Director Chair

    All groups

    Camera

    Shot sizes 16Angles 17Camera moves 43Rigs 6Lenses 10Focus and depth 4

    Frame

    Composition 14Aspect ratios 11

    Light and look

    Light 22Time of day 12Colour looks 14Film stock and texture 9Art styles 6

    People and places

    Characters 6Expressions 31Settings 6

    Motion

    Subject motion and speed 9

    Edit

    Transitions 21Edit effects 41Sound 14

    Story

    Hooks 46Script arcs 10Video formats 11Calls to action 5Test and publish 16

    Recipes

    Presets 28Prompt guides 11

    Tools

    BoardModelsGuidesAboutAgent skill

    The visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade.

    Colour looks

    Genre as a look

    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.

    Prompt instructions

    Global look: the visual grammar of a western: wide dusty exteriors, hard sun, low angles on the riders, warm brown grade Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot

    Seedance 2.5 reads labelled blocks with timecodes.

    Watch out

    Notes

    Translations to start from

    • Thriller: low-key side light, cold grade, longer lenses, tight frames
    • Horror: underlight or darkness, wide lens close to the face, long holds
    • Western: hard sun, wide exteriors, low angles, warm brown grade
    • Sci-fi: clean symmetry, cool practical light, scale against a person
    • Romance: soft backlight, warm grade, shallow focus
    • Comedy: high-key, wide enough to see the body, eye level
    • Music video: coloured light, fast moves, bold framing

    The 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.

    Related

    The look block

    Several generations look like one film because each was told it is the same film.

    Prompt     A look from a real film frame

    The colour grade and the camera feel sit in the prompt instead of being hoped for.

    Prompt     Black and white noir

    Hard contrast and deep shadow: drama, timelessness, mystery.

    Prompt

    Sources

    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) Checked 2026-11-13.

    ShotDeck: real film examples of this genre (paid, link only)

    Flim: film, ad and music-video stills of this genre (free tier, link only)

    For agents: this card as markdown, as JSON.