CAC Spike Diagnosis

Use case: Product teaser (template 1)

| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Subject | A matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe |
| Action | 1) A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim; 2) the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn; 3) the final second holds still on the dripper's front, copper rim catching the light |
| Scene | A walnut kitchen counter by a window, early morning just after sunrise, a faint haze of steam in the air, uncluttered background |
| Angle / Move | Vertical close-up at counter height, slightly above eye level / slow dolly in |
| Lens | 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field, kitchen background in soft bokeh |
| Light / Palette / Mood | Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim on the copper / matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut, soft cream highlights / calm, quiet, unhurried |
| Style / Time | Premium commercial look, photorealistic / real-time pace, steady trickle throughout, still hold in the last second |
| Audio | Close, clear coffee trickling into glass, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music |
| Negative | text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look |

Final prompt (paste into Veo / Gemini / Flow):

Premium commercial look, photorealistic, vertical close-up at counter height of a matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe on a walnut kitchen counter by a window in the early morning just after sunrise. A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim, and the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn. Slow dolly in, 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field with the kitchen background in soft bokeh. Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim light catching the copper, palette of matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut and soft cream highlights, calm and quiet mood. Real-time pace; the final second holds still on the dripper's front.
Audio: close, clear sound of coffee trickling into a glass carafe, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music.
Negative prompt: text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look

Settings: 9:16, 8 seconds, audio on.

Settings: model `sora-2` · size `1280x720` · seconds `8` · characters: none

Before

A cool cinematic shot of a woman drinking coffee in a nice cafe, make it 10 seconds.

After

Style: Contemporary 35 mm film look, natural and understated, soft contrast, fine grain, warm-neutral grade.

A small neighbourhood cafe on a quiet weekday morning. A woman in her early 30s with shoulder-length dark hair tied loosely back, wearing an oatmeal knit sweater, sits alone at a round marble table by a large street-facing window. In front of her: a white ceramic cup of black coffee on a matching saucer and a folded paper napkin. Behind her, out of focus, a wooden counter with an espresso machine and a barista moving between shelves of cups. Thin steam rises from the cup and catches the window light.

Cinematography:
Camera: medium close-up, eye level, from across the table at a slight angle; slow dolly-in
Lens: 50 mm feel; shallow depth of field, sharp on her face and the cup, background soft
Lighting: soft morning daylight through the window from camera left as key; warm tungsten pendant glow from the counter as background fill
Palette anchors: cream, warm walnut brown, soft white, muted sage, coffee black
Mood: calm, quiet, unhurried

Actions:
- She wraps both hands around the cup and lifts it slowly (first two seconds).
- She blows lightly across the surface, then takes one small sip.
- She lowers the cup to the saucer and looks out the window with a faint, relaxed smile (final two seconds).

Background Sound:
Low hiss of the espresso machine, soft clink of cups at the counter, muffled murmur of a few voices; no score.

What changed and why

- Removed "make it 10 seconds". Duration is an API parameter, not prose, and 10 is not a supported value (4, 8, 12, 16, 20). Set `seconds: 8` in the call; the prompt now fits 8 seconds of action.
- "Cool cinematic shot" became a named style. A specific aesthetic instead of a vague adjective, set first so it frames everything else.
- "Drinking coffee" became three timed beats. Lift, blow and sip, lower and look out. Beats with timing cues are far more reliable than a single vague verb.

[five more changes in the full answer: subject anchors, concrete nouns, one camera move, named light sources, background sound]

Pack: `references/pack-product-shots.md`.

Three options

1. PS-09 Strawberry Milkshake Product and Infographic. A ready-made premium cold-drink hero shot: seamless pastel backdrop, realistic condensation droplets and "premium café advertisement" styling, which is exactly the look a chilled cold-brew can needs.
Prompt by @Strength04_X (𝐌), source: https://x.com/Strength04_X/status/2090665058980462697, via awesome-nano-banana-pro-prompts, CC-BY-4.0.

2. PS-02 Luxury Chocolate Ad Still Life. The only prompt in the pack that is a full ad layout with on-image copy, but you would have to delete its placeholder copy and invented logos and rebuild most of the props.
Prompt by @AiwithLucas_ (Lucas AI), source: https://x.com/AiwithLucas_/status/2089231817916420518, via awesome-nano-banana-pro-prompts, CC-BY-4.0.

3. PS-01 Premium Beverage Advertising Photography. Written for a beverage-brand hero ad and works from your attached references, but the prompt is only one line long, so lighting and composition would come from what you attach.
Prompt by @exywuu (Exywuu), source: https://x.com/exywuu/status/2092222318084788564, via awesome-nano-banana-pro-prompts, CC-BY-4.0.

Pick: PS-09

What to attach. Image 1: a clear, front-on photo of your real Northbound can, logo facing the camera.

Adapted prompt (4:5 Instagram ad)

Image 1: product photo of the Northbound cold-brew coffee can. Use this exact can.

A vertical 4:5 Instagram feed ad. A high-quality professional product photograph of a premium cold-brew coffee can, the 330 ml matte navy aluminium can from Image 1 with its white logo, standing upright and centered against a soft pastel pink seamless studio background. Preserve the can's exact shape, proportions, matte navy finish, white logo and label from Image 1; do not redesign it, recolour it or add any new graphics to it. The can sits on the same seamless surface with a few clear ice cubes and a small scatter of dark roasted coffee beans at its base. Realistic condensation droplets cover the can with soft reflections from the studio lights. Elegant soft lighting creates subtle natural shadows beneath the can. The can fills about 55% of the frame height in the lower two thirds of the image, logo facing the camera.

Text: the headline "Cold. Bold. Northbound." across the top third of the image, centered, in a bold clean white sans-serif with generous letter spacing, large enough to read on a phone. Render this headline exactly once, spelled exactly as written. Apart from the can's own logo from Image 1, no other text, no prices, no taglines, no extra logos, no watermark.

Ultra-sharp focus, DSLR macro beverage photography, premium café advertisement style, hyper realistic, clean commercial composition, 8K.

Tool settings: aspect ratio 4:5; in AI Studio or the API also set the output resolution to 2K so the headline stays sharp.

Prompt by @Strength04_X (𝐌), source: https://x.com/Strength04_X/status/2090665058980462697, via awesome-nano-banana-pro-prompts, CC-BY-4.0. Adapted: subject swapped from a strawberry milkshake in a glass to the Northbound can, Image 1 reference and preserve-the-product line added, 4:5 aspect ratio and headline added, the original's second (infographic) paragraph removed.

[The full answer ends with a one-fix-per-turn table for headline contrast, product drift, garbled text and framing.]