Why Seedance refuses your photo, and what to do
You upload a photo of a person as the start frame, choose Seedance, and the clip comes back refused: "flagged as sensitive". The prompt was harmless. What happened?
Why it happens
ByteDance, the maker of Seedance, runs its own safety check on every request. To stop deepfakes, it is very strict about images of realistic-looking people, and it turns many of them away even when nothing is wrong with them. Text-only prompts and illustrated or stylised images are far less likely to be refused.
What it costs you
Nothing. In ReelCritix Studio a refused clip is refunded automatically, in full, and the failure message says what happened.
Three ways around it
- Same image, different model. Choose Kling 4.0 or Wan 3.0; they usually accept it.
- Keep Seedance, drop the image. Describe the person in the prompt instead: "a fit woman in her 40s in a grey tank top does lunges with a dumbbell in each hand".
- Use an illustrated or stylised start image rather than a photo.
Whatever you use, you need the right to use the image, and Studio does not make videos of real people without their consent.