YOU'VE BEEN WRITING YOUR AI VIDEO PROMPTS WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME the most

Prompt

YOU'VE BEEN WRITING YOUR AI VIDEO PROMPTS WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME

the most expensive word in them is "cinematic"

type "make it cinematic" and the model guesses. you watch, sigh, reroll. every reroll is billed, in credits, tokens or a whole evening

directors never say "make it nice". they say "slow dolly in, rack focus to the hands, whip pan out". three names, one take

the gap between an amateur prompt and a pro one isn't taste. it's vocabulary

so here are 24 shot names, animated in the 3 videos below. save this for the next time you open claude, codex or any video model

camera moves
pan: camera turns left or right, stays in place
tilt: turns up or down
dolly in: the camera itself travels closer
zoom in: only the lens gets closer, the background flattens
tracking: moves alongside the subject
orbit: circles the subject
crane up: rises and reveals the whole scene
dolly zoom: moves in while zooming out. the face holds, the world stretches

lens and time
rack focus: focus jumps from one subject to another
handheld: small natural shake, feels real
fpv: drone flight straight through the scene
dutch angle: tilted horizon, something feels off
slow motion: one second becomes four
speed ramp: fast, then slow on the key moment, then fast
timelapse: a whole day in a few seconds
freeze frame: the action stops on one beat

transitions
whip pan: a blurred swipe into the next shot
match cut: same shape, new scene
smash cut: quiet to loud with no warning
cross dissolve: one shot melts into the next
dip to black: a breath between scenes
wipe: a line pushes the new shot in
zoom through: punch into an object, come out in the next scene
j-cut: you hear the next scene before you see it

the prompt i paste before any video job:

"write every scene as: move + speed + subject + transition out. example: slow dolly in on the trader's hands, rack focus to the screen, whip pan out. use only these 24 names. if a scene needs something that isn't on the list, ask me before you render"

vague prompts get paid for twice. named shots get paid for once