How to Prompt Veo3
With the introduction of Google Veo3, AI video generation has reached a new level of capability. Veo3 videos are capable of producing the most realistic videos that are almost indistinguishable from real life camera shots and characters.
The main tool in the interface is the prompt, this is where you describe everything you want to see created within the video itself.
It’s all in the prompt and mastering the art of prompts will allow you to create amazing AI videos that go viral, gaining millions of views on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.
However, sometimes attempting to control the AI when making videos feels similar to an old sorcerer attempting to ride a dragon. You can try to direct the magic but are not sure exactly how it works or where your journey will take you.
Learning how to create prompts effectively can make the difference between a garbled mess and a brilliant, dynamic and entertaining video that will keep your audience hooked.
This guide teaches you how to master the art of the prompt like a pro and produce spectacular results.
Prompting Veo3: the Essentials
When entering prompts into a Veo3 video generator, there are several key components that should always be included to get the best results. These are as follows:
- Subject - what is the scene focused on - this could be an object, animal, a person or anything the video is based around and concentrated on
- Context - this describes where the scene is taking place. This includes the background to the video, what time of day is it? Is it a dark scene at night or illuminated by the mid day sun? What is the environment or setting where the video is set - is it a futuristic city or a lush green field with grass blowing in the wind?
- Action - What is the subject or your character doing? Are they walking purposefully, staring off into the distance, or engaged in martial arts combat?
- Style - what is the overall look and feel of the video? You can emulate different styles of filming here and the Veo3 system can be instructed with typical film genre styles. You might want the video to appear like a vlog shot on a mobile phone, or a Marvel superhero movie, or more like a detective flick from the 1920’s. You can be quite creative here and the AI will recognise and use known filming styles. Try prompting the video in the style of an animated Pixar movie, or an oil painting brought to life
These 4 key components should always be included in order to get the most impressive results when you prompt your Veo3 video.
Extra touches: additional prompt options for the best Veo3 videos:
To develop the scene further and make your Veo3 video even more impressive, try adding these extra touches -
- Motion of the camera is it panning out, zooming in, or tracking the subject as they move?
- Camera shot and angle - how is the video framed? Veo3 understands the typical terminology used in movie production and will reliably use these camera angles when prompted correctly. Is it a close-up looking at the subject’s eyes as they scan the horizon, or a wide-shot taking in the whole scene. Experiment with different camera angles and methods on yapper.so
- Ambiance - here you can describe the lighting and color tone of the video - is it harsh bright light, soft glow from candles, or night time in the city with neon lights reflecting across puddles of rain?
- Audio - describe any sounds that can be heard during the video. Apart from the characters talking this could include traffic noise, howling wind or even background music - a horror movie score or a commercial style jingle to help promote a product
Veo3 Prompt Examples
Let’s put all of this into action and see what the prompt would look like and how the video will turn out when using these elements in the Veo3 system.
See if you can spot the different elements such as subject, action, context and style within the following prompt.
Example Prompt:
*Cinematic movie: sci fi thriller. Medium shot of a lone figure, male, wearing khaki coveralls and goggles covering their eyes and a bandana covering up the lower part of the face. It is clear they are dressed for harsh conditions.*
The scene is set in a vast desert with sand dunes stretching out to a perfect blue sky on the horizon.
The heat from the late afternoon sun sears the landscape and swirling clouds of dust and sand twist in the air.
The figure is seen crawling away from the camera - scrambling up to the top of a large sand dune to look over at the expanse before him. The loose sand falls away as he clambers in a crawl on his hands and knees to reach the top of the high sand dune.
The camera pulls up and away smoothly and slowly to reveal the view beyond that was concealed by the high sand dune in the same shot - in the distance about 1 km away can be seen a huge expansive and terrifying looking fortress. The building stretches on for miles to either side and looks like it could be the home to orks or some other demonic creatures. The fortress is covered in sheets and ropes where damage has been crudely repaired.
The structure is dark and menacing in contrast to the beautiful clear sky and rolling desert around it. Huge towers give the structure a foreboding look, emphasized by the giant animal bones from some unknown huge creature that stretch up to the sky as part of the structure, higher than the huge structure itself. This gives the impression of menacing teeth sticking out of the desert in front of the fortress, ready to swallow up any visitors. The building seems to have thick walls as if made from huge blocks of stone. It looks impenetrable and scary.
Tattered looking flags with evil looking insignias and motifs flap in the wind.
*Audio: sci fi horror score, building tension. Upon seeing the structure for the first time the audio will introduce a long drawn out war horn sound, a repeated deep base note that gives a sickening sense of fear. This horrible sounding bass drone will have an electric or distorted edge to it, as if buzzing with a foul alien energy.*
Correcting errors in AI videos - why does the magic dragon not do what I want?
Notice how there was a slight but distinct error in the production. The building is not revealed with the same swooping up camera shot, also, the figure is crawling towards the camera, not away from it as I specifically described. Why is that? And how do you fix that?
