1In one sentence
A video prompt that works is seven short blocks in a fixed order, so the model always knows who, where, how the camera moves, how it looks, how it feels, how long, and what to avoid.
2New words
- Subject — the person or thing the clip is about. One subject per clip.
- Action — the one thing the subject does. Verbs, present tense.
- Lens — in real cameras, the glass that sets how wide or close the view is. "Wide" shows the room; "close-up" shows a face; "shallow focus" blurs the background.
- Mood — the feeling: cozy, tense, playful, luxurious.
- Negative — things you do not want. Some models have a separate box; otherwise write "no…" at the end.
3Why you would want it
Long, poetic prompts bury the action under adjectives, and the model animates the wrong thing. Blocks keep the action first and the decoration last. The same blocks work when you ask Claude to write prompts for you.
4The seven blocks
| Block | Ask yourself | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Subject and action | Who does what, once? | A woman baker dusts flour over a round loaf |
| 2. Setting | Where and when? | Small bakery kitchen, early morning, flour on the counter |
| 3. Camera movement | How does the camera move? | Slow push-in from medium shot to close-up |
| 4. Lens and light | How close, how sharp, what light? | Shallow focus, warm window light from the left |
| 5. Mood and style | What feeling, what look? | Cozy, handmade, documentary photo style |
| 6. Duration and format | How long, what shape? (set in the controls, not the text) | 5 s, 9:16, sound on |
| 7. What to avoid | What ruins it? | No text, no logo, no extra hands, no fast cuts |
5The full Sam's Bakery example
A woman baker in a white apron dusts flour over a round sourdough loaf on a wooden counter. Small bakery kitchen, early morning, bags of flour and copper pans in the background. Slow push-in from a medium shot to a close-up of her hands. Shallow focus, warm window light from the left, gentle shadows. Cozy, handmade, documentary photo style, natural colors. No text, no logo, no extra hands, no fast cuts, no music.
Set 5 seconds, 9:16, sound on, model Seedance 2.5 (or Seedance 2.5 Draft for the tests).
6Try it now
- Copy the example into the Video page exactly and generate it.
- Change only block 3 to Slow orbit around the loaf and generate again.
- Change only block 1 to lifts the loaf and smiles at the camera and generate again.
7What you will see
Three clips that share a kitchen, a light and a mood, but differ in exactly the one thing you changed. That control is the point of blocks.
8Watch out
- Two actions in one clip ("dusts flour and then slices the bread") usually get one of them, badly. Make two clips.
- "Cinematic", "8K" and "masterpiece" do nothing. Light, lens and camera words do.
9Go further
Ask Claude: Rewrite this prompt in the seven blocks for a 9:16 Reel: [your rough idea]. Then read Chapter 1.9 to keep the same baker across many clips.