Creating video with AI, Resources

The most essential rules for writing prompts for quality video, on a single page: structure, camera, shot, duration and models. Save it or print it.

One-page cheat-sheet

AI video, prompt rules

1Video-prompt structure

  • Scene, place, object, atmosphere
  • Motion, what happens
  • Camera, how it is shot
  • Style, mood and quality

2Camera movement

  • pan, turn to the side
  • zoom in/out, closer/farther
  • dolly, the camera slides forward
  • tracking, following the object

3Shot types

  • wide shot, general plan
  • close-up, a close plan
  • aerial / drone, from above
  • POV, the first person's eye

4Duration and pace

  • Many models, 3–10 seconds
  • slow motion, slow speed
  • timelapse, sped up
  • One scene, one motion

5Style and atmosphere

  • cinematic, realistic, anime
  • golden hour, neon, foggy
  • vintage, film grain
  • State the color palette

6Popular models

  • Sora (OpenAI), long, quality
  • Runway, editing + generation
  • Kling, Veo (Google)
  • Pika, fast and simple

7Consistency

  • One character, the same description
  • Attach a reference image/frame
  • Split scenes into short pieces
  • Then join them by editing

8Typical mistakes

  • Too complex a motion, it breaks
  • Many events in one frame, confusion
  • A long scene, consistency is lost
  • Retry the result and pick the best