The It's My Life dog, starring your pet, from one photo

How to make an It's My Life dog video yourself

You do not need this page to make one. This is how the video is put together, with the prompts for every shot, so you can build it with any picture model and image-to-video model you like.

1. Step 1

   Draw the first still as one split-screen picture

   Use a picture model that takes a reference photo and draw the opening still as a single vertical picture split across the middle: the road through the windscreen on top, your pet buckled into the front seat below, singing with its mouth wide open. Make its head and chest fill the bottom half so its face is big and clear.

2. Step 2

   Draw the other four from the first one

   For the walker in the lane, the empty road, the sunglasses and the last line, give the picture model your photo and the first still as a second reference, and ask it to keep the pet, the car and the seat from that still but draw the new road up top and the new moment below: jolted to one side, then holding the sunglasses, then wearing them.

3. Step 3

   Animate each still and cut to the sound

   Give each still to an image-to-video model, say in every prompt that the picture stays split in two with the line fixed, and spell out the road rolling by up top. Trim the shots to 3.8, 1.6, 4.9, 1.2 and 2.7 seconds, lay them end to end at 9:16 with hard cuts, and add the sound from its start on TikTok.

The shots, second by second

The prompts, shot by shot

Each shot is made in two steps. Give its still prompt to a picture model with your pet's photo as the reference, then give the picture it draws to an image-to-video model with the motion prompt. Add these endings to every prompt: they set the look and keep your pet the same from shot to shot.

1. 0–3.8sSinging in the front seat

   Still prompt

   Copy

   A split-screen frame cut straight across the middle by a thin black line, the top half and the bottom half the same height. Top half: a dashcam view through the windscreen of a car on a sunny afternoon, the edge of the dashboard along its bottom, a wide highway ramp curving ahead between tall green trees, two ordinary cars far ahead seen from behind. Bottom half: a camera on the dashboard of the same car looks back at the front seat, dark grey fabric seats and a bright side window with trees going by behind, where the pet in the reference photo sits upright like a person, buckled in with a grey seatbelt across its chest, front paws resting in front of it. Its head and chest fill the bottom half, the tips of its ears just below the black line, face in full view. It is singing along with pure joy, mouth wide open, eyes half closed, head tipped back a little. No road signs, number plates, badges or writing anywhere.

   Motion prompt

   Copy

   The picture stays split in two the whole time, the thin black line across the middle fixed in place. In the top half the road rolls toward the camera as the car drives on round the curve. In the bottom half the pet sings along with pure joy, its own animal mouth and jaw opening wide and closing again on every line, as if belting out a song, head bobbing and swaying, eyes half closed. Both cameras stay fixed to the car, and it stays the same sunny afternoon throughout.

2. 3.8–5.4sSomeone in the lane

   Still prompt

   Copy

   A split-screen frame cut straight across the middle by a thin black line, the top half and the bottom half the same height. Top half: a dashcam view through the windscreen of a car on a sunny afternoon, the edge of the dashboard along its bottom, the same sunny ramp: a car has stopped on the bend ahead and a pedestrian in a plain grey T-shirt is walking out into our lane, a few car lengths in front. Bottom half: the pet in the reference photo, in the same front seat as in the other frame, buckled in, its head and chest filling the bottom half, still singing with joy, mouth wide open, eyes half closed, noticing nothing. No road signs, number plates, badges or writing anywhere.

   Motion prompt

   Copy

   The picture stays split in two the whole time, the thin black line across the middle fixed in place. In the top half the car rolls on toward the pedestrian walking across the lane. In the bottom half the pet keeps singing for a second, its own animal mouth and jaw opening wide and closing again on every line, as if belting out a song; then it stops dead, its mouth snapping shut and its head jerking toward the road. Both cameras stay fixed to the car, and it stays the same sunny afternoon throughout.

