My Runway ML Breakthrough: It Wasn't AI, It Was My Vocabulary

I used to have a love/hate relationship with Runway ML. Amazing potential, but frustrating inconsistencies. Then it clicked... my vocabulary was the problem.

Trying to describe the exact camera movement I envisioned was tough. The video production world has a whole lexicon for this. Without knowing those terms, I was essentially speaking a different language to the AI. Incredibly verbose prompts to describe camera angles that already had well-understood descriptors.

This is a HUGE reminder that your experience and education aren't going anywhere in the age of AI. The tools are powerful, but you still need the knowledge to articulate your vision and ask for the specific output you want.

This holds true whether you're prompting for video, generating code, or tackling any other AI use case.

So, if you're using Runway to animate your still images, here are a few essential camera movement terms to add to your prompts:

• Establishing Shot - Sets the scene, often used at the beginning to hint at what's to come.

• Point of View Shot (POV) - Puts the viewer directly into the character's perspective.

• Over the Shoulder Shot - Shows interactions between characters or provides a third-person view, like in many video games.

• Down Shot/Up Shot - A high angle looking down or a low angle looking up (implying power or vulnerability).