Prompting

Treat a prompt as a compact note to your cinematographer, performer, and effects team. Describe what should happen on screen, not how impressed the viewer should feel.

Build the prompt from observable choices:

• Subject: who or what the shot follows.
• Action: the physical change during the take.
• Framing: the shot size, angle, lens character, or composition.
• Camera: whether it is locked, handheld, tracking, panning, or moving another way.
• Light and environment: the visible source, time, weather, or atmosphere.

For example, “Handheld medium follow shot. A woman crosses the kitchen and pauses at the rain-streaked window. Soft overcast daylight, shallow focus” gives the model decisions it can render. “A beautiful cinematic shot of a person” does not.

Keep the first attempt focused. If the take misses, change one meaningful instruction at a time and compare the result with the previous take. Add a reference image when words alone do not hold the composition or identity closely enough.