About Prompt
- Prompt Type – Dynamic
- Prompt Platform – ChatGPT, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini, Copilot, Midjourney, Meta AI and more
- Niche – Storytelling / Drama
- Language – English
- Category – Short Film / Cinematic
- Prompt Title – Sora Storytelling Mini Movie Video Prompt
Prompt Details
This template is designed to be **dynamic**, meaning you can easily swap out the bracketed `[elements]` to create entirely new stories while maintaining a powerful, structured prompt that AI video generators can understand and execute effectively.
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### **Optimized Dynamic Prompt Template for AI Storytelling (Sora, etc.)**
This template is structured to guide the AI through the core components of cinematic storytelling, from the high-level concept to the finest visual and emotional details.
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#### **Part 1: Core Concept & Metadata**
* **Project Title:** `[Your Mini-Movie Title]`
* **Logline:** `[A one-sentence summary of your story. Example: An elderly astronaut, stranded on a desolate moon, attempts to send one final message to his granddaughter on Earth using salvaged parts.]`
* **Genre:** Storytelling, Drama, `[Sub-genre, e.g., Sci-Fi, Historical, Slice-of-Life]`
* **Core Emotion(s):** `[List 1-3 primary emotions to guide the mood, e.g., Nostalgia, Hope, Melancholy, Desperation]`
* **Key Themes:** `[List 2-4 central themes, e.g., Loss, Redemption, Connection, The passage of time]`
—
#### **Part 2: Overall Cinematic & Visual Style**
* **Cinematic Influence:** `[Mention specific directors, films, or art styles. Example: In the style of Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” meets the quiet intimacy of a Terrence Malick film.]`
* **Film Stock & Quality:** `[Describe the visual texture. Example: Shot on 35mm Kodak Vision3 500T film, high-fidelity, cinematic quality, subtle film grain, 4K resolution.]`
* **Color Palette & Grading:** `[Be specific about the colors. Example: A desaturated, melancholic color palette dominated by cool blues, muted grays, and a single, recurring warm accent color like gold or amber. Heavy vignetting.]`
* **Lighting Style:** `[Describe the light. Example: Low-key lighting, dramatic and high-contrast, with long shadows. Light primarily motivated by natural sources like a single window or a flickering candle (Chiaroscuro effect).]`
* **Camera Style:** `[How should the camera feel? Example: Handheld but steady, creating a sense of intimacy and realism. Slow, deliberate camera movements. Use of shallow depth of field to isolate the character.]`
* **Aspect Ratio:** Cinematic 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
—
#### **Part 3: Key Elements (Characters, Setting, Props)**
* **Primary Character(s):**
* **Name:** `[Character Name]`
* **Description:** `[Detailed physical appearance, age, key facial features, clothing, and posture. Example: ELIAS, an 80-year-old man with a deeply lined face, kind but tired eyes, wearing a worn tweed jacket over a simple cotton shirt. His hands are gnarled with arthritis but move with a practiced grace.]`
* **Emotional State:** `[Describe their internal state. Example: Visibly weary but filled with a quiet, determined resolve.]`
* **Setting:**
* **Location:** `[The primary location. Example: A dusty, forgotten attic filled with old furniture covered in white sheets.]`
* **Time of Day/Weather:** `[e.g., Late afternoon during a gentle rainstorm.]`
* **Atmosphere:** `[Describe the feeling of the place. Example: The air is thick with the smell of old paper and cedar. Beams of soft, diffused light cut through the dust motes hanging in the air. The only sound is the rhythmic drumming of rain on the roof.]`
* **Key Prop(s):**
* **Object:** `[The important object in the story. Example: A vintage, tarnished silver locket.]`
* **Significance:** `[Why it’s important. Example: It contains the only remaining photograph of his late wife and is the anchor of his memories.]`
—
#### **Part 4: Scene-by-Scene Shot Breakdown (The Narrative Arc)**
*This is the core of the mini-movie. Describe a sequence of 3-5 shots that tell a complete micro-story.*
* **Shot 1: The Introduction**
* **Shot Type:** `[e.g., Wide Establishing Shot, Medium Shot]`
* **Action:** `[Describe the initial action. Example: The camera slowly pushes in on ELIAS sitting at a small wooden desk in the center of the attic. He is holding the silver locket, staring at it intently.]`
* **Camera Movement:** `[e.g., Slow dolly in]`
* **Emotional Beat:** A moment of quiet reflection and deep longing.
* **Shot 2: The Conflict / The Memory**
* **Shot Type:** `[e.g., Extreme Close-Up]`
* **Action:** `[Describe the central action or struggle. Example: Extreme close-up on Elias’s thumb as he struggles to open the locket’s stubborn clasp. His hands tremble slightly. The camera then rack focuses to a close-up of his face, his brow furrowed in concentration, a flashback memory flickering in his eyes.]`
* **Camera Movement:** `[e.g., Rack focus, static shot]`
* **Emotional Beat:** Frustration mixed with fierce determination. The physical struggle mirrors his internal struggle to hold onto a fading memory.
* **Shot 3: The Climax / Resolution**
* **Shot Type:** `[e.g., Close-Up]`
* **Action:** `[The moment of resolution. Example: The locket finally clicks open. A soft, warm light seems to emanate from within, illuminating his face. A single tear traces a path through the wrinkles on his cheek as a gentle, relieved smile forms on his lips.]`
* **Camera Movement:** `[e.g., Very subtle, slow push in]`
* **Emotional Beat:** Catharsis, bittersweet joy, and peaceful release. The memory is secured.
