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