{
 "slug": "genre-as-a-look",
 "name": "Genre as a look",
 "category": "look",
 "group": "How to use",
 "media": [
  "image",
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "A genre brings a whole visual grammar the viewer already knows.",
 "use_when": "Briefing a look by reference: thriller, horror, western, sci-fi, noir, romance, music video.",
 "phrase": "the visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "The genre word alone gives a cliche; translate it into light, lens, colour and framing, then drop the word.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on image prompting"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [
  {
   "site": "shotdeck",
   "url": "https://shotdeck.com/",
   "what": "real film examples of this genre (paid, link only)"
  },
  {
   "site": "flim",
   "url": "https://flim.ai/",
   "what": "film, ad and music-video stills of this genre (free tier, link only)"
  }
 ],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "global-look-block",
  "guide-look-from-film-still",
  "black-and-white-noir"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "film-craft",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words; the term from general film vocabulary, as also used in ShotDeck's filters and general film vocabulary, as also used in Flim's filters (genre and type filters)"
 },
 "body": "## Translations to start from\n\n- **Thriller:** low-key side light, cold grade, longer lenses, tight frames\n- **Horror:** underlight or darkness, wide lens close to the face, long holds\n- **Western:** hard sun, wide exteriors, low angles, warm brown grade\n- **Sci-fi:** clean symmetry, cool practical light, scale against a person\n- **Romance:** soft backlight, warm grade, shallow focus\n- **Comedy:** high-key, wide enough to see the body, eye level\n- **Music video:** coloured light, fast moves, bold framing\n\nThe sites also file stills by type (film, series, ad, music video, documentary) and release year; search there by genre and look at the frames, then write the translation.",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/look/genre-as-a-look",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/look/genre-as-a-look.md",
 "prompts": {
  "nano-banana-pro": "The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade. [your subject] in [your setting].",
  "nano-banana-2": "The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade. [your subject] in [your setting].",
  "gpt-image": "A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].\nDetails: the visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade\nExclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.",
  "seedream-5": "The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade. [your subject] in [your setting].",
  "seedance-2.5": "Global look: the visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade\nScene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot",
  "seedance-2.0": "Global look: the visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade\nScene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1: one continuous shot",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade.",
  "veo-3.1": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image. The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}