cinematic-prompting

name	cinematic-prompting
description	Rewrite naive image and video prompts with precise cinematography vocabulary. Triggers on "cinematic prompt", "film language", "camera movement", "make it cinematic", "shot from above", "enhance this image prompt", "enhance this video prompt", "cinematography vocabulary", "rewrite with camera terms".
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"genfeedai","version":"1.0.0"}

Cinematic Prompting

You rewrite image and video prompts so they use named cinematography techniques instead of vague spatial or mood language. Precision of vocabulary multiplies generation quality because the underlying models are language models.

Translate naive words into the closest lexicon term below. Never invent camera jargon that is not in this lexicon. Preserve the user's subject, characters, and named references verbatim.

Rewriting rules

1. Identify the subject and any named characters. Copy them unchanged.
2. Replace naive spatial or mood phrases with the closest technique name.
3. Prefer one accurate term over a pile of synonyms.
4. Return only the enhanced prompt unless the user asked for feedback or a draft plan.

Draft-resolution testing

Validate a prompt with 2–3 cheap waves at low resolution on the full-quality model. Do not switch to a "mini" or distilled variant for drafts — those models have different priors and will not predict the final look. After the wave looks right, render at final resolution.

Corrective feedback grammar

When a generation misses, do not say "I don't like it." Structure the next request as:

• Problem — what is wrong in the current frame
• Goal — what the frame should communicate
• Correction — the lexicon terms and subject details that will get there

Camera movement

Technique	Definition	When to use
dolly in	The camera physically travels toward the subject on a track or slider, keeping focal length fixed.	Intimacy or pressure should grow without changing perspective distortion.
dolly out	The camera physically retreats from the subject while the lens stays the same.	Reveal context around a character or drain intensity from a beat.
push-in	A short, deliberate advance toward the subject that lands on a tighter frame.	Underline a realization, threat, or emotional turn.
pull-out	A short retreat that widens the frame and reintroduces surrounding space.	After a close beat when the scene needs air or scale.
trucking left	The camera travels laterally left, parallel to the action, without rotating.	Keep pace with a walk-and-talk or a moving vehicle.
trucking right	The camera travels laterally right, parallel to the action, without rotating.	Follow a crossing subject while holding a consistent profile.
pedestal up	The camera rises vertically on a column or crane while remaining level.	Lift from a grounded detail to a standing figure or room.
pedestal down	The camera lowers vertically while staying level.	Drop from a face to hands, objects, or a floor-level clue.
pan	The camera rotates horizontally from a fixed position.	Survey a space or follow a subject that does not require a traveling camera.
tilt	The camera rotates vertically from a fixed position.	Reveal height, a body from shoes to face, or a building from street to sky.
whip pan	A pan so fast that frames smear into a directional blur.	Energetic connector between two related beats in the same location.
arc shot	The camera travels a curved path around the subject, usually at a constant radius.	Inspect a character or object from multiple sides without cutting.
orbit	A continuous 360-degree or near-360 path around the subject.	Hero reveals, product turnarounds, and hypnotic character moments.
crane shot	The camera rides a boom through a large vertical and horizontal path.	Open or close a scene with geography, crowd scale, or a descending arrival.

Framing and composition

Technique	Definition	When to use
extreme close-up	A frame that fills with one feature — an eye, a mouth, a ring, a trigger.	A tiny detail carries the scene’s meaning.
close-up	Head and shoulders, or an object large enough to read emotion or texture.	Dialogue beats, identity, and reaction.
medium close-up	Chest-up framing that keeps face and a hint of gesture.	Default interview and conversation size.
medium shot	Waist-up framing that balances body language with environment.	Blocking, props in hand, and two-person exchanges.
cowboy shot	Mid-thigh up, historically so a holster stays in frame.	Armed or swaggering figures who need stance as well as face.
full shot	The entire body from head to toe with a modest amount of ground and headroom.	Costume, gait, or full-body silhouette matters.
wide shot	The subject is small enough that architecture and geography share the frame.	Locate people in a place before tightening.
extreme wide shot	A landscape-scale frame where figures are tiny or absent.	Establishing image that sells climate, city, or isolation.
ultra wide	An extremely short focal length that stretches space and exaggerates near objects.	Immersive interiors, skate, or a slightly unhinged point of view.
two shot	Two people share the frame at roughly equal weight.	Relationships, arguments, and paired presence.
over-the-shoulder	The camera looks past one person’s shoulder and cheek onto the facing subject.	Conversation coverage that keeps both parties connected.
point of view	The frame is what a character sees, including blink, height, and obstruction.	Lock the audience into one person’s perception.
dutch angle	The horizon is canted so verticals lean.	Unease, intoxication, or a world whose rules have slipped.
high-angle shot	The camera looks down at the subject from above eye level.	Shrink a character, survey a table, or read a floor plan of action.
low-angle shot	The camera looks up at the subject from below eye level.	Enlarge power, monumentality, or menace.

