Start frame attached; then four separate parts: the subject, the place, the camera move, the look; and the action of the person on its own line.

Prompt a shot from your own first frame

Prompts that keep the camera, the picture and the acting apart, so you can swap one without breaking the others.

Use when: Every image-to-video job and every still built shot by shot.

Prompt instructions

You are my video producer. Give me a filled-in prompt that follows this guide, plus the one thing to check in the result, for a short video about [your product], aimed at [your audience]. Technique: Prompt a shot from your own first frame. Prompts that keep the camera, the picture and the acting apart, so you can swap one without breaking the others. How it works: Start frame attached; then four separate parts: the subject, the place, the camera move, the look; and the action of the person on its own line. Right for: Every image-to-video job and every still built shot by shot. What we learned from tested runs: - In image-to-video, spend the words on what happens; the start frame already carries the look, the identity and the composition. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.

Your productYour audience

Watch out

In image-to-video, spend the words on what happens; the start frame already carries the look, the identity and the composition.measured: Director Chair field notes on video prompting

Notes

The parts, kept apart

First frame or blocking. Attach your start image, or block the frame first in a 3D stage (Camera Control) and export it as the composition reference.
Subject and place: only what the image does not already show.
Camera move: one move, written as a move card (camera, pace, keep, ends).
Action: what the person does, as behaviour with a trigger.
Look: the job's look sentence, the same in every prompt.
Sheets: say whether a character sheet or an environment sheet is attached, and give each its role.

Both free tools we point to work this way: the move library keeps the camera line apart from the scene, and the 3D stage asks for subject, environment, camera move and look as separate fields.

Medium shot, front three-quarter left, eye level, 35mm.

Framing labelPrompt