What's with the lightning effects with video generation?

Question

I’m generating video from an image and the image presents a clear night. There’s no rain. The output always either presents lightning or some sort of super hero plasma blast. I refined the prompt with Claude and specifically requested no lightning in the prompt, and it still appears. Here’s the prompt:

Use this exact still image as the background, with no changes to the environment, weather, sky, or lighting style. The scene must remain a calm, overcast urban evening with wet streets and neon signs, and there is absolutely no lightning, no flashes in the sky, and no storm effects of any kind. Only existing police siren lights may move, gently scanning in red and white across the pavement, vehicles, and characters. The female NYPD detective from the image runs toward the tactical officer in the foreground, shouting clearly, “Stand down! Stand down right now!” As she approaches, the officer lifts his gloved hand in a firm stop gesture and holds that pose. She stops near him and argues intensely, gesturing with one hand, while he responds calmly but firmly, never drawing a weapon. Do not add or remove any characters, vehicles, signs, text, buildings, or visual effects, and do not introduce lightning or storm lighting in any frame. Help if you’re able.

Hajar Toutsi · Accepted Answer

HiReneRivera3004,Thanks for reaching out and sharing your experience.I understand how frustrating it can be when the results don’t match what you had in mind, but that’s part of the learning curve with generative AI.Firefly interprets prompts creatively, so the morepreciseand detailed you are, thecloserthe output will be to your vision.Here are a few tips that often help:Be explicit: Don’t assume the AI will preserve elements automatically. Spell out what should stay unchanged.Avoid negative prompting: Instead of saying “no lightning, no flashes in the sky,” describe exactly what youdowant.Choose the right model: Some models handle visual effects better than others.Use detailed phrasing: For example, “The background environment, sky, weather, and lighting remain precisely as shown throughout the entire video”You can try this prompt instead, and let us know if it helped solve the issue:“Use the still image as the exact scene reference. The background environment, sky, weather, and lighting remain precisely as shown throughout the entire video,a calm, overcast urban evening with wet reflective streets and glowing neon signs. The sky holds its consistent soft overcast appearance from start to finish. All buildings, vehicles, signage, text, and background elements remain completely still.The only animated lights are the existing police siren lights from the image, which gently scan in red and white pulses across the wet pavement, parked vehicles, and characters.The female NYPD detective from the image runs toward the tactical officer in the foreground, shouting clearly: "Stand down! Stand down right now!" As she approaches, the officer raises his gloved hand in a firm stop gesture and holds that pose. She stops near him and argues intensely, gesturing expressively with one hand. The officer responds in a calm, steady manner, keeping his arms controlled and his weapon holstered throughout.”If the output still feels off, you can submit feedback directly by clicking the thumbs‑down icon when hovering over the result. That feedback goes straight to the team to help improve Firefly’s behavior.Hajar

ReneRivera3004 · Answer

Thank you so very kindly for the reply. Firefly did a fantastic job with my first few images and videos, but then became more problematic with each new generation. I think I’ll just wait another year or two (or more) until the technology improves.

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