Lighting

Technique	Definition	When to use
hard light	A small, sharp source that throws crisp shadows and specular hits.	Noon sun, interrogation, and graphic contrast.
soft light	A large, diffused source that wraps the subject and melts shadow edges.	Beauty, overcast days, and gentle interiors.
high-key	A bright, low-contrast scheme with open shadows and pale backgrounds.	Comedy, retail, wellness, and optimistic advertising.
low-key	A dark scheme that withholds fill so most of the frame falls toward black.	Mystery, night, and anything described as moody or dramatic.
Rembrandt lighting	Key light at 45 degrees that leaves a triangle of light on the shadowed cheek.	Classical portraits that need both shape and dignity.
butterfly lighting	A key placed on axis above the lens, dropping a butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose.	Glamour portraits and beauty campaigns.
split lighting	The key hits one half of the face; the other half falls into shadow.	Duality, moral conflict, and severe character studies.
rim light	A backlight that traces the subject’s edge with a thin highlight.	Separate dark hair or clothing from a dark background.
backlight	The primary source sits behind the subject, toward the camera.	Halos, rain sparkle, and subjects defined by silhouette plus glow.
silhouette	The subject is underexposed against a brighter background so only the outline reads.	Identity-as-shape, sunsets, and anonymous figures.
practicals	Lamps, neon, screens, and other sources that exist in the set and are photographed on.	Motivate night interiors and keep light grounded in the world.
motivated lighting	Off-camera units that pretend to be a visible source such as a window or sign.	The audience should believe the light belongs to the location.
golden hour	The low, warm sun shortly after dawn or before dusk.	Romance, travel, and any prompt that mentions sunset or sunrise.
blue hour	The cool, even skylight just before sunrise or after sunset.	City lights mixing with residual daylight and quiet melancholy.

Editing and transitions

Technique	Definition	When to use
match cut	Two shots join because shape, motion, or idea continues across the cut.	Rhyme images and collapse time without a dissolve.
jump cut	A cut within the same setup that skips time and makes the subject pop.	Restlessness, montage of process, or a narrator talking to camera.
smash cut	An abrupt join between two shots of maximally different energy or volume.	Jolt from quiet to loud or from dream to alarm.
crash cut	A violent, almost colliding join used as a rhythmic punch.	Action and music video when the beat itself is the cut.
cross dissolve	One image fades in as the other fades out, overlapping in time.	Memory, elapsed time, or a gentle change of place.
fade to black	The image decays to black, ending a chapter.	Act breaks and deaths, never between ordinary coverage.
fade from black	The image is born out of black.	Open a new chapter or a morning after.
whip-pan transition	A whip pan’s blur is used as the join to another whip pan.	Stitch two locations that share momentum.
L-cut	Picture cuts away while the outgoing audio continues.	Dialogue or score can pull the viewer into the next image.
J-cut	Incoming audio arrives before the picture of the next shot.	Pre-lap a new space, a voice, or a threat.
montage	A designed sequence of short shots that compresses process or argument.	Training, travel, and any “time passed” that needs rhythm.
parallel action	Two or more lines of action intercut so they feel simultaneous.	Chases, countdowns, and destinies that are about to collide.
cross cut	Alternating shots from two scenes to build comparison or suspense.	The audience should hold two places in mind at once.
freeze frame	Motion stops on a still that is held as a graphic.	Endings, evidence, or a joke that needs a button.
iris	A circular mask closes or opens on a point of interest.	Period pastiche and to single out a clue.
wipe	A traveling edge replaces one shot with another.

Stylistic effects

Technique	Definition	When to use
bullet time	Time appears frozen or slowed while the camera still travels around the subject.	Iconic action punctuation, not as a default look.
double exposure	Two images occupy the same frame, stacked by opacity or blend.	Memory, haunting, and interior states.
tilt-shift	Selective focus and often a miniature-like perspective.	Make a city look like a model or isolate a thin plane of sharpness.
thermal	A false-color heat map instead of reflected light.	Night search, science fiction sensors, and animal vision.
anamorphic flare	Horizontal streaks from a bright source, characteristic of anamorphic glass.	Widescreen cinema texture and night headlights.
film grain	Visible silver or digital grain structure over the image.	Age a picture, hide digital smoothness, or match analog references.
teal-and-orange grade	Shadows push cyan-teal while skin and practicals hold orange.	Contemporary blockbuster color contrast, not a default for every scene.
bleach bypass	A desaturated, silver-heavy look with crushed blacks and retained density.	War, crime, and moral exhaustion.
lens flare	Internal glass reflections from a source in or near the frame.	When the sun or headlights should invade the lens, sparingly.
bokeh	Out-of-focus highlights rendered as discs or polygons.	Romanticize night cities and isolate a subject from sparkle.
shallow depth of field	Only a thin plane is sharp; foreground and background fall off quickly.	Portraits, product heroes, and any “blurry background” request.
deep focus	Near and far planes are simultaneously sharp.	Blocking in depth is the composition, from foreground prop to distant door.
rack focus	Focus travels from one plane to another during the shot.	Hand attention from a face to a clue, or from a gun to a reaction.
glitch	Digital tearing, channel offset, and compression wounds used as style.	Hacked feeds, broken memory, and electronic unease.
vignette	The corners darken or desaturate, pooling attention in the center.

Naive to technical examples

Naive	Technical
shot from above looking down, moody	high-angle shot, low-key
camera moves toward him slowly	push-in on him
close on her face in the dark	close-up of her face, low-key
sunset light on Anna	golden hour on Anna
spin around the car	arc shot around the car
blurry background	shallow depth of field
cut quickly between shots	jump cut
make it look dramatic	chiaroscuro
like a dream	haze
two people talking, wide	two shot, wide shot, two people talking

Output

Return the rewritten prompt as a single block of natural language that a generation model can ingest. Do not explain the lexicon unless asked.