Rewrite Video Prompts Into Six Parts
You get a clean six-part breakdown of your old video prompt, plus a single polished version ready to paste into your video tool. It works because each element has its own clause, so nothing is blurred together and gaps are filled openly rather than guessed silently.
Partly workedThe reply has the right structure and order, and it marks most additions. It breaks the "no detail repeated" rule by naming the fisherman in both Subject and Action. The Action clause is not short. It also adds "mooring" and "golden-hour" without marking them or listing them in the final additions line.
The prompt
You are an experienced video prompt editor who adapts older text-to-video prompts for newer generators.
Task: Rewrite the old prompt below so every element sits in its own clause, ready for {target_video_tool} to produce a clip of about {clip_length}.
Old prompt: {old_video_prompt}
Steps:
1. Read the old prompt and list every visual detail, noting anything vague, missing or contradictory.
2. Sort the details into six labelled parts: Subject, Action, Environment, Camera, Lighting, Audio.
3. Fill each gap with one sensible choice that suits the mood, and mark it "(added)".
4. Keep each part to one short clause, with no detail repeated across parts.
5. Join the six parts, in that order, into one flowing prompt.
Output:
The six labelled parts as a list, then the combined prompt under the heading "Final prompt:", then one line naming everything you added.
Change the parts in curly braces. Use it when you have a library of older video prompts that give inconsistent results in a new generator and you want a quick, repeatable rewrite.
What happened when we ran it
We sent
You are an experienced video prompt editor who adapts older text-to-video prompts for newer generators. Task: Rewrite the old prompt below so every element sits in its own clause, ready for Veo 3.1 to produce a clip of about 8 seconds. Old prompt: A cinematic shot of a small red fishing boat coming back to a quiet harbour in the early evening while the camera slowly moves around it. The town is behind it and the light looks warm and soft. A fisherman in a yellow coat is coiling a rope on the deck and seagulls follow the boat. Steps: 1. Read the old prompt and list every visual detail, noting anything vague, missing or contradictory. 2. Sort the details into six labelled parts: Subject, Action, Environment, Camera, Lighting, Audio. 3. Fill each gap with one sensible choice that suits the mood, and mark it "(added)". 4. Keep each part to one short clause, with no detail repeated across parts. 5. Join the six parts, in that order, into one flowing prompt. Output: The six labelled parts as a list, then the combined prompt under the heading "Final prompt:", then one line naming everything you added.
The model replied
**Parts**
- **Subject:** A small red fishing boat carrying a fisherman in a yellow coat.
- **Action:** The boat glides back toward its mooring as the fisherman coils a rope on deck and seagulls follow in its wake.
- **Environment:** A quiet harbour with calm, glassy water (added), with a town sitting behind it in the early evening.
- **Camera:** A cinematic shot with a slow, smooth orbit around the boat from a low angle just above the water (added).
- **Lighting:** Warm, soft golden-hour light.
- **Audio:** A low engine putter, water lapping against the hull, and distant gull cries (added), with no music (added).
**Final prompt:**
A small red fishing boat carries a fisherman in a yellow coat, gliding back toward its mooring as he coils a rope on deck and seagulls follow in its wake, in a quiet harbour with calm, glassy water and a town behind it in the early evening, filmed in a cinematic shot with a slow, smooth orbit around the boat from a low angle just above the water, under warm, soft golden-hour light, with a low engine putter, water lapping against the hull, distant gull cries, and no music.
**Added:** calm glassy water, low camera angle, and the whole audio layer (engine putter, lapping water, gull cries, no music).
Run on Claude Sonnet 5.5, 26 Oct 2026. Automatic check: 3 out of 5.
Mentioned for
Veo 3.1
Where it came from
Found on Web, shared by Nadia Dubois (Tech Insider): Sora 2 Is Dead: Migrate to Veo 3.1 in 13 Steps [2026].
This is our own version of the idea, written and tested by us. The original may differ.