Control AI video timing with first, middle and last frames

Note: Voyager's built-in Video app is on by default on Mac. On Windows, turn it on in Settings first.

Both clips below start with the same bud and end with falling petals. One gives the open flower more time to register; the other makes the unfolding the main event. That is a useful choice when a six-second teaser has to leave an impression.

First, middle and last image controls let you direct three states of an AI video. We used them for a fictional Midnight Conservatory exhibition teaser: a closed carnation bud, a full bloom, then falling petals. Changing one timing setting gave the same scene a different buildup.

Design three states of the same scene

Start with the picture you most want people to remember. Our middle image is a white carnation in full bloom on a slender stem against a black background. We used Nano Banana 2.1 to edit one carnation image into the opening bud, the full bloom and the ending with falling petals. The camera, stem and light stay recognizable across the set.

For your own reveal, make the three images answer different questions:

• First: What does the viewer see before the change?
• Middle: What is the important state you want to reach?
• Last: Where should the shot leave us?

Keep exact titles and logos out of these images. Put them in your editor afterward, where their spelling and timing remain under your control. This approach suits an exhibition invitation, a campaign teaser or a visual transition between two parts of a presentation.

Set a middle frame, then change its time

fal announced first, middle and last frame controls for H3 Max on October 2. Use its reference-to-video mode and supply the open flower as a subject reference as well as the middle anchor.

Our settings were:

The current endpoint schema requires first and last images when using a middle image, and supports middle guidance at native 480P or 768P. Its time must fall inside the clip and rounds to a frame at 24fps.

Here is the exact motion prompt, used for both takes:

Image 1 is the white carnation subject and its studio style. A single fixed macro shot of one white carnation on a slender stem against a pure black background, soft light from the left. The tight green bud gently swells and its ruffled ivory petals unfurl into the fully bloomed, wide-open round blossom shown by the middle image, which holds for a moment, then the petals loosen and drift gracefully downward through the darkness, leaving a sparse tuft on the calyx as shown by the last image. Real-time, organic, continuous petal movement with soft weight. The stem, leaf, twig, camera, framing and black background stay perfectly steady. No cuts, no camera move, no text, no new objects. Treat the images as three successive states of this same flower. Silent.

Change only the middle-image time for the second take. Keeping the images, prompt and seed fixed makes the comparison easier to interpret.

A target state is not a stopwatch

The two-second take unfolded faster. The four-second take spent longer opening, but it was already visibly open before four seconds. It held that state rather than saving the entire reveal for the requested instant.

That distinction matters: the middle image guides a state at a time; it does not specify the first moment that state may appear. Use it to shape anticipation and release. If a logo must appear on one exact frame, animate the logo separately.

Both requests returned 158 video frames at 24fps, about 6.58 seconds. Check the output length before dropping it into a six-second slot. Trimming the tail can remove the last petals; speeding up the whole clip also moves the reveal earlier.

Compare the beginning, the open-flower hold and the exit together. For this teaser, the earlier target gives the open blossom more time to register. The later target makes the unfolding itself more prominent. Choose the part of the action your message needs.

Compare the takes together in Voyager

Watching one clip, closing it and opening the next makes small timing differences harder to judge. Voyager's native Video tool can open both files in a synchronized comparison view with a shared playhead, side-by-side and wipe modes, and a recorded choice.

Open the two carnation takes in Voyager Video's synchronized compare view, side by side. Label them Early target · 2s and Late target · 4s. Let me scrub both with one playhead and choose a take. Keep the source files unchanged; do not generate another video.

The agent opens an interactive comparison from the actual files. One playhead keeps the timing aligned, and the submitted choice tells the agent which take to use next. There is no comparison edit to assemble before making the decision.

Download the three anchors, both full-frame takes and exact prompts. Unzip the folder together; index.html plays the comparison locally. The kit also includes portable generation parameters and a command to open the takes in Voyager Video.

Direct the moment that carries the idea

For Midnight Conservatory, we chose the earlier target: the open blossom gets a longer hold before the petals fall. For a teaser about transformation, we would favor the slower unfolding.

Try the same experiment with your own reveal: make three clear states, generate two timings and compare the moment your audience should remember. Use the middle frame to shape that moment; keep frame-exact titles and logos in the editor.