Now the temptation here may be to repeatedly say the same thing as if talking to a talented but unruly 5 year old. This will not work however and it is important to understand why this error occurs in order to figure out how to fix it. The reason why the AI program so belligerently sticks with the idea of the main character crawling forwards towards the camera is this:
The character’s face was described to it, and early on in the prompt. Generally things near the top are given the most attention. Notice how we described the character’s face - the goggles covering the eyes, the bandana across the mouth. These are all features that you can only know if you see the face coming towards you.
So although we specifically said the figure is crawling away from the viewer, back to the camera etc, the prompt details explaining the features of the face have overridden this, in the strange mind of Veo3 the AI thinks, I know details about the face and goggles first and foremost, therefore the guy must be crawling towards me.
So let’s try to rearrange that and rephrase it to get a fully working and correct version of the video with all elements included:
Example Prompt #2
Cinematic movie - sci fi thriller.
Medium, low angle shot showing a high sand dune. The sand dune blocks out the view of the desert beyond and all that can be seen above is a brilliant blue sky.
The heat from the late afternoon sun sears the landscape and swirling clouds of sand twist in the gale force wind.
Medium shot of the back of a lone figure, male, wearing khaki coveralls and hood. His face is concealed as he crawls away from the viewer, with his back towards the camera, scrambling up a high sand dune. It is clear they are dressed for harsh conditions.
The figure scrambles up to the top of the large sand dune to look over at the view on the other side. The loose sand falls away as he clambers in a crawl on his hands and knees to reach the top of the high sand dune.
*Keeping in the same shot and frame, the camera rises up smoothly and slowly to reveal the view beyond the tall sand dune. As the camera gets higher as if shot from a drone, a dark building creeps into view, in the distance about 1 km away can be seen a huge expansive and terrifying looking fortress. The building is wide and squat, blocky and sturdy. It looks like it could be the home to orks or some other demonic creatures. The fortress is covered in dusty sheets and ropes where damage has been crudely repaired.*
Now checkout the finished video:
As you can see, this version worked perfectly fine. Notice the changes that were made to emphasize the positioning and how the fortress would be revealed.
We specified that it is a low angle shot and that the sand dune blocks out the view of everything, before we talked about a vast open desert as the main setting. This is confusing to the Veo3 system as this desert would be obscured by the large sand dune in the version in our heads.
Without repeating the same phrase I have emphasized this positioning by referencing it in different ways, e.g: “back to the camera” “crawls away from the viewer” “face is obscured”.
Another crucial change was removing the description about the goggles and bandana on the guy’s face. The man is facing away from us so neither the viewer or the AI will see his face clearly. Therefore these details should be removed or given lower priority.
By tying all these aspects together and reinforcing this idea we can force the Veo3 generator to take onboard our suggestion, showing the correct movement of the man crawling up and away to look at something over the hill.
Additional Camera Instructions
The issue in the previous render was the camera shot cutting away and showing a new scene, rather than rising up dramatically.
To prevent this we can add some extra camera instructions, detailing that the view will “keep in the same shot and frame” and that the fortress will “creep into view”.
It is difficult for the Veo3 system to ignore these instructions and there is no way for the fortress to creep into view if the camera cuts away, so by reinforcing ideas and explaining them in a different context, we can finally get that magic dragon to behave as it should.
Try it yourself at yapper.so and get creative. See if you can alter the video so that instead of a large fortress, a giant spaceship is revealed, or a terrifying looking monster.
Try different lighting effects and weather conditions. Maybe the scene is at night with the spaceship illuminating the desert. Instead of the late afternoon sun try a dramatic scene with pouring rain to add to the atmosphere.
Example prompt breakdown - Core elements and Extra touches
Did you get all these correct in the earlier prompt? Let’s break down the core elements and extra additions in the video, into their individual parts as detailed earlier.
Core elements
- Subject - the lone figure wearing the desert explorers outfit. The fortress
- Context - the sand dune in the desert under a bright blue sky
- Action - the figure scrambles and crawls up to the top of the rise
- Style - Cinematic Sci fi thriller/ sci fi horror
Extra touches
Motion of the camera - rises up smoothly and slowly -as if shot from a drone
Camera shot and angle - medium low angle shot, shifts to wide shot of fortress
Ambience - heat from the late afternoon sun sears the landscape and swirling clouds of dust and sand twist in the air.
Audio - sci fi horror score, long drawn out war horn sound - horrible sounding bass drone with slight distortion effect
Try it Yourself on Your Own Veo3 Video
Get creative and see what changes you can make to those core elements and optional extras.
Try it now at yapper.so
Simply copy and paste the example prompt and delete anything after “in the distance about 1 km away can be seen…”
Here you can fill in your own story narrative. What can be seen over the crest of the hill? A huge space monster or high tech ship? Maybe something altogether weird like a portal into an unknown world.
Have fun with it and see what works. Remember to visualize the scene in your head first. Then you have something to work towards.
Good luck creating amazing Veo3 videos!