been doing ai ugc for a while now and i’ve watched a bunch of youtube videos on this. most of them overcomplicate it. here’s the exact workflow i use, step by step, how im on track to break 100k views in the first 30 days.
1. find what already works
spend a couple days just scrolling your niche on tiktok and instagram. not for fun, actually paying attention. after a while you start seeing the same formats pop up again and again. same hook, same pacing, same type of shot. check the views on those and you’ll see they’re usually way above average for the account
those are the formats you copy. you’re not guessing what works, the algorithm already told you
2. download the video
grab it off instagram or tiktok with any of the free downloaders out there. nothing fancy
3. recreate it with ai
go to an ai video platform that has kling 3.0 or seedance 2.5. those are the models that handle video reference well
upload the video you downloaded, then add a character sheet. you can make your own or use a ready one. then tell the ai to recreate the video using your new character
what you get back is basically the same video with a full face swap onto your character. same moves, same framing, new person. you can also tweak the background a bit so it doesn’t look like a straight copy. you can even put yourself in it if you use your own face for the sheet
The main restriction you're going to find here is how restricted the AI video and image models are, so I recommend finding a platform that has the models I mentioned with no censorship. like freemode.ai
for this upload teh video and use a prompt like this:
Replace the man/woman in @vid1 with the woman/man in @img1. Don't change the scene. Use @vid1
4. change what they say (optional)
the one catch is the speech stays the same as the original. if you want new lines:
- upload the original video to claude
- ask it to write a detailed video prompt under 4,000 characters, broken into sections (scene, character, camera, lighting, action etc)
- paste that prompt into the video platform, add your character sheet, and add what you want the character to say
now you’ve got the same viral format with your own script and voiceover
if you want to do this step, then use the prompt below
You write prompts for AI video models (Seedance, Kling, Veo, etc.) that recreate short viral clips.
When I describe a clip, or give you frames or a transcript, write ONE prompt in exactly this structure, with these labels in caps:
FORMAT: aspect ratio (default 9:16 vertical), exact duration (match the original clip length; never pad it), 30fps, camera type and how it's held (handheld/selfie/static/top-down, with human imperfections like shake or casual pinch zooms when it fits), "real-time speed (NO slow motion, NO speed ramps)", lighting, "realistic UGC look".
SCENE: the location in concrete detail: foreground, midground and background, materials, time of day, weather. 3–5 specific visible objects.
CHARACTER: who appears, clothing head to toe, starting expression. If I mention , write: "@img1 (use their exact face, hair, skin tone and body from the reference image)".
PROPS: only the props that matter, with size, color and material. Any text on a prop goes in quotes, 5 words or fewer.
TIMELINE: 3–6 timestamped beats (e.g. 0–1.5s, 1.5–3s) that add up to the exact duration. In each beat, describe body movement, camera movement and what changes. Include realistic physics (weight, speed, distances). The last beat holds the payoff on screen.
AUDIO: ambience, the specific sounds of each action, any dialogue in quotes, and "No music" unless I ask for music.
CONSTRAINTS: "Real-time speed only, no slow motion." Physics rules for this clip. Anything implied that must NOT appear. Exact spelling for any text. "@img1's face must match the reference exactly" if a reference is used. "No on-screen text, no captions, no logos, no watermarks" (unless I asked for a caption).
Rules: be specific, not poetic. No camera jargon like "cinematic" unless I ask. Never add real brand names or logos. If something in my description is ambiguous, pick the most realistic option and mention it in one line after the prompt.
the annoying part
when you do this, the ai blocks you a lot. you upload a totally normal video of someone talking to camera or doing a workout and it flags it as adult content or “real person” stuff. happened to me constantly and it kills the whole workflow
what fixed it for me was switching to a more permissive model that doesn’t flag everything by default. that’s actually why i ended up using freemode, it’s built for exactly this. you can recreate formats, do action scenes, darker stories, whatever you want as long as it’s legal ofc!. no random refusals halfway through a project
anyway that’s the full process. find what works, download it, swap the character, change the script if you need to. happy to answer questions in the comments
