ByteDance, the makers of Seedance – the current market leader of premium online video models – have introduced “draft mode” to Seedance 2.5. Draft mode renders at 480p, the same resolution as DVD, which overtook VHS in the early-to-mid-2000s. The idea behind it is that you spend 1/5 the price to render low-rez previews before committing several thousand credits to render the best take at 1080p. The final pass uses the same data from your chosen draft so you don’t have to re-roll blind.
All of my videos were rendered at 720p, and then upscaled to 1080p with my own editor. I have no intention of ever natively rendering at 1080p.
Twenty years of experience editing death scenes from DVDs taught me that 480p also upscales quite nicely to 1080p. That means I can save money on AI videos by rendering them at DVD quality, and then upscaling them myself.
With that in mind, enjoy my latest production, Weekend Alone!