How to Edit a Video with AI: Change Outfit, Background, Style

To edit a video with AI, you give a video model your existing clip as a reference and describe only what should change: the outfit, the background, the lighting, the style or one object. The model keeps the motion and composition of the original and re-renders it with your change. In the Framiq studio you do this by attaching the clip to Seedance 2.5 as a reference video, and you can also extend a clip to continue the shot. This guide covers how it works, the prompts that get clean results, what it costs, and where AI editing stops and a normal editor takes over.

What "editing a video with AI" actually means

There are two very different things people call AI video editing:

1. Timeline tools with AI features: auto-captions, silence removal, smart cuts. These live in regular editors like CapCut, Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. They help you cut footage; they do not change what is in the frame.
2. Generative video-to-video editing: you hand a model a clip and it produces a new version where the content has changed. The person now wears a red coat, the office became a beach, the live action became claymation.

This article is about the second kind. It is closer to reshooting than to cutting: the model watches your clip and renders it again, following its motion, with the change you asked for.

What you can change with a reference video:

• Outfit: a different jacket, a uniform, a costume.
• Background or location: studio to street, day to night, summer to snow.
• Lighting: golden hour, neon, moody low key, softbox studio.
• Style: anime, claymation, watercolour, 3D cartoon, film noir.
• An object: swap the coffee cup for a can, add a hat, change a car's colour.
• Continuation: extend the shot past where the original ends.

How to edit a video with AI in Framiq, step by step

1. Pick the right clip

Not every clip edits equally well. The best candidates:

• Short: a few seconds to around 10 seconds. Shorter clips are cheaper and the model holds the change more consistently through them.
• One continuous shot: no cuts inside the clip. A cut in the reference confuses the model about what should stay constant.
• A clear subject: one person or object doing one readable action.
• Good exposure: a dark, noisy or motion-blurred source gives the model less to follow.

If your footage has cuts, split it into single shots in a regular editor first and edit each shot separately.

2. Attach it to Seedance 2.5 as a reference video

Open the Video tab of the studio, keep Seedance 2.5 selected (it is the default) and attach your clip as a reference video. You can also add reference images: a photo of the outfit you want, a picture of the location, or a tagged character with @Name if the person in the edit should match a character you created.

Match the aspect ratio to your source. If your clip is vertical, generate 9:16; if it is landscape, 16:9. In Framiq Seedance 2.5 renders up to 720p.

3. Describe only the change

This is the single most important rule. The model already has your clip; it does not need you to describe the scene again. If you re-describe everything, you invite it to reinterpret everything.

Weak prompt:

A woman with brown hair walks down a street in a city, she is wearing a red
coat, there are buildings and cars, the camera follows her, it is daytime.

Strong prompt:

Edit the reference video: change her grey hoodie to a long red wool coat.
Keep everything else identical: same motion, same camera, same street,
same lighting, same face.

The pattern is: what changes + "keep everything else identical" + a short list of what must not move.

4. Generate, compare, adjust

Watch the result next to the original. Check the face, the hands and the edges of the changed element; those are where edits drift. If something unwanted changed, name it in the "keep" list and try again. If the change is too weak, describe it more concretely ("a long red wool coat with large black buttons" rather than "a nicer coat").

Prompt examples for common edits

Change the background

Edit the reference video: replace the office background with a sunny
Mediterranean terrace overlooking the sea. Keep the person, their clothes,
their gestures and the camera movement exactly the same. Match the light on
the person to warm afternoon sun.

Note the last line. A new background with the old lighting looks pasted on. Asking the model to relight the subject to match is what makes it believable.

Change the lighting or time of day

Edit the reference video: turn the scene into night. Street lamps on,
warm sodium light, wet asphalt reflections, a few lit windows.
Keep the same action, framing and camera path.

Restyle the whole clip

Restyle the reference video as stop-motion claymation: plasticine textures,
visible fingerprints, slightly jerky 12 fps feel, soft studio lighting.
Keep the exact same movement, timing and composition.

Other styles that work well: "2D anime, clean line art, cel shading", "Pixar-style 3D animation", "1950s black-and-white film noir, high contrast, vintage film look", "watercolour illustration, paper texture". Restyles are more forgiving than realistic edits, because nobody expects a claymation hand to be anatomically perfect.

Swap an object

Edit the reference video: replace the white coffee mug in her hand with a
green glass bottle of sparkling water. Same hand position, same moment she
lifts it. Nothing else changes.

Object swaps work best when the new object has a similar size and is held the same way. Turning a mug into a bicycle will not keep the motion.

Change an outfit with a reference image

Attach a photo of the garment as a reference image alongside the video, then:

Edit the reference video: dress the man in the jacket shown in the reference
image (same colour, collar and pockets). Keep his face, his walk and the
background identical.

For a person who appears across many videos, creating a character (with outfits in its wardrobe) means you tag @Name instead of re-uploading photos every time; see consistent AI characters.