3. 5.4–10.3sThe empty road

   Still prompt

   Copy

   A split-screen frame cut straight across the middle by a thin black line, the top half and the bottom half the same height. Top half: a dashcam view through the windscreen of a car on a sunny afternoon, the edge of the dashboard along its bottom, the same sunny bend, the lane ahead now empty: no people and no cars on it. Bottom half: the pet in the reference photo, in the same front seat as in the other frame, buckled in, its head and chest filling the bottom half, jolted to one side as if the car has just swerved, one front paw thrown out, eyes wide, mouth shut. No road signs, number plates, badges or writing anywhere.

   Motion prompt

   Copy

   The picture stays split in two the whole time, the thin black line across the middle fixed in place. In the top half the empty road rolls on and opens onto a wide, open highway. In the bottom half the pet rocks back upright and settles in its seat, glances off to the side once, then turns its face to the camera and stares straight into the lens, dead serious, mouth shut, not blinking, holding perfectly still to the end. It does not sing. Both cameras stay fixed to the car, and it stays the same sunny afternoon throughout.

4. 10.3–11.5sThe sunglasses

   Still prompt

   Copy

   A split-screen frame cut straight across the middle by a thin black line, the top half and the bottom half the same height. Top half: a dashcam view through the windscreen of a car on a sunny afternoon, the edge of the dashboard along its bottom, a wide, open sunny highway ahead, a few cars far off. Bottom half: the pet in the reference photo, in the same front seat as in the other frame, buckled in, its head and chest filling the bottom half, staring straight into the lens, dead serious, mouth shut, holding a pair of plain black sunglasses up beside its face in one front paw. No road signs, number plates, badges or writing anywhere.

   Motion prompt

   Copy

   The picture stays split in two the whole time, the thin black line across the middle fixed in place. In the top half the open highway rolls toward the camera. In the bottom half the pet slides the black sunglasses on over its eyes with its paw in one smooth move and lowers the paw, cool, its mouth still shut. Both cameras stay fixed to the car, and it stays the same sunny afternoon throughout.

5. 11.5–14.2sThe last line

   Still prompt

   Copy

   A split-screen frame cut straight across the middle by a thin black line, the top half and the bottom half the same height. Top half: a dashcam view through the windscreen of a car on a sunny afternoon, the edge of the dashboard along its bottom, a wide, open sunny highway stretching ahead, a few cars far off. Bottom half: the pet in the reference photo, in the same front seat as in the other frame, buckled in, its head and chest filling the bottom half, now wearing plain black sunglasses, head tipped back, singing at the top of its voice, mouth wide open. No road signs, number plates, badges or writing anywhere.

   Motion prompt

   Copy

   The picture stays split in two the whole time, the thin black line across the middle fixed in place. In the top half the open highway rolls toward the camera. In the bottom half the pet belts out the last line in its sunglasses, its own animal mouth and jaw opening wide and closing again on every line, as if belting out a song, head tipped back and bobbing, full of itself. The sunglasses stay on. Both cameras stay fixed to the car, and it stays the same sunny afternoon throughout.

Where it goes wrong

• Say the split screen in every prompt

  Describe the split only in the still and a video model may treat the picture as one scene: it pans across the line, or lets the road leak into the car. Say in every motion prompt that the picture stays split in two with the thin line fixed, and say what each half does.

• Give it its own animal mouth

  Ask a pet to sing with its lips and teeth and a model draws a person's mouth on it. Ask for its own animal mouth and jaw opening wide and closing on every line, and say in the stare that its mouth stays shut, or the jaw flaps all the way through.

• Put the sunglasses in its paw first

  The sunglasses have barely a second before the singing comes back. Draw that still with the pair already held up beside the face in one paw, so the clip only has to slide them on, and say in the last still that they stay on.

• Keep the road free of writing

  Road signs, number plates and badges are where a model writes words and car makers' names. Say there are none anywhere, and leave the steering wheel out of it: named, it gets drawn between the camera and your pet.

• Only pets whose owners agreed

  Use your own dog or cat, or a pet whose owner agreed. Do not use a celebrity’s pet, a famous animal account or the dog from the first post, and do not put people in the seat: the walker on the road stays a small, made-up figure far ahead.

• Label it as AI-generated

  Switch on TikTok's AI-generated content label before you post. A dog singing in a car and putting on sunglasses is exactly the kind of clip people ask about, and viewers trust a post that says so.