How to Write Shot Prompts for AI Video
A field guide to writing AI video prompts that behave like shots: subject, action, camera, environment, duration, and constraints.
A good AI video prompt is not a paragraph of adjectives. It is a shot. It tells the model who is in frame, what is happening, where the camera is, what should move, and what must not change.
The best prompts read less like mood boards and more like instructions from a director to a camera crew.
The Prompt Formula
For most shots, use this order:
- Subject: who or what is the shot about?
- Action: what changes during the shot?
- Camera: framing, lens feeling, movement.
- Environment: location, weather, light, background motion.
- Continuity: wardrobe, props, identity, no new characters.
- Duration: how long the moment should feel.
Weak Prompt
Cinematic shot of a woman in a lighthouse, dramatic, beautiful, moody, realistic, rain, 35mm.This may produce a nice image, but it leaves too much undecided. Who is she? What is she doing? What should move? What must stay the same?
Stronger Prompt
Medium close-up of Mara, late 40s, short salt-and-pepper hair, navy wool jumper, standing beside an old radio in the lighthouse lantern room. She hears a burst of static and slowly turns toward the storm window. Cold dawn light, rain on glass, restrained handheld drift, no new characters, no text.This prompt gives the model a subject, action, place, camera feel, lighting, continuity details, and constraints. It is still compact, but it behaves like a shot.
Motion Should Be Simple
AI video often breaks when the prompt asks for too much action at once. Keep movement specific and limited:
- Slow push in as she listens.
- Camera holds while the radio light flickers.
- She turns her head toward the window.
- Rain moves behind the glass.
Avoid stacking five actions in one shot. If the character crosses the room, finds an object, reacts, speaks, and runs outside, that is not one shot. That is coverage.
Use Negative Constraints Carefully
A few constraints help: no new characters, no text, keep wardrobe unchanged. Too many constraints can muddy the prompt. Put the most important failures first and skip the rest.
If identity matters, say what to preserve. If a prop matters, name it. If a background element keeps appearing by accident, block it. The goal is not a wall of "no." The goal is to protect the shot.
Write For The Cut
Prompting is easier when you know the neighboring shots. A close-up after a wide shot does not need to re-explain the whole location. A reaction shot does not need complex camera movement. An insert should be clean enough to read in two seconds.
The question is not only "Can the model make this?" It is "Will this shot cut with the one before and after it?"