The five parts of a good prompt
A motion graphics prompt is a brief, not a wish. The best ones answer five questions:
| Part | Question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Format | How long, and what shape? | “A 20-second 16:9 video” |
| Message | What exact words appear? | “Open on ‘Know where every dollar goes’” |
| Visuals | What is on screen? | “a budgeting dashboard filling in, then a phone” |
| Style | What does it look like? | “soft blue palette, clean sans-serif type, lots of space” |
| Motion and ending | How does it move, and how does it end? | “smooth slide transitions, end on the logo for two seconds” |
Put together:
A 20-second 16:9 launch video for a budgeting app. Open on “Know where every dollar goes”. Show a dashboard filling in with categories, then a phone with a spending alert. Soft blue palette, clean sans-serif type, lots of white space. Smooth slide transitions. End on the logo and “Try it free” for two seconds.
Put the exact words in quotes
Generators treat quoted text as copy to show, and everything else as direction. Without quotes, your headline may be paraphrased. Keep each quoted line short: three to eight words reads well in motion.
Be specific about style, briefly
Three or four concrete style words beat a paragraph of adjectives:
- Palette: “deep green and cream”, “black with one orange accent”, “pastel lilac”.
- Type: “bold condensed headlines”, “editorial serif”, “rounded sans-serif”.
- Feel: “calm and premium”, “fast and punchy”, “playful, hand-made”.
If you have a reference, attach it. ASAP Motion accepts an image or video reference alongside the prompt to show the composition or motion style you want.
Describe motion with verbs
“Animated” says nothing. Say how things move: slides in, scales up with a slight overshoot, types in letter by letter, decodes, wipes left to right, fades, flips, zooms through. Name the transition between scenes if it matters.
Example prompts you can copy
Feature announcement
A 25-second 16:9 feature announcement. Black background, electric blue accent. Open on “Introducing Smart Replies”. A message is typed into a chat box, then three suggested replies slide up. End on “Now in every inbox” and the logo.
Kinetic quote for social
A 10-second 9:16 kinetic typography video. Warm vermilion and cream. The words “Make” “something” “people” “want” appear one at a time, each with a different motion: scale, decode, slide, fill. Hold the full line for two seconds.
Logo sting
A 4-second 1:1 logo reveal. The mark draws in, then the wordmark slides up beneath it. White background, single brand color. Hold the finished logo for one second.
Data moment
A 15-second 16:9 animated stat. Dark navy background. A counter rises from 0 to “2.4M users”, then a line chart draws across. Caption: “Growth since launch”. Clean and precise.
Funding announcement
A 20-second 16:9 announcement in deep green. Oversized type: “We raised our Series A”. Then the figure large, then one line: “to build the future of field service”. Calm logo close.
Common mistakes
- Too many ideas. One prompt, one video, one message. Split long briefs into scenes or separate videos.
- No length or format. You will get a default you did not want.
- Vague style. “Modern and clean” describes every video. Name colors and type.
- No ending. Videos without a defined ending tend to stop rather than land.
- Expecting perfection on the first try. Generate, then edit the parts that are off. Fixing a word in the editor is faster than rewriting the prompt.
When to use a template instead
If you can point at an existing video and say “like that, but mine”, a template is faster than a prompt. Browse the template library, open the closest match, and replace the content. Use prompts when nothing close exists, or for short pieces like stings, stats and quotes.
