dotfiles/.agents/skills/sora/references/prompting.md

Prompting best practices (Sora)

Contents

• Mindset & tradeoffs
• API-controlled params
• Structure
• Specificity
• Style & visual cues
• Camera & composition
• Motion & timing
• Lighting & palette
• Character continuity
• Multi-shot prompts
• Ultra-detailed briefs
• Image input
• Constraints & invariants
• Text, dialogue & audio
• Avoiding artifacts
• Remixing
• Iterate deliberately

Mindset & tradeoffs

• Treat the prompt like a cinematography brief, not a contract.
• The same prompt can yield different results; rerun for variants.
• Short prompts give more creative freedom; longer prompts give more control.
• Shorter clips tend to follow instructions better; consider stitching two 4s clips instead of a single 8s if precision matters.

API-controlled params

• Model, size, and seconds are controlled by API params, not prose.
• Put desired duration in the seconds param; the prompt cannot make a clip longer.

Structure

• Use short labeled lines; omit sections that do not matter.
• Keep one main subject and one main action.
• Put timing in beats or counts if it matters.
• If you prefer a prose-first template, use:

<Prose scene description in plain language. Describe subject, setting, time of day, and key visual details.>

Cinematography:
Camera shot: <framing + angle>
Mood: <tone>

Actions:
- <clear action beat>
- <clear action beat>

Dialogue:
<short lines if needed>

Specificity

• Name the subject and materials (metal, fabric, glass).
• Use camera language (lens, angle, shot type) for stability.
• Describe the environment with time of day and atmosphere.

Style & visual cues

• Set style early (e.g., "1970s film", "IMAX-scale", "16mm black-and-white").
• Use visible nouns and verbs, not vague adjectives.
• Weak: "A beautiful street at night."
• Strong: "Wet asphalt, zebra crosswalk, neon signs reflecting in puddles."

Camera & composition

• Prefer one camera move: dolly, orbit, lateral slide, or locked-off.
• Straight-on framing is best for UI and text.
• For close-ups, use longer lenses (85mm+); for wide scenes, 24-35mm.
• Depth of field is a strong lever: shallow for subject isolation, deep for context.
• Example framings: wide establishing, medium close-up, aerial wide, low angle.
• Example camera motions: slow tilt, gentle handheld drift, smooth lateral slide.

Motion & timing

• Use short beats: "0-2s", "2-4s", "4-6s".
• Keep actions sequential, not simultaneous.
• For 4s clips, limit to 1-2 beats.
• Describe actions as counts or steps when possible (e.g., "takes four steps, pauses, turns in the final second").

Lighting & palette

• Describe light quality and direction (soft window light, hard rim, backlight).
• Name 3-5 palette anchors to stabilize color across shots.
• If continuity matters, keep lighting logic consistent across clips.

Character continuity

• Keep character descriptors consistent across shots; reuse phrasing.
• Avoid mixing competing traits that can shift identity or pose.

Multi-shot prompts

• You can describe multiple shots in one prompt, but keep each shot block distinct.
• For each shot, specify one camera setup, one action, one lighting recipe.
• Treat each shot as a creative unit you can later edit or stitch.

Ultra-detailed briefs

• Use when you need a specific, filmic look or strict continuity.
• Call out format/look, lensing/filters, grade/palette, lighting direction, texture, and sound.
• If needed, include a short shot list with timing beats.

Image input

• Use an input image to lock composition, character design, or set dressing.
• The input image should match the target size and be jpg/png/webp.
• The image anchors the first frame; the prompt describes what happens next.
• If you lack a reference, generate one first and pass it as input_reference.

Constraints & invariants

• State what must not change: "same shot", "same framing", "keep background".
• Repeat invariants in every remix to reduce drift.

Text, dialogue & audio

• Keep text short and specific; quote exact strings.
• Specify placement and avoid motion blur.
• For dialogue, use a dedicated block and keep lines short.
• Label speakers consistently for multi-character scenes.
• If silent, you can still add a small ambient sound cue to set rhythm.
• Sora can generate audio; include an Audio: line and a short dialogue block when needed.
• As a rule of thumb, 4s clips fit 1-2 short lines; 8s clips can handle a few more.

Example:

Audio: soft ambient café noise, clear warm voiceover
Dialogue:
<dialogue>
- Speaker: "Let's get started."
</dialogue>

Avoiding artifacts

• Avoid multiple actions in 4-8 seconds.
• Keep camera motion smooth and limited.
• Add explicit negatives when needed: "avoid flicker", "avoid jitter", "no fast motion".

Remixing

• Change one thing at a time: palette, lighting, or action.
• Keep camera and subject consistent unless the change requests otherwise.
• If a shot misfires, simplify: freeze the camera, reduce action, clear background, then add complexity back in.

Iterate deliberately

• Start simple, then add one constraint per iteration.
• If results look chaotic, reduce motion and simplify the scene.
• When a result is close, pin it as a reference and describe only the tweak.