Shot Prompting · Advanced
Advanced Shot Prompting
Structured prompts, character sheets, storyboards and 3D blockouts
The library covers single shots. These techniques chain them: timed beats, YAML and JSON shot lists, avoid lists, a character sheet that keeps one person consistent, storyboards built from that sheet, and Blender blockouts that hand a video model an exact camera move. They come from the prompt share in my weekly office hours, with links to the posts that showed them first.
Timing
- What it is
- Time-coded beats inside the prompt: the total duration first, then what happens in each window of the clip.
- When to use it
- Any clip longer than a few seconds, or anything that must hit beats in order: a reveal, a turn, a product moment.
- What it buys you
- Pacing you choose instead of pacing the model invents, and a clip that does not collapse into one undifferentiated move.
Do
- State the total duration and aspect ratio first.
- Give every beat a time window and one camera instruction.
- Keep beats two to four seconds long; shorter beats tend to blur together.
Don't
- Number beats without times; the model will spread them however it likes.
- Ask for more beats than the duration can hold.
15 seconds, 16:9, one continuous shot, no cuts.
0–3s: Wide shot. A woman in her forties with short silver hair, wearing a long rust-orange wool coat, stands at the end of an empty pier at dawn. Camera locked off.
3–7s: Slow dolly push in toward her back as the wind lifts the hem of her coat.
7–11s: She turns her head into profile; the camera arcs left to keep her face in frame.
11–15s: Hold on a medium close-up as the sun breaks the horizon behind her. Real-time speed.Worked example, coming soon
A 15-second clip of the same woman on a dawn pier, generated from the template above, with the beat boundaries marked on the timeline.
From the community
- @sadiamalik182 A 15-second vertical commercial broken into eight timed beats (0–1.5s … 13–15s), each with its own lens, plus a short negative list.
- @BubbleBrain One unbroken 30-second handheld vlog take, blocked in five-second windows (0–5s, 5–10s …).
- @1h77k Slow-motion macro food commercial: duration, aspect ratio and camera move stated up front in prose, then three labeled beats.
YAML scene + shot list
- What it is
- One fixed scene and character, then an ordered list of time-coded shots, each with its own camera and action.
- When to use it
- Multi-shot sequences, commercials with several scenes, and anything where lighting and wardrobe must not drift between shots.
- What it buys you
- Continuity. The scene is written once and every shot inherits it, so only the camera and action change.
Do
- Keep scene, character and style at the top; they apply to every shot.
- Give every shot a clock and a camera.
- Lift timed beats out of a paragraph into the shots list.
Don't
- Repeat the scene description inside each shot; small wording changes cause drift.
- Put tool names or vendor settings in the YAML.
scene: >
Dawn on an empty wooden pier, low fog over the water,
cold blue light warming to gold as the sun rises.
character: >
Woman in her forties, short silver hair, long rust-orange wool coat,
black boots. Same face and outfit in every shot.
duration: 12s
aspect: "16:9"
style: natural color, soft contrast, fine film grain
shots:
- time: 0-3s
camera: wide establishing, locked off
action: She stands at the far end of the pier, back to camera.
- time: 3-6s
camera: slow dolly push in, 35mm
action: Wind lifts the hem of her coat.
- time: 6-9s
camera: arc 45 degrees to her left, 50mm
action: She turns her head; her face comes into profile.
- time: 9-12s
camera: medium close-up, 85mm, shallow depth of field
action: The sun breaks the horizon behind her.
avoid:
- cuts or scene changes
- extra people on the pier
- text, logos, watermarkWorked example, coming soon
The four shots above generated as one sequence with the same woman, shown side by side with the YAML that produced them.
Guides
- Guide Structure AI video prompts for consistency (invideo) Keep every shot in the same fixed order of fields, from camera and lens to lighting and mood, so the look repeats from shot to shot.
- Guide Seedance 2 prompt guide: shot-by-shot prompts Numbered shots, each with its own action and camera move, plus reference images tied to tags in the prompt.
JSON structured prompts
- What it is
- The same direction as named fields: concept, subject, setting, camera, style, storyboard beats and a negative list.
- When to use it
- When prompts are filled by a script or spreadsheet, or when you want one schema you reuse across many shots.
- What it buys you
- Stable field names you can fill programmatically, and a template that is easy to version and compare.
Do
- Keep field names plain and consistent across every prompt.
- Use a forbidden list for camera moves you do not want.
- Nest storyboard beats with a time on each.
Don't
- Add a required model or app field; keep the schema portable.
