The Subtle Art of Prompting
The rise of AI has transformed every creative process. Where filmmakers once needed cameras, lighting rigs, microphones, and a full post-production team to bring a scene to life, now a single well-crafted prompt can do it all.
Imagine walking through the Swiss Alps, capturing breathtaking footage, and seeing it projected on the screens of Madison Square Garden while you’re still curled up in your blanket at home. That’s the power of AI-driven video creation.
It’s not easy because your results are only as good as your prompts. A vague instruction yields generic, uninspiring outputs, while a carefully structured prompt can produce cinematic-quality videos that perfectly capture your vision. Let’s find out the step-by-step strategy to write a perfect prompt for video creation.
Elements that should be present in your Prompt
Some of the important elements to create a perfect video through a prompt should include:
- Defining the Subject
A subject is the foundation of your prompt. It can be anything, an object, a person, an animal, or even a scene that you definitely want in your video. This defines what you want your video to be about. For example,
Weak Subject - ‘A Man’
Strong Subject - ‘A middle-aged bearded man with deep black eyes, wearing a brown trench coat, holding an umbrella’.
- Setting the Context
After you have clearly defined your subject, the next step in creating a prompt would be setting the context. This would explain when and where the action is happening. It sets the background details that would make your video more trustworthy. For example,
Weak Context - ‘In a city’
Strong Context - ‘On a rainy night in downtown Tokyo, neon signs reflect on wet streets, with occasional fog drifting past street lamps’.
- Deciding the Action
Unlike photographs, videos are dynamic, where the frames constantly keep changing. Thus, it becomes extremely important to describe in detail what the subject is doing. For example,
Weak Action - ‘The man is walking’
Strong Action - ‘The man slowly walks across the street, heavy-footed, tilting his umbrella against the heavy wind.’
- Picking out the Style & Tone
This aspect of the prompt can either be general or extremely specific. This is important for adding your artistic idea and flavour to the thought of your creation. Here, you get to define what your video will exactly look like, using the specific film style keywords like horror, anime, cinematic, etc. For example,
Weak Style - ‘Animated’
Strong Style - ‘Studio Ghibli-style hand-drawn animation with warm lighting and soft textures’.
- Specifying the Camera Details
This defines what the camera would be doing in the video. Although the description of the camera details is optional, it enhances the quality and the visual of the video. You can define whether your camera is in aerial view, eye-level, wide-angle shot, top-down shot, and more. For example,
Weak Camera Details - ‘Video of a girl’
Strong Camera Details - ‘Close-up shot of a girl’s face, with shallow depth of field, as the camera slowly zooms into her eyes.’
- Adding Mood and Atmosphere
This is the final layer of the prompt that defines the emotional tone of the video. It acts like a binding element to the scene, which ties the subject, scene, and style together. For example,
Weak Mood - ‘A Sunset’
Strong Mood - ‘A warm golden-hour sunset casting long shadows, with birds flying across the glowing sky.’
Refining with Details
Once you’ve defined the subject, context, action, style, camera, and mood, you can now devote time to adding the finishing touches, like subtle details that make your video feel alive and cinematic. These details act as layers of texture, personality, and realism that transform a good video into a truly immersive experience.
- Colours and Textures
Colors and textures can completely change the entire scenario and feel of a scene. Whether you are aiming for a bright, vibrant mood or a moody, muted atmosphere, describing the same improves AI’s guide to creating the video.
Example: “The woman wears a flowing emerald-green dress, with shimmering silk fabric that catches the sunlight.”
Tip: Including solif adjectives like glossy, rough, matte, glowing, or sparkling enhances the visual guide for your AI to create a better video.
- Props and Clothing
Small elements like accessories, furniture, or clothing styles help in defining the time period, culture, and character personality in that particular scene.
Example: “A vintage leather suitcase rests by the man’s feet, while he wears a fedora hat tilted slightly forward.”
These details make your video feel intentional rather than generic.
- Background Elements
The detailing of the background and the environment around your subject can enhance the story. Background addition can indicate changes in location, weather, or activity.
Example: “Rain-soaked cobblestone streets reflect neon signs, with a few bicycles leaning against lampposts in the distance.”
This subtle addition, like reflecting neon signs, flying birds, and distant cycle, makes the scene more dynamic and credible.
- Pacing & Motion
Adding the speed and style of movement specifically can give your video a cinematic flair. It can spotlight whether your subject’s actions are slow and contemplative or fast and chaotic.
Example: “The camera pans slowly over the crowded market, capturing children running and vendors calling out, then cuts to a rapid montage of colorful stalls.”
Details about pace and motion, like slow motion, fast cuts, zoom-in, tilt shots, time-lapse, can give AI vivid information on the way to animate the scene.
By refining your prompt with these details, you’re giving the AI a rich, layered blueprint. This creates the difference between a flat, generic video and one that feels like it was carefully crafted by a director.
Conclusion
So go around and explore with all the careful details! Creating a truly cinematic AI-generated video isn’t about simply typing a few words; It is about crafting a detailed, layered prompt that does justice to your vision clearly. The more precise and imaginative your prompt, the closer the final video will be to what you envisioned. In the age of AI-driven creativity, mastering the art of prompt writing is not just a skill to have; instead, it’s the key to transforming your ideas into visual realities.