Catalog

Use case: Product teaser (template 1)

| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Subject | A matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe |
| Action | 1) A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim; 2) the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn; 3) the final second holds still on the dripper's front, copper rim catching the light |
| Scene | A walnut kitchen counter by a window, early morning just after sunrise, a faint haze of steam in the air, uncluttered background |
| Angle / Move | Vertical close-up at counter height, slightly above eye level / slow dolly in |
| Lens | 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field, kitchen background in soft bokeh |
| Light / Palette / Mood | Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim on the copper / matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut, soft cream highlights / calm, quiet, unhurried |
| Style / Time | Premium commercial look, photorealistic / real-time pace, steady trickle throughout, still hold in the last second |
| Audio | Close, clear coffee trickling into glass, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music |
| Negative | text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look |

Final prompt (paste into Veo / Gemini / Flow):

Premium commercial look, photorealistic, vertical close-up at counter height of a matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe on a walnut kitchen counter by a window in the early morning just after sunrise. A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim, and the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn. Slow dolly in, 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field with the kitchen background in soft bokeh. Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim light catching the copper, palette of matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut and soft cream highlights, calm and quiet mood. Real-time pace; the final second holds still on the dripper's front.
Audio: close, clear sound of coffee trickling into a glass carafe, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music.
Negative prompt: text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look

Settings: 9:16, 8 seconds, audio on.

Settings: model `sora-2` · size `1280x720` · seconds `8` · characters: none

Before

A cool cinematic shot of a woman drinking coffee in a nice cafe, make it 10 seconds.

After

Style: Contemporary 35 mm film look, natural and understated, soft contrast, fine grain, warm-neutral grade.

A small neighbourhood cafe on a quiet weekday morning. A woman in her early 30s with shoulder-length dark hair tied loosely back, wearing an oatmeal knit sweater, sits alone at a round marble table by a large street-facing window. In front of her: a white ceramic cup of black coffee on a matching saucer and a folded paper napkin. Behind her, out of focus, a wooden counter with an espresso machine and a barista moving between shelves of cups. Thin steam rises from the cup and catches the window light.

Cinematography:
Camera: medium close-up, eye level, from across the table at a slight angle; slow dolly-in
Lens: 50 mm feel; shallow depth of field, sharp on her face and the cup, background soft
Lighting: soft morning daylight through the window from camera left as key; warm tungsten pendant glow from the counter as background fill
Palette anchors: cream, warm walnut brown, soft white, muted sage, coffee black
Mood: calm, quiet, unhurried

Actions:
- She wraps both hands around the cup and lifts it slowly (first two seconds).
- She blows lightly across the surface, then takes one small sip.
- She lowers the cup to the saucer and looks out the window with a faint, relaxed smile (final two seconds).

Background Sound:
Low hiss of the espresso machine, soft clink of cups at the counter, muffled murmur of a few voices; no score.

What changed and why

- Removed "make it 10 seconds". Duration is an API parameter, not prose, and 10 is not a supported value (4, 8, 12, 16, 20). Set `seconds: 8` in the call; the prompt now fits 8 seconds of action.
- "Cool cinematic shot" became a named style. A specific aesthetic instead of a vague adjective, set first so it frames everything else.
- "Drinking coffee" became three timed beats. Lift, blow and sip, lower and look out. Beats with timing cues are far more reliable than a single vague verb.

[five more changes in the full answer: subject anchors, concrete nouns, one camera move, named light sources, background sound]

Subject: Your pricing page is lying to you
Preview: Three founders raised prices last month. Two regret it.

Headline: The pricing change that costs more than it earns

1. The claim — Raising prices 20% sounds like free margin. For two of three founders I spoke to this month it cut net revenue, because the churn arrived three months later and nobody connected it.
2. The mechanism — Annual customers do not leave on day one. They leave at renewal, which is after you have already celebrated.
3. The numbers — Founder A: +20% price, −11% net revenue by month 5. Founder B: +15%, +9% — the difference was a grandfather clause.
4. What I would do — Raise for new customers only. Measure renewal cohorts for two quarters before touching existing plans.

CTA: Reply with your last price change and the month you measured it. I will tell you if you measured too early.

Cuts the author will push back on: the opening anecdote about the coffee shop (300 words, no number); the second example that repeats the first; "I think" ×6.

Voice rules

- Sentence length: 4–10 words. Never a sentence over 14.
- Tone: dry, mildly self-deprecating, never preachy. "Okay, controversial:" / "Weirdly, the most-asked question this month" / "Sorry. Also not sorry."
- Words used often: actually, okay, weirdly, notes inside, for a real face
- Words never used (peers use them): journey, elevate, unlock, glow-up, self-care, ritual, holy grail, obsessed
- Emoji: one at the end, never mid-caption. 🌿 or 😌.
- Hooks: a contrarian observation stated flat, never a question.
- Closes: one short verdict, no CTA.

New captions (launch week)
1. Most niacinamide serums are water with a marketing budget. Ours isn't. 🌿
2. Okay, controversial: your skin does not need 12 steps. It needs 3 that work.
3. Tested the new cleanser on a real face for 6 weeks. Notes inside.
4. Weirdly, the most-asked question this month: "safe during pregnancy?" Yes.
5. Discontinued the toner. It wasn't pulling its weight. Sorry. Also not sorry. 😌
...
Drift check: #7 uses a question hook; #9 runs 16 words. Cut both.

1. Three weeks ago it was perfect. Now it loses a leaf every other day.
2. The plant in the shop window is not the one in your living room.
3. You did not do anything wrong. Nobody told you the one thing it needs.
4. It is not the light. It is not the water. It is the third thing.
5. Day 21: the soil is wet, the leaves are yellow, the blog says "just wait".
6. Confession: I killed four of these before I learned to read the leaves.
7. Your plant has been asking for help for two weeks. You just did not speak the language.
8. 80% of dropped leaves come from the same two mistakes. Both are fixable tonight.
9. Still watering on a schedule? That is the thing killing it.
10. The nursery tag said "easy". The nursery tag lied.

Cold landing page: #2 — the contrast is visual and lands in one read.
Warm email: #3 — removes blame, which is what a subscriber who already feels guilty needs first.

Generated: a single paper plane lifting away from a neat stack of sticky notes, flat vector style with two-tone shading and no outlines, royal blue plane on a warm cream background with one coral note on top of the stack. The subject sits in the left 55% of the frame; the right 45% is clean cream with no elements. 16:9, 2048 px wide. No text, no logos, no screens.

Revision requested: "keep everything, make the plane's shadow softer and add a faint dotted flight path." Kept composition and palette; softened the shadow to 20% opacity; added a dotted arc from the stack to the plane in the same blue.