Extend a clip with AI

Sometimes the edit you need is "more of this shot". Every Seedance video in your Framiq gallery has an Extend option: it uses the video as a reference and continues the shot, so the action carries on from where it ended.

Continue the shot: she reaches the end of the street, stops, turns around
and smiles at the camera. Same camera movement, same light.

Tips for extending:

• Describe what happens next, not what already happened.
• Keep the camera and lighting language consistent with the original.
• If the original contains a spoken line, do not repeat it in the extension prompt, or the character may say it again.

For whole sequences rather than a single extension, the Pro plan's Extra Long feature chains several Seedance clips with continuity into one video of up to 5 minutes. It is experimental, and since Seedance 2.5 already generates up to 30 seconds per clip, short-form edits rarely need it. More on long AI videos.

What it costs

A reference video makes a generation more expensive than plain text-to-video, because the input clip is billed as well as the output. Two practical consequences:

• Trim before you upload. Send only the seconds you need edited. A long reference costs more and usually edits worse.
• Test short, then commit. Validate the prompt on a few seconds before editing a longer take.

For scale: a 30-second 720p Seedance 2.5 text-to-video clip costs about $7 of API cost, and an edit of the same length with a reference video costs more than that. On Framiq, the Free plan charges the standard rate and Pro (30/month) charges at API cost; failed generations are refunded. Per-model prices are on the pricing page.

Limits of AI video editing

Being honest about limits saves a lot of credits:

• It is a re-render, not a mask. The whole frame is generated again. Things you did not mention can still shift slightly: a texture, a background detail, a strand of hair. Listing what must stay constant reduces this but does not remove it.
• Faces can drift, especially in realistic edits and longer clips. Tag a character with @Name when identity matters.
• Text and logos in the frame are often redrawn imperfectly. Re-add critical text in your editor.
• Fast, complex motion (sports, dancing crowds, quick hand movements) is harder to preserve.
• Resolution: Seedance 2.5 in Framiq outputs up to 720p, which is fine for social media but not for a 4K master.
• Content rules apply. Edits of real people must be of yourself or of someone who consented. Do not use AI editing to put words, actions or clothing on someone who did not agree to it. If you publish realistic AI-edited footage on TikTok or Instagram, use their AI-generated label; both platforms require it for realistic AI content.

ByteDance has also reported region-level editing and other advanced controls for Seedance 2.5 in its own announcements. In practice, the reliable workflow today is the one above: reference video plus a precise description of the change.

What AI video editing is not

AI editing does not replace your editor. It changes what is inside a shot. It does not:

• cut, trim or reorder clips on a timeline,
• sync multiple camera angles,
• mix audio tracks or set levels,
• add captions, titles or transitions,
• colour-grade a whole project consistently.

All of that still happens in a regular editor (CapCut, Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut). The realistic workflow is: cut your footage into single shots, edit or restyle the shots that need it with AI, then bring them back into the timeline to assemble, caption and export.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake	Fix
Re-describing the whole scene	Describe only the change, then "keep everything else identical"
Uploading a long clip with cuts	Split into single shots, trim to the seconds you need
New background looks pasted on	Ask the model to relight the subject to match
Face changes after the edit	Tag the character with @Name and list "same face"
Object swap breaks the motion	Swap for an object of similar size and grip
Extension repeats the dialogue	Leave spoken lines out of the extension prompt

FAQ

Can I change the background of a video with AI?

Yes. Attach the clip as a reference video, describe the new background, ask the model to keep the subject and camera identical and to match the lighting. Single-shot clips with a clear subject give the cleanest results.

Can AI change someone's clothes in a video?

Yes, as long as it is you or someone who consented. Describe the new outfit precisely or attach a photo of it as a reference image, and state that the face, motion and background stay the same.

Can I turn a real video into anime or cartoon with AI?

Yes. Restyling is one of the most reliable AI edits: describe the target style ("2D anime, cel shading" or "stop-motion claymation") and ask to keep the same motion and timing.

Can AI make a video longer?

Yes. In Framiq, the Extend option on a Seedance video continues the shot from where it ends. Describe what happens next. For multi-minute pieces, Extra Long on the Pro plan chains several clips together.

Is AI video editing more expensive than generating from text?

Yes. With a reference video, the input clip is billed too, so the same output length costs more than text-to-video. Trimming the reference to just the seconds you need keeps the cost down.

Does AI editing replace Premiere or CapCut?

No. AI changes what is in a shot; a regular editor still handles cutting, trimming, audio, captions and export. Most people use both.

Try it

Take a short single-shot clip you already have, attach it to Seedance 2.5 in the Framiq studio and change just one thing: the background, the outfit or the style. Once you see how the model keeps the motion, you will know which of your shots are worth editing instead of reshooting. For more prompting technique, read our AI video prompting guide and the Seedance 2.5 tutorial.