Planning · DirectingNO.159 / 166

Watch: The script is broken into shots, box by box, each with its shot size, camera move and duration. AI generates one box at a time, so this table is your production checklist.A line-art demo that only illustrates the technique, not finished footage.

Planning · Directing

Shot List / Storyboard分镜表

Break the script into individual shots, each with shot size, camera move, what's in frame and duration. AI video generates one shot at a time, so the shot list is your production checklist.

Category: Directing
Group: Basics
Medium: Planning
Library: 159 / 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

After the script is written and before generating; every AI short needs one.

Prompt template

Break this script into a shot list as a table with columns: shot number, duration (3 to 8 s), shot size, camera move, visual content (characters, action, expression, setting), dialogue or sound, transition. Vary shot size between adjacent shots and keep dialogue scenes on one side of the axis. Script: [write here]

Sample prompt · ask a chat model

This one is written for chat models like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: replace the ideas in brackets with your own and it will help you write the story or revise the script.

Break the script below into a shot list as a table with these columns: shot number, duration (3 to 8 seconds), shot size, camera move, what's in frame (characters, action, expression, setting), dialogue or sound, transition. 60 seconds in total, vertical 9:16; vary the shot size between neighboring shots, keep to the axis in dialogue scenes, and at the end add a prompt for each shot that can go straight into a video model. Script: on Lunar New Year's Eve, a delivery rider reaches the station just as the last bus pulls away; he crouches at the edge of the platform and calls his mother, telling her he has to work this year and won't be home; after he hangs up, a truck stops in front of him and the driver rolls down the window: “Where to? I'm going your way.”

Common pitfalls

Several things crammed into one shot, which AI can't generate.
Several shots in a row at the same size, so the edit feels flat.
No durations in the shot list, so the generated clips don't fit the rhythm.

Parameter tips

One thing per shot; establish with extreme wide or wide shots first, then move in to medium and close shots to build emotion.