Cinematic prompts · Part 3 of 5
The camera-move library, rewritten as story jobs
Pick the job first, then the move that does it. Nine moves, each with a job, a warning, and a physics line.
A camera move is not a decoration. It is a verb with a job. Pick the job first. Then pick the move that does that job. The words that show up most in real AI prompts are tracking, close-up, handheld, wide, and orbit. Framing and movement are a pair. Name both. vflow
What is a story job?
The job is what the audience knows at the end of the clip that they did not know at the start. Intimacy, isolation, power, fear, belonging, dread. If you cannot name the job, you are picking a path for the path.
Write every move as physics, not as a synonym.
- Dolly: the camera body travels.
Camera physically moves forward. No lens zoom. - Zoom: the lens changes focal length. The camera stands still.
- Track: the camera travels with the subject.
- Orbit: the camera circles a pinned subject. The world turns. The subject does not.
If the model cannot tell those apart, the shot melts. Kapwing
The Godfather — static as pressure
Michael sits in the restaurant. Medium close-up, eye level. Locked-off static shot. Camera fixed on a tripod. 50mm. The stillness reveals he has already chosen.
Goodfellas — track as belonging
Henry leads Karen through the kitchen. Medium wide, eye level. Steadicam track matching their pace. 35mm. The track reveals the club is his house.
Same rule as Article 1. One size. One angle. One move. One reveal.
What to start with
- The Director’s sentence
- The job of this clip only
- Whether the body also moves (two sentences if yes)
- The model’s one-move habit (Kling especially)
Do not stack two jobs in one generation. Generate twice.
The library
Locked-off / static
Job: pressure through stillness. The subject does the moving.
Do not use: when you need the world to change around them.
Prompt: Locked-off static shot. Camera fixed on a tripod, zero camera movement, identical framing from start to end.
Do not write “no camera movement.” Models fight that negative. Kapwing · Runway Gen-4
Slow dolly in / push-in
Job: intimacy, accusation, this face matters.
Do not use: as a default “make it cinematic” move. If every shot pushes, nothing is an accusation.
Prompt: Slow dolly push-in over 4 seconds. Camera physically moves forward. No lens zoom.
Runway’s rain detective is this shot. Runway
Dolly out / pull-back
Job: isolation. The world rushes in around a small figure. Endings.
Do not use: if you still need us inside the lie. Pulling back too early lets the audience off the hook.
Prompt: Slow dolly pull-back. Camera physically retreats. Subject shrinks in frame. End on a wider hold.
Seedance’s distancing stack is this job with tempo written in. Seedance 80
Tracking / follow / truck
Job: we are with them.
Do not use: if the point is that we know more than they do. A track is loyalty.
Prompt: Side track. Camera travels beside the subject at walking pace, matching stride. Subject stays in the same part of the frame.
Highest-frequency move in public AI prompts. vflow · walk template: Prompt Architects
Orbit / clockwise circle
Job: coronation, product hero, the world turns around them.
Do not use: on a talking face that needs a reveal. Orbits ask more of the model than a small push-in.
Prompt: Clockwise orbit. Camera circles at a fixed radius, smooth and continuous. Subject pinned center while the world rotates. End still centered. Kapwing
Handheld
Job: urgency, vérité, fear.
Do not use: as shake for shake. Unmotivated jitter reads as a broken generate.
Prompt: Handheld. Slight operator instability. Camera reacts to the body, not random shake.
Clark treats handheld as texture with a cause. Clark POV fight
Crane / jib / pedestal
Job: aftermath, god’s eye, reveal over an obstacle.
Do not use: as the first shot of a scene unless the point is scale.
Prompt: Crane up from ground level to bird’s-eye over 5 seconds. Start low to make him large. End high to make him small.
Clark’s Titan opening is this pair in one sequence. Low canopy, then bird’s-eye. Clark
Whip pan
Job: energy, invisible cut, handoff into POV.
Do not use: as a style sprinkle. A whip needs a body or a look that earns the blur.
Prompt: Whip pan in the direction of her turn. Blur through the spin. Land in her eyeline.
Clark: whip into first person, body crossing the lens to get back out. Clark
Dolly zoom / vertigo
Job: realization. The ground drops out.
Do not use: for ordinary emphasis. Save it for the lie breaking.
Prompt: Dolly zoom. Camera dollies in while the lens zooms out. Background stretches. Face stays the same size. The move reveals the dread. Emily
Low vs high, and the lens
These are not moves. They are the other half of the pair.
- Low + 24mm: hero or threat
- High + wide: smallness
- 50mm: plain sight
- 85mm + shallow: isolation or voyeurism
- OTS: connection
- ECU: feeling
Write angle and lens in the same sentence as the move. Prompt Architects pairing · Emily
Pocket hero shot
Three lines. Low angle. Medium shot. Slow dolly in.
She stands her ground in the doorway. Medium shot, low angle. Slow dolly push-in over 3 seconds. 35mm. The push-in reveals she will not move.
Worked swap (same rain, five jobs)
Engine: a detective lights a cigarette in the rain.
Static / pressureHe lights the 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.
Push-in / accusationHe lights the cigarette in the rain. Medium close-up, low angle. Slow dolly push-in over 4 seconds. 35mm. The push-in reveals the tension in his face.
Pull-back / isolationHe lights the 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.
Track / with himHe walks the alley and lights the cigarette. Medium wide, eye level. Side track matching his pace. 35mm. The track reveals we are staying with him.
Orbit / coronationHe lights the cigarette in the rain. Medium shot, low angle. Clockwise orbit at a fixed radius. Subject pinned center. 35mm. The orbit reveals the street now belongs to him.
Point at the cell you changed: the move and the job. Coat, alley, and cigarette stay put.
Kill test
- What is the job in one noun?
- Is the move physics (dolly, track, orbit) or a mood word (cinematic, dynamic)?
- Did I write
No lens zoomon a dolly? - Are body and camera on two sentences?
- Would a second move steal the job?
If the noun is “style,” pick again.
Using AI as a writing partner
Force one move from this library. Ban synonyms.
Paste into your AI chat
Short school still applies when the clip gets drunk. One subject. One action. One named move. 30–60 words. That cap is from PJ Ace’s Odyssey pipeline as posted by Grok Imagine. Imagine thread · PJ Ace