The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You have a real photo, such as a product, a place or a finished project, and want a few seconds of gentle motion for a post, slide or web page, from an image-to-video model.
- {{use_case}}
- {{subject}}
- {{motion}}
- {{camera_move}}
- {{duration_seconds}}
- {{sound}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Animate the attached image into a short clip for {{use_case}}. The image is the first frame and the reference for everything in it, so {{subject}} stays exactly as it appears: the same shape, colors, text, labels and proportions, with nothing added or removed. Motion: {{motion}}. The movement is slow, smooth and subtle, the kind that makes a still image feel alive rather than turning it into a different scene. Camera: {{camera_move}}, steady, with no cuts and no change of angle beyond that one move. The subject stays sharp and fully in frame from the first second to the last. Light and style: keep the light, color and photographic look of the original image. The result should look like real footage of the same moment, photorealistic rather than animated or stylized. Timing and format: {{duration_seconds}} seconds, one continuous shot, at the same aspect ratio as the image, or the nearest one available with the subject kept fully in frame. Sound: {{sound}}. Only the motion described above happens. If a detail in the image is small or unclear, such as fine print or a distant face, it stays still and unchanged rather than being redrawn. People, hands and new objects do not enter the frame.
Variables
- {{use_case}}
- Where the clip will be used, for example "the hero of our product page" or "a social post".
- {{subject}}
- The main thing in the photo, for example "the ceramic teapot on the table".
- {{motion}}
- What moves, concretely, for example "steam rises slowly from the spout and the curtain behind stirs slightly".
- {{camera_move}}
- One camera move, for example "a slow push-in" or "a static camera".
- {{duration_seconds}}
- A clip length your video model supports; check its settings.
- {{sound}}
- What we hear, for example "quiet kitchen ambience, no music". Write "silence" if the clip will play muted.
Why it works
- Background facts. For image-to-video, Google's and Runway's guidance is to describe the motion and not re-describe the picture, so the prompt treats the photo as the reference for everything it shows.
- What to avoid. Only the named motion happens and nothing enters the frame, which stops the model inventing hands, people or a new scene around your product.
- If unsure. Small or unclear details stay still rather than being redrawn, the place where animated photos most often go wrong. Compare the clip with the photo before you use it.