—
#### **Part 5: Audio & Pacing**
* **Pacing:** `[e.g., Slow, contemplative, and lyrical.]`
* **Sound Design (for mood):** `[Describe sounds that will influence the visuals. Example: The ambient sound of gentle rain tapping on the roof, the soft creak of the wooden chair, the faint, metallic click of the locket opening. No dialogue.]`
* **Music (for mood):** `[Describe the style of music. Example: A sparse, melancholic piano score with a simple, repeating melody. Similar to Max Richter or Ólafur Arnalds.]`
—
#### **Part 6: Negative Prompt / Exclusions**
* **Exclude:** `[List things to avoid. Example: No bright, modern lighting. No digital screens or technology. No dialogue or lip-syncing. Avoid overly smooth or plastic-looking skin textures. No distracting background elements.]`
***
### **Example Prompt in Practice**
Here is the above template filled out for a specific story, “The Last Tick.”
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#### **Part 1: Core Concept & Metadata**
* **Project Title:** The Last Tick
* **Logline:** An elderly watchmaker with fading memories races against time in his dusty workshop to repair his late wife’s broken watch, a final act of love to preserve her memory.
* **Genre:** Storytelling, Drama, Slice-of-Life
* **Core Emotion(s):** Melancholy, Devotion, Hope
* **Key Themes:** Memory, Love, The passage of time, Legacy
—
#### **Part 2: Overall Cinematic & Visual Style**
* **Cinematic Influence:** In the style of a short film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie) for its warmth and character, but with the grounded, intimate cinematography of Roger Deakins.
* **Film Stock & Quality:** Shot on 35mm Kodak Portra 400 film, hyperrealistic, cinematic quality, soft film grain, 4K resolution. Rich, deep blacks.
* **Color Palette & Grading:** A warm, sepia-toned color palette dominated by browns, golds, and deep reds. High contrast with soft, glowing highlights. Subtle vignetting to draw focus.
* **Lighting Style:** Warm, low-key lighting. A single, powerful beam of late-afternoon sunlight cuts through the dusty air of the workshop, illuminating the workbench. The rest of the room is in soft shadow (chiaroscuro).
* **Camera Style:** Mostly static tripod shots with very slow, deliberate push-ins and rack focuses. Extremely shallow depth of field, blurring the background into a beautiful bokeh.
* **Aspect Ratio:** Cinematic 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
—
#### **Part 3: Key Elements (Characters, Setting, Props)**
* **Primary Character(s):**
* **Name:** ARTHUR
* **Description:** An 85-year-old man with a kind, wizened face, cloudy blue eyes behind thick spectacles, and a shock of wispy white hair. He wears a dark green-tinted watchmaker’s visor and a simple, worn leather apron over a checkered shirt. His hands are covered in liver spots and tremble ever so slightly.
* **Emotional State:** Deeply focused, a mixture of frustration and profound love etched on his face.
* **Setting:**
* **Location:** A cluttered, old-world watchmaker’s workshop. Walls are lined with wooden shelves holding hundreds of tiny glass jars of gears and screws. Clocks of all shapes and sizes hang on the walls, all frozen at different times.
* **Time of Day/Weather:** Golden hour, just before sunset.
* **Atmosphere:** The room is silent except for the faint scratching of metal tools. The air is thick with the scent of machine oil and old wood. Dust motes dance in the single sunbeam. The mood is reverent and timeless.
* **Key Prop(s):**
* **Object:** A delicate, gold, 1940s-era ladies’ wristwatch with a cracked crystal face and a leather strap worn smooth with time.
* **Significance:** It was his wife’s, and it stopped working the day she passed away. Fixing it is his way of keeping her memory alive.
—
#### **Part 4: Scene-by-Scene Shot Breakdown (The Narrative Arc)**
* **Shot 1: The Sanctum**
* **Shot Type:** Medium Shot
* **Action:** The camera slowly dollies in on ARTHUR at his workbench. He hunches over, visor down, peering through a loupe at the tiny, disassembled watch. His brow is furrowed in intense concentration. The sunbeam perfectly highlights his hands and the watch parts.
* **Camera Movement:** Slow dolly in.
* **Emotional Beat:** Intense focus and a sense of sacred purpose.
* **Shot 2: The Trembling Hand**
* **Shot Type:** Extreme Close-Up, macro photography.
* **Action:** A tiny, almost microscopic gear slips from the tip of his tweezers, his trembling hand betraying his age. He closes his eyes for a second in frustration. The camera rack focuses from the fallen gear on the dark wood to the deep lines around his determined eye.
* **Camera Movement:** Hard rack focus.
* **Emotional Beat:** The physical manifestation of his struggle against time and his own frailty.
* **Shot 3: The Heartbeat**
* **Shot Type:** Close-Up on the watch, then a slow tilt up to his face.
* **Action:** With a final, delicate nudge, the balance wheel of the watch begins to oscillate. The second hand gives a tiny, hesitant twitch, and then begins to sweep smoothly. The camera tilts up to Arthur’s face. He removes his visor, and a slow, tearful smile spreads across his face as he listens to the faint, steady “tick-tock.”
* **Camera Movement:** Slow tilt up.
* **Emotional Beat:** A moment of pure, triumphant, and heartbreaking catharsis. A victory over time itself.
—
#### **Part 5: Audio & Pacing**
* **Pacing:** Very slow, deliberate, and meditative.
* **Sound Design (for mood):** The only sound is the hyper-realistic, soft scratching of tweezers on metal. This is abruptly broken in the final shot by the clear, rhythmic ticking of the repaired watch, which swells in the mix.
* **Music (for mood):** A single, gentle cello melody begins to play only in the final shot as the watch starts ticking.
—
#### **Part 6: Negative Prompt / Exclusions**
* **Exclude:** No modern tools, no digital clocks, no fluorescent lighting, no dialogue, no fast movements, avoid cartoonish or exaggerated features. Ensure the dust in the air looks realistic and not like a cheap particle effect.