Reference Mode: lock identity across scenes.

Until 2025, the unspoken rule of AI video was: don't show the same character twice. Faces drifted. Wardrobe morphed. Hair changed. By the third shot, the character was a different person. Reference Mode fixes that. You provide a single anchor image; the model holds that identity across every generation in the project.

For anyone making narrative work — short films, branded series, character-driven social — Reference Mode is the feature you've been waiting for. Here's how to use it well.

What Reference Mode does

You upload a clean reference image of your subject. The model treats that image as the canonical identity for any generation in the same project. Every shot you create — wide, close-up, action, dialogue — pulls from the same identity anchor.

The result: the same face, the same hair, the same wardrobe, every time. Continuity that used to require manual color correction and face replacement is now baked into the generation step.

How to choose a reference image

The quality of your reference dictates the quality of the lock. Five rules:

1. Front-facing or 3/4 view. Profile shots work less well; the model has less data about the unseen side.
2. Even, soft lighting. No harsh shadows on the face. Window light or ring light works.
3. Neutral expression. The reference should be a base state. Smiling references can produce smiling output where you didn't ask for it.
4. Match the wardrobe and styling you want preserved. Whatever the reference is wearing is what your character will wear, unless you explicitly override it.
5. Resolution at least 1024x1024. Higher is better. The model has more identity signal to work with.

The Nano Banana trick

The cleanest way to get a reference image is to generate one. Nano Banana Pro lets you iterate on character design — face, age, ethnicity, build, wardrobe, hair — until the look is exactly right. Once locked, you ship that image into your video model as the Reference Mode anchor. The character you designed is the character you film.

This pattern collapses character casting from a separate task into the same workflow as the rest of the project. You're directing your own talent without leaving the app.

Working a Reference Mode shoot

Once your reference is locked, your prompts can be much shorter. You don't need to describe the character every time — the reference handles identity. Your prompts become pure shot descriptions.

Compare:

Without reference: "Medium close-up of a 28-year-old woman with shoulder-length brown hair, in a navy blazer, in a sunlit office. Window light. Cinematic."

With reference: "Medium close-up. Sunlit office. Window light. Cinematic."

The reference does the identity work. You direct the shot.

"Reference Mode turned a four-day character casting process into a forty-five minute one. We design the look in Nano Banana, lock it, and shoot the rest of the project in shorter prompts." — AI Studio Production Notes

Multi-character scenes

For scenes with two or more characters, use multiple reference images — one per character. Each character gets its own anchor; the model maintains all of them simultaneously. This is how we shoot dialogue scenes inside AI Studio. You design two characters in Nano Banana, lock both, and run the conversation as a multi-shot generation. Both characters stay consistent across every cut.

Common pitfalls

Wardrobe changes between shots. Your reference image showed the wardrobe ambiguously, or your prompt overrode it. Re-shoot the reference with the wardrobe clearly visible; or specify the wardrobe explicitly in each prompt.

Face still drifts subtly. Your reference is too small in frame, or under-resolved. Use a tighter reference at higher resolution.

Reference doesn't apply at all. You forgot to attach it. Reference must be set per-project; some models also need it set per-generation.

Multi-character scene blends faces. The two references are too similar. Choose visually distinct anchors — different hair, different wardrobe, different age range.

The bottom line

Reference Mode is the feature that turns AI video from a single-shot toy into a real production tool. The minute you can hold character identity across cuts, you can make narrative work. Open AI Studio, design a character in Nano Banana Pro, lock it as a reference, and shoot a five-shot scene. You'll never go back to working without it.