Cinematic prompts · Part 1 of 5
Direct the camera. Don’t decorate the prompt.
Write one Director’s sentence: size, angle, one move, one lens, what it reveals.
“Cinematic” is not a style word. It is a set of decisions: shot size, angle, one move, one lens, and what that move reveals. Pretty clips come from adjectives. Shots that advance a scene come from directing through the prompt, as if the model were a crew that knows nothing unless you say it. Dave Clark
What is a directed shot?
A directed shot has a job. The camera does one thing so the audience learns one thing. If you cannot say what we know at the end of the clip that we did not know at the start, you decorated the prompt.
Write every generation as a Director’s sentence:
[Who does what]Subject + action in [where].Place [Shot size + angle].How we see it [One named move + speed].One move only [Lens].Focal length [What the move reveals].The camera’s job
That sentence is the artifact. Everything else is optional look.
Vague: cinematic shot of a woman in the rain
Directed: A detective lights a cigarette in the rain. Medium close-up, low angle. Slow dolly push-in over 4 seconds. 35mm, shallow DOF. The push-in reveals the tension in his face.
The second one names size, angle, path, lens, and purpose. Models can obey that. They cannot obey “cinematic.” Runway
The Godfather — Michael in the restaurant
Michael sits still while the conversation dies. Medium close-up, eye level. Locked-off static shot. 50mm. The stillness reveals he has already chosen to kill.
Goodfellas — the Copacabana walk
Henry leads Karen through the kitchen into the club. Medium wide, eye level. Steadicam track that stays with them. 35mm. The track reveals this is his house, and she is being brought inside it.
One shot uses no move on purpose. One shot is all move. Both are directed because the camera has a job.
What to start with
- Who is in the frame, and what they are doing (a precise verb)
- Where they stand
- One shot size and one angle
- One named move and a speed or duration
- One lens
- One line for what the move reveals
- Locked face, wardrobe, and room if this shot sits in a sequence (save the full lock rules for the continuity lesson)
Do not start with a mood paragraph and hope a camera appears inside it. Treat the prompt like a one-shot for a DP who was not at rehearsal. Clark, Veo construction
Five directing rules
1. One size, one angle, one move, one lens.
Two moves in one clip is how the camera gets drunk. Combine moves only when they are physically one path (a track that becomes a push). Otherwise generate twice. Kapwing
2. Subject and action first. Camera second.
Name who does what before you name the dolly. If you open with the camera, the move often aims at empty air. vflow
3. Always write what the move reveals.Slow dolly in is a path. The push-in reveals she is lying is direction. Give the move a narrative job. Emily
4. Split body motion and camera motion into two sentences.He walks to the door. The camera tracks beside him, matching pace. If you fuse them, the model walks the lens instead of the person. Clark
5. If the clip gets drunk, cut to 30–60 words.
One subject. One action. One named move. No second location. No negative (“no camera movement”). Write Locked-off static shot. Camera fixed on a tripod. imagine · Runway Gen-4
Keep character and set locked across beats. Change action, camera, and emotion. That is how a sequence starts. The full lock method is the continuity article. The rule begins here. Magiclight
Worked swap (keep the engine, change the camera job)
Same man. Same rain. Same cigarette. Different movie.
Push-in (accusation)A detective lights a cigarette in the rain. Medium close-up, low angle. Slow dolly push-in over 4 seconds. 35mm, shallow DOF. The push-in reveals the tension in his face.
Pull-back (isolation)A detective lights a cigarette in the rain. Medium close-up, eye level. Slow dolly pull-back over 4 seconds. 35mm. The pull-back reveals how small he is on the empty street.
Locked-off (pressure)A detective lights a cigarette in the rain. Medium close-up, eye level. Locked-off static shot. Camera fixed on a tripod. 50mm. The stillness reveals he is waiting for someone who is already late.
Point at the cell you changed: the move and what it reveals. If you also changed the city, the wardrobe, and the plot, you started a new pile.
Kill test
Before you hit Generate, answer these.
- Can you delete the word “cinematic” and the shot still holds?
- Is there more than one named move?
- Did you write what we learn at the end of the clip?
- Are the person and the camera on two different sentences?
- If this is shot two of a scene, did the coat and the room stay the same?
If any answer is no, rewrite the Director’s sentence. Do not add adjectives.
Using AI as a writing partner
Use a chat model to turn a sloppy line into a Director’s sentence. Then paste that sentence into Veo, Kling, Seedance, Runway, Sora, or Hailuo. Do not ask the chat model to invent a new scene.
Paste into your AI chat
Name real grammar in the output. Slow dolly in. 35mm. OTS. Locked-off. Adjectives are last, if they appear at all.
Bookmark
Next lesson is the six operating systems. This lesson is the sentence those systems all sit on. Name the shot. Name one move. Say what it reveals.