Planning · DirectingNO.166 / 166

Watch: A top-down floor plan: A walks from the door to the window (1→2→3), B comes in after and stops by the table, the two separated by the whole table; the camera tracks along the bottom. How people move and where they stop says everything about their relationship.A line-art demo that only illustrates the technique, not finished footage.

Planning · Directing

Blocking走位调度

Design how characters move through the space, where they stop and how that works with the camera. The blocking itself tells the story.

Category: Directing
Group: Advanced
Medium: Planning
Library: 166 / 166

This is a step in making a film, not a visual technique. For the whole process, see Make an AI short from scratch.

Prompt templates are written from how generation models usually behave and have not yet been verified one by one with real generations. “Common pitfalls” are judgment from experience, not official limits.

When to use it

When characters need to move within a shot, when a relationship shifts, for a oner.

Prompt template

the character enters from the doorway on frame left, walks past the dining table, and stops at the window with back to camera; another person enters after and stops by the table, the whole table between them. Camera trucks slowly to follow, no cut.

Sample prompt · generate a video directly

The technique comes first, followed by the scene, action, performance and duration. Paste it straight into a video model and swap in your own characters and plot.

Medium shot, tracking sideways, no cuts: an old family house on Lunar New Year's Eve; the son pushes open the door and walks in from the left of the frame, puts down his backpack, passes the round table laden with dishes and stops by the window with his back to the camera; his mother comes out of the kitchen carrying a plate of dumplings and stops on the other side of the round table, the whole table between them, neither speaking first. 8 seconds, warm yellow interior light, scattered fireworks outside the window.

Common pitfalls

No path written for the characters, so AI has them fidget on the spot.
Halfway across, a character walks through the table.
The characters' positions mean nothing; they're just walking.

Parameter tips

Spell out the start, the points passed and the end; at most two moves per shot.