# A person holds the camera

Camera / Camera move / Human camera. Checked 2026-11-13.

Footage reads as filmed by someone who was there.

- Use when: Found-footage, phone and documentary registers.
- Phrase: an unseen person films; the camera flinches back when the cup overflows and then re-centres; no recording graphics on the picture
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/move/human-operator-rule
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/move/human-operator-rule.json

## Watch out

- One behaviour per clip. Name its trigger in the scene and the operator's correction after it; follow it once and finish on its result. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft))
- Add a line that bans recording graphics: indicators, timestamps, battery icons, focus brackets, grids, borders and subtitles. Imperfection has to come from how the camera moves, focuses and exposes, never from drawn-on graphics. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft))
- A separate, unseen person films; the subject never holds the camera. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft))
- Shown by a sponsored creator as straight out of Seedance 2.5 at 1080p; not yet run by us. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft))

## Prompts

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot
Optics and camera: An unseen person films; the camera flinches back when the cup overflows and then re-centres; no recording graphics on the picture.
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: one continuous shot
Optics and camera: An unseen person films; the camera flinches back when the cup overflows and then re-centres; no recording graphics on the picture.
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. An unseen person films; the camera flinches back when the cup overflows and then re-centres; no recording graphics on the picture.
```

### Veo 3.1

```
An unseen person films; the camera flinches back when the cup overflows and then re-centres; no recording graphics on the picture. [your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
```

## Goes well with

- Handheld: https://directorchair.ai/move/handheld-shot
- Lagging handheld: https://directorchair.ai/rig/lagging-handheld-rig
- Crash zoom: https://directorchair.ai/move/crash-zoom
- Whip pan: https://directorchair.ai/move/whip-pan

## Source

Own words from Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft)

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.