Text to Video

Think in shots, not scenes

A text-to-video model generates one continuous shot. Prompts that describe a whole scene — three locations, a twist and a punchline — get compressed into something vague. Write a single shot the way a director would call it: who or what is in frame, the one thing that happens, where the camera is and how it moves, and what the light is doing.

A reliable prompt formula

Subject + action + setting + camera + light + style. “A white horse (subject) gallops along a black-sand beach (action, setting), low tracking shot alongside it (camera), golden hour (light), cinematic slow motion (style).” That exact prompt produced the hero on this page with Kling 3.0. Concrete nouns beat adjectives: “wet cobblestones reflecting neon” is worth more than “beautiful moody street”.

Matching model to shot

Seedance Fast is the iteration model: cheap enough to try five variations of a prompt. Seedance 2.5 is the most advanced, with single takes up to 30 seconds. Kling 3.0 handles fast physical motion and can render sound. Veo 3.1 has photoreal light and optional native audio in 4, 6 or 8 seconds. MiniMax H3 is good with people and goes to 2K. Our model comparison goes deeper.

When text is not enough

If the shot must show a specific product, person or place exactly, switch to image-to-video and give the model a start frame. If the model keeps ignoring part of your prompt, cut the prompt down — the usual culprit is two competing actions. And if you need many consistent shots, plan them first with the storyboard generator.

Iterate cheaply, finish sharp

The fastest workflow is two-pass. Draft a prompt on Seedance Fast at a short length until the composition and motion are right — each try costs a handful of credits. Then run the winning prompt on the model whose strengths fit the shot: Seedance 2.5 for a long take, Kling 3.0 or Veo 3.1 when you want sound, MiniMax H3 when people are the focus. Save your best prompts; they become a reusable house style.