The AI Video Prompting Guide
Every model has a formula. Community-verified, tested across hundreds of generations.
Featured, ApeFX Original
The 9-Shot Scene Studio
What a storyboard artist does in days, in seconds.
Model Guides
Kling AI Prompting Guide
What actually works, distilled from hundreds of community generations.
Veo 3 Prompting Guide
The only AI video model with native audio, here's how to actually use it.
Seedance Prompting Guide
Separate your primary and secondary motion, the key to cinematic quality.
Universal Principles
These six rules apply across every model on ApeFX.
Subject → Action → Setting → Camera → Light
The order that works across every model. Subject first, what they're doing second, where they are third, how the camera sees it fourth, what the light does fifth.
Specificity beats vagueness, every time
"Wet asphalt, zebra crosswalk, neon reflections in puddles" outperforms "beautiful street at night" on every model tested. Concrete nouns and verbs beat adjectives.
Camera motion is the single biggest lever
Adding "slow dolly forward" or "low-angle tracking shot" to an otherwise identical prompt produces dramatically better output across all models.
Short clips beat long ones
Across all models, 4–8 second clips have higher prompt adherence than longer generations. Stitch in post for extended sequences.
Style anchor early
Set the aesthetic before the content detail. "Noir thriller" at the start auto-adjusts lighting, framing, and grade for everything that follows.
Each model has its own syntax
Kling wants 30–60 word concise prompts. LTX wants a 200-word single paragraph. Wan needs "NO expansion:" as a prefix. Hailuo uses [camera: brackets]. Same idea, different language.
Camera Movement Vocabulary
These terms work across all models. Add one to any prompt and quality immediately improves.
Dolly / Push inDepth, intimacy, builds tensionPull back / Pull outReveals context, creates scalePan left / Pan rightHorizontal reveal, follows actionTilt up / Tilt downVertical reveal, dramaTracking shotFollows subject, maintains distanceCrane shotScale, God's-eye perspectiveHandheldUrgency, realism, intimacySteadicamSmooth immersive followRack focusShifts attention between planesOrbit / 360°Subject reveal, hero moment