Brief template (the 10 ingredients)

Prompt (fill-in brief)

BRIEF: [working title]

1. Purpose: [what the video must achieve: product launch, explainer, brand identity, educational, social post]. Audience: [who]. The one thing they must remember: [message]. Desired reaction: [feeling or action].

2. Format: [16:9 1920x1080 | 9:16 1080x1920 | 1:1 1080x1080 | 4:5 1080x1350], [30|60] fps, [duration] seconds. Platform: [YouTube | Reels | Shorts | LinkedIn | site | deck]. Muted autoplay: [yes/no].

3. Art direction: [aesthetic in a few words], references: [links or files]. Palette: [background], [text], [one accent], contrast [high/soft]. Materials and texture: [flat | grain | glass | paper | none]. Atmosphere: [calm, tense, playful, precise...].

4. Composition: [centred hero object | left-aligned type | split screen | full-bleed UI], negative space [where], layers [foreground / midground / background], safe margins [px].

5. Typography: typeface [family], weights [e.g. 700 headline, 400 body], size hierarchy [headline / sub / label in px], line breaks [where], tracking [tight/normal/wide], alignment [left/centre]. Exact on-screen text, in order:
   - "[text 1]"
   - "[text 2]"

6. Movement: [what moves], direction [from/to], distance [px or % of frame], speed [fast/slow, or frames], trigger [on cut, on beat, on word, after previous element]. Easing: [ease-out | spring with subtle overshoot | no linear unless intentional].

7. Timing: scene list with durations [s], delays, holds (numbers and CTA hold at least 1.5 to 2 s), overlaps, reveal times, ending [what the last frame shows and for how long].

8. Transitions: [cut | match cut | mask reveal | wipe | zoom | morph | camera move] between [scene a] and [scene b], and why it supports the story.

9. Audio: music mood [mood, tempo], sound effects [which, on which visual event], voice-over [yes/no, script file], rhythmic accents [where], silence [where].

10. Quality constraints: no clipped text, broken layouts, random decoration, accidental overlaps, inconsistent fonts or unreviewed final renders. Also: [your extras, e.g. no em dashes on screen, real numbers only].

11. Banned for this film (mandatory, written for this film, not generic): [e.g. crossfades, blur-ins, glows, particles, holds over 1 s, bouncy easing, anything that looks like a template]. Seed it from studio/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md, then add what this film's subject tempts a model to do.

12. Glossary (vague words defined in motion terms, once, for this film): [e.g. "punchy" = entrances at most 10 frames, one scale event per scene, hard cut into the next]. Round 3 must mean the same as round 1.

13. Gotchas (known failure modes to avoid up front): [e.g. flood must overscale past all corners; start each scene at the zoom the last one ended on; fades under 0.3 s read as pops; last frame must equal first for a loop].

14. Start gate: ask me for anything missing in this brief (with the default you will use if I skip it), then show ONLY: the beat map or timed scene list, and [4 to 8] named stills (frame or timestamp plus what each must show). Write no code until I approve those.

Storyboard the sequence before coding it.

Tagged variant (same content, for pasting into a long build)

<inputs>    what to ask me for; default if I skip each </inputs>
<direction> look, type, one accent, motion language. Banned: [per-film list] </direction>
<structure> timed scenes or beat ranges; every transition written "A becomes B" </structure>
<build>     numbered engineering rules (frame-based only, tokens, reuse lib) </build>
<gotchas>   known failures to avoid up front </gotchas>
<start>     ask for inputs, then show the beat map and [N] named stills; no code before approval </start>

Why tags: each block is a contract the model cannot quietly reinterpret, and the approval stop sits before the expensive step. If you cannot view images or render here, say so first; do not describe results you have not seen.

Weak vs strong (notes §3, verbatim)

Weak prompt:

Make a really cool futuristic animation for an AI startup. Make it cinematic, smooth, premium, with nice transitions and glowing effects.

Why it fails: it doesn't define the composition, pacing, typography, visual hierarchy, scene order or actual motion. Claude has to invent everything, often producing generic-looking results.

Strong prompt:

Design a 12-second premium product-launch animation for an AI developer tool. Use a near-black background, off-white typography and one electric-blue accent. Begin with an abstract grid assembling into a precise geometric mark. At 2.5 seconds, transition into a close-up of a code editor, with selected lines revealing in a staggered sequence. At 6 seconds, transform the code into a clean system diagram. End with the headline "BUILD WHAT'S NEXT" and a small product URL. Use restrained camera movement, purposeful easing, subtle depth, precise alignment and a sound effect synchronized to the main reveal. Keep each scene visually distinct but stylistically consistent. Storyboard the sequence before coding it.

Why it works: Claude has a defined visual system, a sequence of events, concrete timing and a clear ending.

How the strong prompt maps to the 10 ingredients