Resource 006 / Free creative guide

CAMERA

How to tell an AI video model what the camera should do.

If you don't tell the camera what to do, the model guesses, and it guesses generic. This is the cheat sheet I use to stop that.

Lens cheat sheet ↓Reference sheets ↓Copy the shot template ↗

The 3 rules

Draft in low res first.

It's way cheaper, and you see what's wrong before you pay full price.

Change one thing per try.

Change five and you'll never know which one fixed it.

Tell the camera what to do.

Every shot needs a lens, an angle and a movement.

Lens cheat sheet

Focal length24 mm

What it feels likeWide, you feel the space

Use it forEstablishing the place, big environments

Focal length35 mm

What it feels likeNatural, documentary

Use it forTwo people in one frame, scenes that feel real

Focal length50 mm

What it feels likeNeutral, like the human eye

Use it forMedium shots, dialogue

Focal length85 mm

What it feels likeIntimate, flattering, soft background

Use it forClose-ups of faces, emotion

Focal length100 mm macro

What it feels likeTiny details, very shallow focus

Use it forHands, objects, textures

Camera movement

Slow push-in (dolly in)

Tension, focus on a person

Slow pull-out (dolly out)

Release, reveal, calm

Lateral slide

Energy, follows a conversation

Handheld, subtle micro-vibration

Feels like a real camera, not a render

Never use a digital zoom: it flattens the image and looks fake.

Camera angle

Eye level

Honest, neutral

Slight low angle

Power, confidence

Over the shoulder

Connection between two people

Overhead

Overview, layout

Close low grazing angle

Texture, detail, tension

Copy-and-paste shot template

SHOT TEMPLATE / ENGLISH

SHOT 1 | 0.0–2.0 s | 35 mm, f/2.8, eye level, slow dolly push-in
IN FRAME: [who and where, left/right]
ACTION: [what happens, with body language and facial expression]
AUDIO: [dialogue between quotation marks, ambience]

Full example prompt

FULL EXAMPLE / ENGLISH

Two men sit side by side in a 2000s airplane cabin, 4:3, shot on 35 mm film, no film grain. Camera: handheld with subtle micro-vibration, never static, every shot has a slow smooth movement, never a digital zoom.
SHOT 1 | 0.0–1.6 s | 85 mm, f/2.0, close-up of the young man in three-quarter profile, slow dolly push-in. He looks at the older man, calm and patient, and says: "Third. Tell the camera what to do."
SHOT 2 | 1.6–3.9 s | 35 mm, f/2.8, eye level, two-shot from the aisle side, slow lateral slide. The older man leans over his laptop, curious, frowning, then slowly nods.
AVOID: static locked-off camera, digital zoom, film grain, plastic skin, subtitles.