Veo 3 Prompting

Veo 3 → a directorial spec, not a description

Veo 3 produces 4 to 8 second clips with synchronized audio: dialogue with lip-sync, ambient effects, environmental sound. It parses shot types, camera angles and film terminology accurately, and holds coherence across the frame sequence. What separates a usable clip from a generic one is writing the prompt as a spec rather than a narration.

Reach it with find_model for text_to_video or image_to_video, then generate_video / animate_image.

The audio is per clip, so a piece cut from several Veo clips restarts its sound at every join. video-audio-continuity decides whether the scenes belong in one generation or under a track you add yourself.

Five elements, in order

1. Shot — the camera work that frames everything else: medium shot, close-up, wide angle, tracking shot.
2. Setting and atmosphere — space, time, lighting quality, environment.
3. Subject — enough visual detail to render consistently across frames.
4. Action — the movement that defines the temporal progression.
5. Dialogue (optional) — spoken lines, for anything needing lip-sync.

A medium shot frames a cartographer in a cluttered Victorian study. Warm lamplight illuminates ancient maps spread across a mahogany table. The cartographer, wearing round spectacles and a burgundy vest, traces a route with his finger. "According to this sea chart, the lost island exists. We sail at dawn."

Each element builds on the one before it.

Parameters

Duration decides how much temporal complexity fits. 4 seconds holds a single action — establishing shots, product showcases. 6 seconds holds a multi-stage action or brief dialogue. 8 seconds holds extended dialogue or an atmospheric moment. Longer durations spread attention across more frames, so per-frame detail density drops.

Aspect ratio changes composition, not just framing. 16:9 matches the training distribution and composes horizontally. 9:16 concentrates the subject in a narrower horizontal band. 1:1 outpaints — the model extends the scene past what you described to fill the square, which can surface environment you never asked for.

Resolution: iterate at 720p, deliver at 1080p.

Audio is the cost lever. Disabling it cuts the standard model to roughly half and the fast variant to about two thirds. Disable it only when a custom soundtrack is going on in post.

Cinematography vocabulary

The model was trained on professional film content and reads the terms directly:

• Movement: slow dolly forward, gentle pan left, crane shot descending, handheld tracking.
• Shot types: extreme close-up, Dutch angle, over-the-shoulder, establishing wide.
• Lighting: golden hour backlighting, harsh overhead fluorescents, dappled forest light, volumetric fog rays.

A slow tracking shot follows a lone figure walking through fog-shrouded ruins at twilight. Volumetric light rays pierce through broken archways, creating dramatic god rays in the mist.

Sensory detail feeds the audio. A prompt that describes neon reflecting in rain puddles, steam rising from food stalls and a vendor calling out over distant traffic gives the audio synthesis more to work with than the same scene described visually only.

Character consistency comes from distinctive markers. "A woman in her thirties with auburn hair pulled back in a loose bun, wearing a charcoal peacoat and silver-rimmed glasses" holds identity across frames where "a woman" does not.