- Assume every model reads JSON literally; test one shot before batching.
{
"concept": "A quiet moment of resolve at dawn",
"duration_seconds": 10,
"aspect_ratio": "16:9",
"subject": {
"description": "woman in her forties, short silver hair",
"wardrobe": "long rust-orange wool coat, black boots"
},
"setting": "empty wooden pier, low fog, sunrise",
"camera_direction": {
"move": "slow dolly push in, then hold",
"lens": "50mm",
"forbidden": ["handheld shake", "zoom", "cuts"]
},
"visual_style": {
"lighting": "cold blue dawn warming to a gold backlight",
"palette": ["slate blue", "rust orange", "pale gold"],
"texture": "fine film grain"
},
"storyboard": {
"beats": [
{ "time": "0-4s", "description": "Wide: she stands at the end of the pier, back to camera." },
{ "time": "4-7s", "description": "Push in as the wind lifts her coat." },
{ "time": "7-10s", "description": "Hold as the sun breaks the horizon behind her." }
]
},
"negative_prompt": ["extra people", "text", "watermark", "distorted hands"]
}Worked example, coming soon
The JSON above rendered as a clip, next to a version where only the camera_direction block changed.
From the community
Negative constraints
- What it is
- A short positive scene followed by an explicit list of what must not happen.
- When to use it
- Artifact control (hands, text, watermarks), style lock, and keeping a character from turning into someone else.
- What it buys you
- Fewer extra fingers, stray text and identity swaps, because the exclusions are a list the model sees, not a trailing clause.
Do
- Write avoid items as a list of the unwanted things themselves.
- Name the specific failure you saw last time.
- Pair identity items with a reference image.
Don't
- Bury "no text, no watermark" at the end of a paragraph.
- List dozens of items; five targeted ones work better than thirty.
SCENE: The woman in the rust-orange coat walks through a crowded night market. Medium tracking shot, 50mm, real-time speed.
AVOID:
- identity drift: her face must match the reference image
- extra fingers or merged hands
- a second person wearing her coat
- readable text, logos or watermarks
- cuts, flashes or scene changesWorked example, coming soon
The same night-market prompt with and without the avoid list, so the difference is visible.
Guides
- Docs Veo prompt guide (Google Cloud) Official guide: name the unwanted elements directly as a list, rather than writing "no" or "don't" instructions.
- Guide How negative prompts differ in Kling, Veo and Runway (invideo) Some tools have a separate negative field, some need exclusions written into the prompt, and some want positive phrasing only.
Character sheets
- What it is
- A single reference image of your character from several angles and expressions, attached to every later prompt as the identity source.
- When to use it
- Any project with a recurring character: a series, a commercial with several shots, a storyboard.
- What it buys you
- A face, hairstyle and wardrobe that stay the same across shots and tools.
- Generate the sheet once, as a still, with the template below.
- Check it closely: same face in every view, same outfit details, no merged hands.
- Attach the sheet to every later image or video prompt and say it is the only identity reference.
Do
- Use a plain background and even light so nothing distracts from the character.
- Include a back view; models invent backs otherwise.
- Keep the sheet and reuse it; do not regenerate it per shot.
Don't
- Put the character in a scene on the sheet itself.
- Change wardrobe between the sheet and the shot prompt.
Character reference sheet on a plain light-grey background, even soft studio light, 16:9.
Subject: a woman in her forties with short silver hair, wearing a long rust-orange wool coat, over a cream sweater, black trousers and black boots.
Top row, full body, same scale and neutral pose: front, three-quarter, profile, back.
Bottom row, head and shoulders: neutral, smiling, concerned, determined.
Identical face, hair and outfit in every view. Small clean labels under each view. No props, no scenery.Use the attached character sheet as the only identity reference for the woman: the same face, hair and rust-orange coat in every frame.
Medium shot, slow push in, 50mm. She reads a letter by a rain-streaked café window, warm practical light.
AVOID: identity drift, a different coat colour, extra people.Worked example, coming soon
A full character sheet for the woman in the rust-orange coat, then three shots generated with it attached.
Storyboards with a character sheet
- What it is
- A panel grid of the sequence, drawn with your character sheet attached, then used panel by panel as start frames for video.
- When to use it
- Sequences where composition matters shot to shot, or when you want to approve the plan before spending on video.
- What it buys you
- A plan you can review in one image, start frames that already match your shot list, and a character who stays herself across panels.
- Make the character sheet (previous section).
- Generate the storyboard sheet with the character sheet attached.
- Write a YAML shot list whose times and cameras match the panels.
