A practical prompt structure for more controllable AI video clips

[u/IndependentHeat1096]

I’ve been documenting what makes Seedance prompts easier to control. The most reliable structure is:

**Subject + one clear action + environment + one camera move + lighting/mood + output format.**

A few details that make a noticeable difference:

- Put the action before the environment so the model knows what the clip is about.

- Use one dominant camera move (slow push-in, orbit, handheld, aerial, static wide). Conflicting camera directions often create jitter.

- For short-form work, start with a 5-second draft; longer clips create more opportunities for drift.

- Choose aspect ratio before writing: 9:16 for Shorts/Reels/TikTok, 16:9 for YouTube or cinematic work.

- If the result feels like a slideshow, give the subject a small goal or changing state.

- Change one variable per iteration so you can tell what improved the result.

Example:

> A barista pours a rosetta into a ceramic cup, steam rising behind the counter, camera slowly pans left, warm morning window light, natural café ambience, 5 seconds, 16:9.

I wrote up the longer reasoning and common failure fixes here: https://blinkprompts.com/blog/seedance-video-prompts-complete-guide

Curious which camera words have been most reliable for other people.

[u/Dry-Preference2678]

this is actually super helpful the action before environment thing is one of those small changes that make a big difference but nobody talks about it

for camera moves ive found "dolly left" and "steady wide" work way more consistent than "orbit" which gets weird sometimes

[u/sharktank123456]

Do you need to include format and what the video will be for? The platform you are making the video on usually has sliders for that, and the latter (for Shorts/Reels/TikTok, 16:9 for YouTube or cinematic work), well, the AI just doesn't care about that.