Sora Prompt
Generator.
Free builder for OpenAI Sora. Scene, camera motion, lighting, duration, written as a director's shot list.
Outputs three formats: clean paragraph, section-tagged, and shot-list. Paste into Sora or any text-to-video tool.
Describe what you want
3 prompt variations
Click Copy to useStyle: Cinematic live action. Scene: [describe the scene] Camera: Slow dolly in. Lighting: Golden hour. Duration: 10 seconds.
# STYLE Cinematic live action. Shot on a full-frame cinema camera. Grounded, believable physics. Consistent lighting direction across the clip. # SCENE [describe the scene] # CAMERA Slow dolly in. Motion should be smooth and purposeful, no jitter, no jump cuts within the clip. # LIGHTING Golden hour. Maintain consistent color temperature throughout. # TECHNICAL Duration: 10 seconds. Photorealistic detail. No text, no on-screen graphics unless described.
# SHOT LIST (single 10 seconds clip) - Opening frame: [describe the scene] - Camera: Slow dolly in. - Lighting: Golden hour. - Visual style: Cinematic live action. # TONE Grounded, believable physics. No impossible object interactions. Subject remains consistent from frame 1 to final frame.
Under the hood
Why shot-list prompts beat paragraph prompts.
State the full moment as one sentence: subject, setting, time of day, weather, what they're doing. Sora's model treats the scene clause as its spatial anchor, if it's vague, everything else drifts.
Camera motion is Sora's most powerful lever. Dolly in, orbit, crane down, handheld, each triggers different training associations. Always state the motion explicitly; don't rely on implication.
Lighting controls color temperature and continuity across frames. Golden hour, blue hour, neon night, overcast, these are shorthand for color grading the model learned from film. Pair with a visual style for maximum consistency.
Related free tools
Specialized generators for specific tasks.
Runway Prompt Generator
Gen-3 Alpha conventions with motion vocabulary.
Veo 3 Prompt Generator
Google Veo 3, handles native audio and dialogue.
AI Video Prompt Generator
Cross-model video prompts (Sora, Runway, Veo, Pika).
Midjourney Prompt Generator
Still-frame work before you bring a scene to video.
FAQ
Questions about Sora prompting.
What makes a good Sora prompt?+
Specificity. Sora rewards scene-first prompts that read like a director's shot description: subject + setting + action + camera motion + lighting + duration. Vague emotional language produces vague output.
Why does the generator include camera motion?+
Camera motion is Sora's strongest controllable variable. 'Slow dolly in' produces a dramatically different feel than 'handheld documentary,' even with the same scene description. Explicit motion language cuts down on the model drifting into default establishing shots.
How long should a Sora prompt clip be?+
Most Sora outputs hold up cleanly at 5-10 seconds. At 15-20 seconds you start to see temporal drift, subjects morphing, cameras losing anchor points. If you need longer, generate multiple clips and cut them together in editing.
What's the difference between the 3 variant formats?+
Clean paragraph is best for quick iteration, short, readable, one block. Section-tagged format is for complex scenes with specific technical requirements. Shot-list format is for when you're directing a narrative sequence and need the model to treat each line as a beat.
Does Sora handle dialogue or on-screen text?+
Sora can render text but it's unreliable, letters often morph or duplicate. If you need legible text (signs, logos, captions), add it in post. For dialogue, Sora generates lip movement but not synchronized audio; use a separate audio track.
Can I use these prompts with Runway, Veo, or Pika?+
Partially. The scene description transfers well. Camera motion vocabulary is similar across Sora, Runway Gen-3, and Veo 3. Strip the Sora-specific duration formatting and check each tool's native conventions, our dedicated Runway and Veo generators handle those.
Why does Sora sometimes ignore my camera motion?+
Long scene descriptions dilute camera instructions. Keep the scene clause tight and place the camera motion close to it. The section-tagged and shot-list formats are designed to separate camera motion from scene so the model can't blend them.
Does this generator call the Sora API?+
No. The generator is 100% client-side. It builds the prompt text, then you paste it into Sora (or Sora-compatible interfaces). Nothing is sent to OpenAI from this page.