---
title: Iterating
description: "Talk to the agent like a video editor — small targeted edits beat re-specification."
---

[Editing existing videos](/prompting/editing-existing-videos) already leaned on two habits — one variable per render, absolute targets over relative nudges — for every verb on that page. This is where they come from, stated plainly, so you can apply them anywhere: HyperFrames is a conversation. After the first render, talk to the agent the way you'd talk to a video editor — don't re-prompt from scratch:

> Make the title 2x bigger.

> Swap to dark mode.

> Add a fade-out at the end and a lower third at 0:03 with my name and title.

> The captions are too small and they overlap the lower third. Move them up and shrink them.

> Replace the background music with `assets/track.mp3`.

The agent already has the composition open and the skills loaded — small targeted edits produce better results than long re-specifications.

## Editing is for nudging, not gambling

Three moves keep iteration convergent instead of circular:

1. **One variable per edit.** Change one thing, render, judge, repeat. A request that moves three things at once ("bigger title, warmer colors, faster cuts") makes it impossible to attribute what helped and what hurt.
2. **Layer one element type at a time.** Building up a complex scene? Start with the minimal version (subject + its motion only), confirm it reads, then add exactly one layer per pass — camera move, then background motion, then style treatment. Every addition stays attributable.
3. **Strip, then re-layer.** When a scene keeps misfiring, don't pile on corrections — strip it back to the simplest version that works (freeze the camera, simplify the motion, clear the background), confirm, then reintroduce complexity one layer at a time until you find the ingredient that breaks it.

## Calibrate with absolute targets

When you're dialing in a look, relative corrections oscillate — "make the dots finer" overshoots, "a bit bigger" overshoots back. State targets as absolute values and the agent lands them in one pass:

- ❌ `make the dots 2x finer`
- ✅ `dot radius = 25% of row spacing, with clear gaps between dots`

- ❌ `the glow is too strong`
- ✅ `glow at ~35% peak opacity, always subtler than the orb itself`

And freeze what already works: "the framing and motion are right — don't touch them; only change the dot size." Without the freeze clause, a rebuild can drift on axes you'd already settled.

*Next: [Recreating something you saw](/prompting/recreating-references) — the same absolute-target discipline, applied to matching a specific reference frame by frame.*
