AI Video Prompts: Examples for Image-to-Video and Text-to-Video

Writing a prompt for AI video is different from writing one for an image. A still image is about a single frame; a video is about motion — what moves, how the camera behaves, and how the moment unfolds. Get those right and your clips stop looking like a slideshow and start looking intentional. Here are the prompt patterns and examples that work.

What a video prompt controls

• Subject & scene — what's in the shot.
• Motion — what moves (the subject, the wind, the water, the crowd).
• Camera — how the camera moves (pan, zoom, orbit, static).
• Pacing & mood — slow and cinematic, or fast and energetic.

Image-to-video prompts

When you start from an image, the scene already exists — so describe the motion, not the scene. Don't re-describe what's in the photo; tell the AI what should move.

• "slow push-in on the subject, gentle hair movement, soft breeze"
• "camera slowly orbits around the product, studio lighting"
• "waves roll in, clouds drift, subtle parallax"

New to this? See our full walkthrough on turning a photo into a video.

Text-to-video prompts

Starting from text, you describe the whole shot: subject + setting + camera move + style.

• "a red sports car driving along a coastal road at sunset, tracking shot from the side, cinematic"
• "a cup of coffee on a table, steam rising, slow zoom in, warm morning light"
• "a busy Tokyo street at night, neon reflections, slow handheld walk forward"

For more on this approach, see how to make an AI video from text.

Camera & motion vocabulary

These words give you direct control over the shot:

• Push in / pull out — move toward or away from the subject.
• Pan / tilt — sweep horizontally or vertically.
• Orbit / arc — circle around the subject.
• Tracking shot — follow a moving subject.
• Static / locked-off — camera stays still, only the scene moves.
• Slow motion — stretch the moment for drama.

Common mistakes

• Over-stuffing. One clear action beats five competing ones.
• Contradictory motion. "Static camera, fast orbit" confuses the model.
• Re-describing the image. In image-to-video, focus on movement, not the scene.
• No camera direction. If you don't specify, you give up control of the shot.

Think like a director: pick one subject, one main motion, and one camera move. Start simple, then add detail as you learn what each term does.