About Prompt
- Prompt Type – Dynamic
- Prompt Platform – ChatGPT, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini, Copilot, Midjourney, Meta AI and more
- Niche – Horror / Mystery
- Language – English
- Category – Short Film / Thriller
- Prompt Title – Sora Haunted Mansion Horror Movie Prompt
Prompt Details
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### **Optimized Dynamic AI Prompt Template: Haunted Mansion Horror/Mystery**
This dynamic prompt is structured as a template. You can modify the variables within the square brackets `[ ]` to create a vast number of unique short film concepts. The structure is designed to provide the AI with a clear hierarchy of information, starting with the overall vision and then detailing specific scenes.
#### **Part 1: Master Production Directives**
*(This section sets the universal rules for the AI, ensuring a consistent look and feel across all generated scenes.)*
**Project Title Concept:** `[e.g., The Blackwood Echo, Penhurst Asylum, The Dollhouse Tenant]`
**Logline:** `[A one-sentence summary of the plot. e.g., A skeptical historian cataloging a derelict mansion’s artifacts discovers that the house’s memory is not only alive but actively rewriting its tragic past.]`
**Core Theme:** `[e.g., Grief and Memory, The Sins of the Past, Psychological Decay, Lost Innocence]`
**Overall Cinematic Style:**
* **Aesthetic:** `[Choose a style. e.g., Gothic horror, Southern Gothic, Victorian ghost story, found footage, analog horror, psychological thriller, A24-style slow-burn horror]`
* **Inspiration:** `[Mention directors or films. e.g., Inspired by the cinematography of “The Haunting of Hill House,” the oppressive atmosphere of “The Others,” and the slow-burn dread of Robert Eggers.]`
* **Film Stock/Quality:** `[e.g., Shot on grainy 35mm film with high contrast, crisp 4K digital with deep blacks, flickering 8mm found footage, degraded VHS quality]`
**Universal Visual Elements:**
* **Color Palette:** `[e.g., Desaturated and cold, dominated by slate blues, deep crimsons, and decaying ochre. Muted tones with occasional, shocking splashes of a single vibrant color.]`
* **Lighting Style:** `[e.g., High-contrast chiaroscuro lighting. Natural light is scarce and weak, primarily motivated by moonlight through grimy windows, flickering candlelight, or the narrow beam of a flashlight. Deep, oppressive shadows that conceal more than they reveal.]`
* **Atmosphere:** `[e.g., Pervasive sense of dread and oppressive stillness. Air is thick with dust motes visible in light beams. A constant feeling of being watched. Decay is a visual motif: peeling wallpaper, water stains, rotting wood, tarnished silver.]`
**Pacing:** `[e.g., Deliberate and slow-paced, building tension through long takes and unsettling stillness, punctuated by moments of sudden, jarring horror.]`
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#### **Part 2: Scene-by-Scene Prompt Structure**
*(Copy and paste this structure for each scene you want to generate. Change the bracketed information for each new shot to build your narrative.)*
**SCENE `[Scene Number]`**
* **Shot Description:** A `[Camera Angle, e.g., low-angle shot, high-angle shot, eye-level shot]` of `[Subject and primary action]`.
* **Location:** `[Specific room or area of the mansion, e.g., The grand, decaying ballroom; The dusty children’s nursery; The flooded, web-filled wine cellar]`.
* **Character(s):** `[Character description. e.g., ELARA (30s), a determined but visibly unnerved historian with glasses and practical clothing. She holds a flickering lantern.]`
* **Key Action/Event:** `[Describe the main action in detail. e.g., Elara slowly pushes open a massive, creaking oak door. As she steps inside, her lantern light catches on a portrait whose eyes seem to follow her. A floorboard creaks loudly behind her, and she freezes, listening intently.]`
* **Camera Movement:** `[Describe the camera’s motion. e.g., A slow, creeping dolly-in on the character’s face, capturing her widening eyes. A disorienting Dutch angle as she looks up the staircase. An unsteady handheld shot following her down a dark hallway, simulating her point of view.]`
* **Focal Point & Details:** `[Tell the AI what to emphasize. e.g., Extreme close-up on a key detail: a porcelain doll’s cracked face, a strange symbol carved into the wood, a handprint appearing in the dust on a mirror. Focus on the texture of peeling wallpaper and the dense shadows in the corners of the room.]`
* **Mood:** `[Reinforce the emotional tone for this specific scene. e.g., Suspense, terror, mystery, unsettling discovery, claustrophobia.]`
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### **Example Prompt: “The Silent Caretaker”**
Here is a practical example using the dynamic template above to create a short film concept.
