 breath

• camera: locked static

• no: color, zoom, mouth, teeth, extras

Rest of the prompt in the replies. Will add in a few.

Hope you didn't throw away your story. Didn't burn your emotions, your nostalgia.

Now you can go back there. Back to where it all started. Back to where your name and your DNA came from.

[Superior @andreysuperior]

https://t.co/rUN1cPDY65