After generating hundreds of videos, here is what I have learned about writing effective prompts for AI video generation.
Video Prompts Are Different
Video prompts need three components that image prompts do not:
- Motion description - What moves, how, and in what direction
- Temporal progression - What changes over time
- Camera behavior - Static, panning, zooming, tracking
Prompt Structure
[Subject] [action/motion], [environment], [style],
[lighting], [camera movement], [quality modifiers]
Example:
A woman walking through a neon-lit street at night,
cyberpunk aesthetic, volumetric fog,
camera tracking shot, cinematic quality
Motion Keywords That Work
Through testing on PopcornAI and other tools:
Camera
-
dolly in/out- Camera moves toward/away -
pan left/right- Camera rotates horizontally -
tracking shot- Camera follows subject -
static camera- No camera movement
Subject
- walking, running, turning
- hair blowing in wind
- breathing, blinking
My Workflow
- Start simple on PopcornAI
- Iterate on motion description
- Add style modifiers
- Generate variations
- Pick the best
The key insight: less is more. A focused prompt beats a verbose one.
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