- Generate each shot from its panel (image-to-video), with the matching YAML entry and the character sheet.
- Cut the clips together in order.
Do
- Write the duration under each panel so the storyboard and shot list agree.
- Use the same shot vocabulary on the panels as in your shot list.
- Generate video one panel at a time.
Don't
- Ask a video model to animate the whole storyboard sheet at once.
- Change the character description between steps.
Six-panel storyboard sheet, 3 × 2 grid, thin black borders, the panel number and duration written under each panel, loose graphite-and-wash style.
Use the attached character sheet for the woman in every panel.
1 (0–2s) Wide: a foggy pier at dawn, the woman small at the far end.
2 (2–4s) Medium, from behind: the wind lifts her coat.
3 (4–6s) Insert: her hand grips a folded letter.
4 (6–8s) Close-up, profile: she reads.
5 (8–10s) Over the shoulder: the sun breaks the horizon.
6 (10–12s) Extreme wide aerial: she turns and walks back.Worked example, coming soon
A six-panel storyboard of the woman, each panel linked to the clip it became.
Blender reference video
- What it is
- Block out the shot in Blender with grey shapes and a real camera, render a rough preview, and give that clip to a video model as the motion and camera reference.
- When to use it
- When a camera move or blocking must be exact, or when text alone keeps producing the wrong move.
- What it buys you
- Camera path, timing and who-goes-where from a 3D layout you control, while the model supplies the look.
- Block out with primitives or a stand-in mannequin. Add one asymmetric landmark so the model can anchor the space. No textures needed.
- Animate a real Blender camera with a set focal length. Keep it to one move, three to ten seconds.
- Render a preview with Viewport Render Animation (Workbench or EEVEE), 16:9, at exactly the frame count and frame rate your video model expects.
- Optional: restyle the first frame with an image model, keeping composition, pose and framing, to use as the start frame.
- Give the model the clip as its video or motion reference (plus start frame or character sheet), and say the reference is for motion and camera only.
- Expect exact distances and small gestures to drift; use medium shots when faces need to read.
Do
- Map every stand-in shape to what it should become.
- Render at the model’s exact length and frame rate; extra frames get trimmed.
- Keep the blockout crude; detail confuses the model.
Don't
- Expect precise distances or small gestures to survive.
- Use reference clips with cuts unless the model supports multi-shot input.
Use the reference video only for camera movement, timing and positions. Do not show the grey shapes or grey material.
The tall grey capsule is the woman from the attached character sheet: short silver hair, long rust-orange wool coat.
The stone arch on the left is a weathered gateway.
Scene: a misty olive grove at dawn, soft backlight, natural color, fine film grain.Worked example, coming soon
A grey blockout of the woman crossing an olive grove, next to the finished clip it drove.
Tools and tutorials
- Tool Blender Free, open-source 3D suite used for the blockout and preview render.
- Docs Viewport Render (Blender manual) How to render a quick preview of the animation straight from the viewport.
- Docs Render passes: depth and mist (Blender manual) Depth or mist passes, for control models that take a depth video instead of a preview.
- Tool Mixamo Free rigged characters and motion clips to use as animated stand-ins.
- Tool MiniMax H3 Max 3D-to-Video (fal.ai) Turns a grey-box render of up to 15 seconds into live-action footage, keeping camera, timing and cuts; exact geometry is not guaranteed.
- Guide Kling Motion Control guide Official guide: a character image plus a reference video, with the video driving the motion.
- Docs Luma Modify Video Restyles an existing clip while keeping its motion and performance.
- Tool Runway Aleph Video-to-video model for restyling and editing existing footage.
- Docs Wan VACE in ComfyUI Open-source route: a depth or pose control video drives generation on your own GPU.
- Tool Higgsfield for Blender Blender add-on that sends a blockout straight to video generation.
- Guide Blender for AI Filmmaking: The 2026 Guide (Flick) Step-by-step: blockout, first-frame restyle, then the clip as a video reference; also a local ControlNet route.
- Test Block a scene in Blender, let MiniMax H3 film it (ai-muninn) Independent test: camera, timing and order held; exact distances and small gestures drifted.
- Guide Block your shot in Blender, then let AI do the rendering Why a crude blockout is enough, and how to keep it that way.
- Guide Blender to ComfyUI AI Renderer workflow (RunComfy) Ready-made ComfyUI workflow that builds control video from depth, edges or pose.
Further reading
Community prompts belong to their creators; this page links to them rather than reproducing them. Templates here are written for this page and are free to use.