Nano Banana character sheet to video: the handoff that keeps a face consistent

The short answer

Draw one character sheet in Nano Banana, a front view, a three-quarter view, a profile and a full-body pose of the same character on one image, then hand that sheet to a video engine as a reference on every single shot, not just the first. The engine you pick decides how many characters a shot can hold: Kling O3 Pro takes 5, Seedance 2.5 up to 30 reference images, Seedance 2.0 9, Veo 3.1 Fast 3. In ReelDouble the sheet costs 20 credits and is handed to whichever engine a shot uses automatically.

Most guides cover one half of this. Some show how to prompt a good turnaround in Nano Banana; others show how to use references in Kling or Veo. The part that goes wrong is the bridge between them, and that is what this page is about.

Why the sheet matters more than the prompt

A video engine guessing a character from text will drift: a slightly different nose in shot 3, a new jacket colour in shot 5. A reference image removes the guess. A sheet with several angles does more than a single portrait, because the engine sees how the face looks when it turns. That is what holds a character through a cut from a close-up to a wide.

Our own sheets are drawn by Nano Banana inside the studio, from a written description, from 1 to 3 photos, or both. One sheet is one image with the turnaround laid out on it, and it costs 20 credits. If you already have a good image of your character, you can skip the sheet and use 1 to 3 photos as a plain reference for free.

Step 1: draw the right sheet

What we put on every sheet:

• Front view, head and shoulders. The face the engine will match most closely.
• Three-quarter view. The angle most shots actually use.
• Profile. Stops the nose and jaw from changing when the character turns.
• Full body, neutral pose. Locks proportions, outfit and colours.

Rules that save retries:

• Plain background, even light. A busy background gets copied into the video.
• The outfit the character will actually wear. If they change clothes in episode 4, make a second sheet then.
• One character per sheet. Two characters on one sheet blur into each other.
• Describe the look in words too. Write the same descriptor you used for the sheet into each shot prompt. We keep that text as a fixed block; see our character descriptor block.

Step 2: know each engine's cap before you plan the scene

This is the bridge most workflows skip. The number of characters a shot can carry is set by the engine, not by how many sheets you have.

engine	references per shot	how the prompt names a character	what it means for a scene
Kling O3 Pro	5 elements	@Element1, @Element2	up to five characters in one shot
Seedance 2.5	up to 30 images	@Image1, @Image2	room for a big cast, or several angles per character
Seedance 2.0 / 2.0 Fast	up to 9 images	@Image1, @Image2	two or three characters with a few angles each
Veo 3.1 Fast	3 images	"image 1", "image 2"	one to three characters, and every reference shot is 8 seconds

Two things follow from that table. First, on Seedance an image slot is an image slot, so a character with three angle crops uses three of your nine on 2.0. Second, on Veo a reference shot is always 8 seconds long, whatever length you wanted, so plan your edit around 8-second character shots. The difference between Kling's element tags and Seedance's image tags is explained in @Element vs @Image.

If a scene names more characters than the chosen engine takes, the studio refuses before rendering and names an engine with room, rather than letting the render quietly drop someone.

Step 3: attach the sheet to every shot

The single most common mistake: using the sheet for the first shot, then prompting the rest from text or from the previous shot's last frame. Each shot is a fresh generation. If the reference is not there, the engine starts guessing again.

In the studio you tag the character once per shot and the sheet goes with it. If you are working by hand in another tool, attach the sheet to every generation, even when you also give a start frame. A start frame sets the composition; the sheet sets the face. For shots that must join seamlessly, our first and last frame workflow covers how to chain them without losing the character.

Step 4: budget the whole handoff in one number

Nobody prices this end to end, so here is how we do it. Sheets are a one-time cost per character; render is per second on the engine each shot uses.

A two-character, 30-second episode, all on Kling O3 Pro at 720p:

item	credits
2 character sheets (once, reused every episode)	40
4 voiced shots, 5s each (20s at 30 per second)	600
2 silent reaction shots, 5s each (10s at 24 per second)	240
first episode total	880
every episode after	840

The same episode with a Veo opener: swap one silent Kling shot for an 8-second silent Veo 3.1 Fast reference shot at 20 credits a second (160 credits instead of 120), and the episode is 920 credits the first time.

A five-character scene: five sheets is 100 credits once. On Kling O3 Pro a 10-second voiced shot with all five is 300 credits. On Veo it cannot be done in one shot, since Veo takes three.

At the Lite rate (1,000 credits for $10) the two-character episode is $8.80 the first time and $8.40 after. At the Creator rate ($45 for 6,000 credits) it is $6.60 and $6.30.

Step 5: check the first shot before you render the rest

Render the first character shot alone, at the shortest length the engine allows: 4 seconds on Kling O3 Pro is 120 credits voiced or 96 silent. Look at the face from the sheet's angles. If the eyes, hair or outfit are off, fix the sheet or the descriptor now; it is far cheaper than rendering six shots and redoing all of them. This is also where you find out whether the character reads better on Kling or on Seedance. The studio shows the credit cost of that one test before you press render, so the check costs exactly what it says.

What to avoid

• A sheet with a real person or a well-known character. Engines refuse famous faces and recognisable characters. Invent your own.
• Changing the sheet mid-series. Even small redesigns break continuity. Keep version one until an episode calls for a deliberate change.
• Cramming angles into a tight engine. On Veo, three slots are better spent on three characters or one strong sheet than on three crops of the same face.
• Long single takes. Faces drift over long generations. Shorter shots, each with the sheet, stay on model.

FAQ

How do I use a Nano Banana character sheet in a video?

Draw a sheet with front, three-quarter, profile and full-body views, then attach it as a reference to every video generation, not just the first. In ReelDouble you tag the character in each shot and the sheet goes to Kling, Seedance or Veo automatically.

How many reference images can Kling, Seedance and Veo take?

In ReelDouble, Kling O3 Pro takes 5 elements per shot, Seedance 2.5 up to 30 reference images, Seedance 2.0 and 2.0 Fast up to 9, and Veo 3.1 Fast 3, with every Veo reference shot fixed at 8 seconds.

How much does a character sheet cost?

A character sheet in ReelDouble costs 20 credits, drawn by Nano Banana from a description or from 1 to 3 photos, and it is reused on every shot and episode after. Using 1 to 3 photos as a plain reference costs nothing.

Why does my AI character change between shots?

Usually because the reference was only given on the first shot, or the sheet has a busy background or several characters on it. Attach one clean single-character sheet to every shot and keep the same written descriptor in each prompt.

Can I put two characters in one AI video shot?

Yes, if the engine has room. In ReelDouble, Kling O3 Pro holds up to 5 characters in one shot, Seedance 2.5 up to 30 reference images and Veo 3.1 Fast 3. Use one sheet per character, never both on one sheet.