First frame, last frame

0:09 A keyframe says how a shot begins. How it ends is up to the model... unless you give it a last frame too. In this video: what a first frame alone does, a last frame made from the first, and a video between the two, to guide how the shot ends.

0:26 Every sweep of Every Nine Seconds ends in the dark: the beam passes, and the door is barely visible in the dark. Our first take of sweep one was Seedance, from the keyframe alone. Its details show one picture: the first frame. The beam stayed where it was, then switched off: a spotlight fading, not a lighthouse passing.

0:53 So we made the end first: an edit of the keyframe. Its reference is the keyframe, and its words say what changed, and only that: the same photograph, a moment later, the beam swept to the right. Fourteen cents, on Nano Banana Pro.

1:11 Then the video, between the two: the keyframe as the first frame, the edit as the last. This is the take we kept, on Kling.

1:22 Same model, six seconds, almost the same words. On the left, the first frame alone: the light stays where it is, then goes out. On the right, first and last: the beam has somewhere to go, and it travels. We kept Kling's take of the same two frames, for its calmer sea.

1:45 Now, yours. Make takes for 2.1, and select the keyframe you kept. Kiju offers Animate it: five seconds from this still alone, in one press. That's fine when the end doesn't matter. Here it does: the spray has to swing away, the flames stand up again, and shot 2.2 begins from there. So, first, the last frame.

2:10 Switch the take to Image. For this edit, use just the keyframe: hover over Shelby's sheet and click its cross. Then, with the keyframe selected, choose Use as reference: it's reference image one. Then say what changed, and only that: the same photograph, a few seconds later. The spray has swung away, the flames stand straight, and Shelby and the cake don't move. Choose GPT Image, compare with Nano Banana Pro, check the price on the button, and Generate.

2:47 Two end frames. Shift-click the keyframe and both of them, then choose Compare. The GPT Image one moved the camera: Shelby is bigger, the sprinkler has shifted. The Nano Banana Pro one kept everything but the spray and the flames: that's the edit. Leave it as it is, and discard the other. If neither had kept the shot, you'd fix the still before paying for video.

3:15 Now the video. The end frame isn't kept, so its bar has Use as first frame: choose it to start a video take with it. It'll become the last frame in a moment. The keyframe is still there, as a reference. Kiju says what's wrong before you pay: first and last frames, or references, not both. Click a picture to change its role: the end frame, to Last... and the keyframe, to First.

3:44 The director's words stay: they say what happens between the frames, the arc passing twice, the flames leaning. Add one line for the end: the spray swings away, the flames stand up, and Shelby stays still. Seedance 2.5, seven seconds, with its own sound. Check the price on the button, and Generate.

4:11 Here it is. The arc passes twice and the flames lean; then the spray swings away and the flames stand up, as the last frame says. Shelby never moves. Keep for 2.1. And its last frame is where shot 2.2 can begin.

4:31 Pause here, and make yours. A first frame alone lets the model decide how the shot ends. When the end matters, give it a last frame: ours is an edit of the keyframe. Then animate between the two. Next time: three models, one press.