#### **Part 1: Master Production Directives**
**Project Title Concept:** The Silent Caretaker
**Logline:** A young archivist, hired to catalog the estate of a reclusive Gilded Age industrialist, discovers the mansion is still occupied by its original, spectral caretaker who punishes anyone who disturbs the “perfect order” of the house.
**Core Theme:** The danger of preserving the past and the horror of obsessive perfection.
**Overall Cinematic Style:**
* **Aesthetic:** Gothic horror meets psychological thriller.
* **Inspiration:** Inspired by the cinematography of “The Orphanage,” the oppressive stillness of “A Dark Song,” and the elegant dread of James Wan’s “The Conjuring.”
* **Film Stock/Quality:** Shot on crisp 4K digital to capture extreme detail in the darkness, graded to emulate the rich, dark tones of classic gothic horror films.
**Universal Visual Elements:**
* **Color Palette:** A severely desaturated palette of charcoal greys, deep mahogany, and tarnished brass. The only prominent color is a sickly, deep emerald green, seen in velvet curtains and the spectral entity’s eyes.
* **Lighting Style:** Motivated, low-key lighting. The primary light sources are the archivist’s modern LED lantern and moonlight filtering through enormous, grimy arched windows. Shadows are long, deep, and seem to actively move at the edge of the frame.
* **Atmosphere:** An atmosphere of suffocating order and stillness. Every object is perfectly placed, but covered in a fine layer of dust. The air is cold and carries the faint, sterile scent of decay and old polish. The silence is profound and heavy.
**Pacing:** Excruciatingly slow-burn. Long, static shots of empty rooms build an unbearable sense of anticipation, broken by swift, subtle, and terrifying movements.
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#### **Part 2: Scene-by-Scene Prompt Structure**
**SCENE 1**
* **Shot Description:** A wide, low-angle establishing shot of the protagonist arriving at the mansion.
* **Location:** Exterior, Blackwood Manor at dusk. An imposing, gothic-revival mansion with sharp spires and dark, unlit windows, overgrown with ivy.
* **Character(s):** LEO (20s), a meticulous and slightly nervous archivist, stands before the colossal front doors, holding a briefcase. He looks small and insignificant against the house.
* **Key Action/Event:** Leo hesitates for a moment, takes a deep breath, and uses an enormous, ornate iron key to unlock the front door. The door groans open into a pitch-black interior. The wind rustles the dead leaves around his feet.
* **Camera Movement:** A very slow, almost imperceptible dolly zoom towards the open doorway, making the darkness within seem to expand and swallow the screen.
* **Focal Point & Details:** Focus on the intricate, spiderweb-like carvings on the iron key and the sheer scale of the mansion compared to the human figure. Emphasize the texture of the old stone and gnarled ivy.
* **Mood:** Awe, intimidation, and foreboding.
**SCENE 2**
* **Shot Description:** An over-the-shoulder shot from Leo’s perspective as he surveys the grand study for the first time.
* **Location:** The main study. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a massive fireplace, and furniture perfectly arranged but draped in white dust cloths, like sleeping giants.
* **Character(s):** Leo stands in the doorway, his LED lantern beam cutting a sharp white line through the darkness.
* **Key Action/Event:** Leo sweeps his lantern across the room. The beam lands on a single object not covered by a cloth: a small, emerald-green music box on the mantelpiece. He takes a step forward, and a floorboard behind him emits a deafening crack in the silence. He whips around, pointing his light into the empty hall. Nothing is there.
* **Camera Movement:** Starts as a steady, sweeping pan following the lantern beam. When the floorboard creaks, execute a rapid whip pan to the empty hallway, then a slow, cautious pan back into the room.
* **Focal Point & Details:** Extreme close-up on the intricate, perfectly clean emerald music box, a stark contrast to the dust everywhere else. Focus on the dust motes swirling in the lantern beam.
* **Mood:** Suspense, eerie discovery, and paranoia.
**SCENE 3**
* **Shot Description:** A high-angle shot looking down at Leo working.
* **Location:** The main study, later that night.
* **Character(s):** Leo is sitting at a large desk, meticulously cataloging books. He is focused and absorbed in his work.
* **Key Action/Event:** In the background, deep within the unfocused, dark portion of the frame, a tall, impossibly thin shadow detaches itself from the corner of the room. It moves without a sound, its form slightly distorted. Leo, unaware, shivers suddenly as if the temperature has dropped. He rubs his arms and continues working. The shadow glides behind his chair, just out of sight.
* **Camera Movement:** A static, locked-off high-angle shot. The stillness of the camera makes the movement of the shadow in the background even more terrifying.
* **Focal Point & Details:** Use a shallow depth of field. Leo and his desk are in sharp focus, while the background where the entity appears is deeply out of focus, making the shape ambiguous and more frightening.
* **Mood:** Creeping dread, cosmic horror, and vulnerability.