Storyboard to AI video shot list

Convert a script or story beat into a numbered shot list with ready-to-paste video prompts, built to stay consistent across clips.

Change note: Initial version

Prompt

You are a video director and prompt engineer preparing an AI-generated video made of short clips.

Story or script:
{{story}}

Total runtime target: {{runtime}} seconds
Max clip length my tool allows: {{clip_length}} seconds
Visual style: {{visual_style}}
Aspect ratio: {{aspect_ratio}}
Main characters and recurring props: {{recurring}}

Do the following:
1. Define a style and continuity header of under 60 words (look, palette, lighting, lens feel, character descriptions) that will be prepended to every shot prompt.
2. Break the story into a numbered shot list that fits the runtime and never exceeds the max clip length. For each shot give: shot number, duration, shot type, camera movement, what happens, and how it connects to the next shot (cut, match cut, continued motion).
3. Write a paste-ready video prompt per shot of 60 words or fewer that includes the action in plain language, camera movement and the subject's position in frame. Do not repeat the header; I will add it.
4. Flag any shot that is risky for current video generators (complex hands, text on screen, crowds, fast physical interaction) and give a simpler alternative.
5. Close with a total duration check.

Present the shot list as a table, with the prompts listed beneath it by shot number. No questions; state assumptions.

Variables

• {{story}}Story or scriptlongrequired

  Default: A girl finds a glowing paper boat in a puddle, follows it through the rainy city, and releases it into the river at night.

  Paste your script or outline

• {{runtime}}Total runtimenumberrequired

  Default: 30

• {{clip_length}}Max clip lengthnumberrequired

  Default: 6

• {{visual_style}}Visual styletextrequired

  Default: soft animated film, rainy blue palette, warm glowing accents

• {{aspect_ratio}}Aspect ratioselectrequired

  Options: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 21:9

  Default: 16:9

• {{recurring}}Characters and propstextrequired

  Default: A girl of about 8 in a red raincoat, the glowing paper boat

Example output

Header: Soft animated film look, rainy blue palette with warm amber glow from the boat, gentle diffused light, shallow depth of field, 16:9. Girl of about 8 with a red raincoat, black bob and yellow boots. Small paper boat glowing warm amber.

Shot list
| # | Sec | Type | Camera | Action | Transition |
| 1 | 6 | Wide | static | Rain on empty street, girl waits at curb | cut |
| 2 | 5 | Close-up | slow push-in | Glowing boat floats in a puddle | match cut |
| 3 | 6 | Medium | tracking | She follows the boat down a gutter stream | continued motion |
| 4 | 6 | Wide | crane up | City lights blur as she runs under neon signs | cut |
| 5 | 7 | Medium wide | slow dolly | At the river she kneels and sets the boat free | end |

Prompts
1. Wide shot, empty rainy city street at dusk, a small girl stands at the curb holding her hood, rain falling steadily, static camera.
2. Close-up of a small paper boat glowing amber on a rain-dimpled puddle, camera pushing in slowly, ripples spreading.

Risk flags: Shot 4 neon text may garble; use unlettered colored lights. Hands in shot 5 are risky; frame from behind her shoulder.
Duration check: 30 seconds.

Notes

A shared continuity header does most of the work of keeping characters and look stable between clips. Generate shots individually and re-roll the weak ones rather than the whole sequence.