Claude Motion Graphics · 5 Prompts from Generic to Premium

Quick Summary

• Duncan Rogoff compares a generic one-line request with a more deliberate process that produces stronger kinetic type, transitions and scene continuity.
• The five stages are sequential: find references, have Claude study them, build a design system, approve stills, then review one problem at a time like a designer.
• Prompt Motion is the reference library used in the tutorial. It publishes Claude-made motion pieces alongside the prompts and credits supplied by their creators.
• The Ora 2 launch film by @rossaxbt is the detailed reference. It specifies scenes, timing, movement, assets, audio and a banned list. MotionSites by @viktoroddy is the short reference that exposed the danger of copying product claims without verification.
• Duncan reports that a video render took roughly 11 to 20 minutes in his tests. Six still boards are a cheaper place to catch duplicate logos, weak contrast, crowded copy and unsafe margins.
• All five prompts below are reproduced from Duncan's free guide. Replace every bracketed field, keep the sequence in one working context, and use only approved brand facts and assets.

Why the first try looks generic

The opening experiment is deliberately underspecified: make a 30-second promo for a website. Claude must invent the aspect ratio, copy, hierarchy, palette, transition language, pacing, sound treatment and definition of premium. Duncan's result is square, silent and filled with copy he would not use.

This is not mainly a prompt-length problem. It is an evidence problem. A longer brief can still be directionless, while a concise brief backed by the right references, brand assets and approval gates can be specific. The useful shift is from asking for a finished video to directing a sequence of decisions.

The five prompts form a funnel. The first two define taste, the third turns taste into rules, the fourth validates visual composition, and the fifth converts subjective feedback into targeted revisions.

The five-stage workflow at a glance

1. Pick two motion references you genuinely like. 2. Ask Claude to find three adjacent references and reject weak fits. 3. Analyze all five for color, typography, layout, motion and pacing. 4. Convert the chosen principles into a design-system file. 5. Create six still boards and approve their words, assets and composition. 6. Write a scene plan, animate the approved boards, and review one named problem per round.

Duncan recommends using the five prompts in order and in the same Claude conversation. The deeper principle is continuity of evidence. If your environment can save files, also persist the reference notes, asset register, approved copy and design system in the project folder so the workflow survives a new session.

Plan on an afternoon rather than a one-click render. Duncan's free guide estimates 10 to 20 minutes per video render, while the transcript reports 11 to 20 minutes in his own trials. The still-first gate reduces the number of expensive full renders, but it does not eliminate review work.

Trick 1: find references with transferable ideas

Prompt Motion describes itself as a collection of motion videos made with Claude Opus 5.5, with the prompts and skills behind them. Each entry links back to its creator. That makes it useful for studying how a result was specified, not just admiring the finished frames.

Duncan's favorite reference is the Ora 2 image-model launch film by testarossa, @rossaxbt. Its published prompt defines input assets, voice treatment, a 22-second square format, seven scenes, motion rules, audio treatment, rendering checks and a banned list. The lesson is not to reuse the Ora name or copy. It is to notice how many creative decisions are made explicit before rendering begins.

His counterexample is MotionSites by Viktor Oddy, @viktoroddy. The public prompt is one line and includes the claim that the product reached one million monthly visitors after eight months. When Duncan applied that prompt to an unrelated sneaker concept, Claude carried the number into the new video. A source prompt can smuggle in brand-specific facts as easily as it transfers style.

Use a reference intake sheet before Claude studies anything

For each candidate, record the original URL, creator, publication date, visible brand, prompt source, permitted use, and which elements you want to study. Separate general principles such as pacing or spatial continuity from protected expression such as exact copy, logos, illustrations, footage and branded claims.

Add two columns called borrow and exclude. Borrow might contain a single-camera transition, oversized type, dot-based textures or a reveal rhythm. Exclude should contain the original brand name, metrics, product screenshots, copy, logo, voice, photographs and any fact that is not supported by your own source material.

Attribution is not a license. Prompt Motion says videos and prompts belong to their creators and links each entry to its source. Check the original creator's terms before downloading, republishing or distributing their media. For a commercial job, use the reference to communicate direction and recreate the principle with your own licensed assets.

Trick 2: translate taste into observable decisions

Claude cannot operationalize I like these videos. It can work with observations such as near-black background, one sans-serif family, oversized headings, cards entering on alternating axes, a continuous camera, dense beats followed by a two-second hold, and no small pill-shaped labels.

Ask for evidence with every observation: which reference, which moment and which visible feature supports it. Then rank the moves rather than combining everything. Too many borrowed ideas create a mood board in motion instead of a coherent film.

The leave-out list is essential. Duncan used no white scenes and no invented numbers because they conflicted with his dark green brand and source truth. Add any recurring failure your project cannot tolerate, including tiny copy, low-contrast logos, hard cuts, decorative buttons, excessive glow, camera resets or unsupported statistics.

Trick 3: build a motion design system

The design system is the stable source of truth for both appearance and motion. Start with the real website or brand kit, then add only the reference-derived principles that fit. A useful file covers mood, palette, typefaces, type scale, grid, safe zones, logo rules, image treatment, motion grammar, transition rules, easing, scene density and a banned list.

Duncan's two simple constraints are powerful: every scene fills the frame, and nothing overlaps. Make them measurable. Define the delivery aspect ratio, minimum margins, minimum text size, maximum words per frame and approved logo contrast variants.

Include a layout menu with at least ten patterns, but treat it as a vocabulary rather than a checklist. Examples include full-frame headline, product hero, two-column proof, screenshot crop, review card, metric reveal, image grid, quote, before-and-after and end card. Reuse the rules, not the exact composition of every scene.

Add a truth layer and asset register

A visual system is not enough. Create an approved-copy file containing the product name, description, CTA and every allowed claim with its source. If a number does not appear there, it cannot appear in the video. This directly prevents the MotionSites failure demonstrated in the tutorial.

Create an asset register with file name, owner, source URL, usage permission, intended scene and status. Mark screenshots and logos as real, placeholder or forbidden. The prompt says to use only real screenshots, logos and words from the site, but a public website is not automatic permission for commercial reuse. Obtain client approval when you do not own the material.

If Claude cannot browse a source reliably, give it exported screenshots, a copy deck and a manifest. Do not let it silently invent missing assets or fill gaps with synthetic reviews, metrics, partner logos or testimonials.

Trick 4: approve still boards before rendering video

A still board is a full-resolution representative frame for a scene type. Duncan's first set caught a duplicated logo and dark gray company marks disappearing into a dark background. Both problems were cheap to correct before animation.

Build six boards that cover the visual range of the film, not six minor variations of the same layout. A useful set is opening title, product hero, screenshot or work grid, proof or review, transition-heavy middle scene and end card. Include actual copy and actual assets so approval is meaningful.

Review at delivery size and at the size people will really see on a phone or embedded player. Check that the focal point is obvious, the copy is accurate, the type is readable, logos have contrast, margins are safe, nothing overlaps and the scene still feels like the same brand as the other five.

A compact still-board approval rubric

Truth: every word, number, logo and screenshot is approved. Hierarchy: one element wins attention first. Readability: important copy survives a small preview. Composition: no accidental tangencies, overlaps or empty corners. Contrast: logos, controls and captions remain visible. Safety: essential content stays inside delivery margins. Consistency: palette, type, spacing and texture follow the design system.

Record pass, fix or reject for each board. A fix preserves the concept and corrects a local issue. A reject means the scene idea or reference direction is wrong. This distinction prevents endless polishing of a concept that should be replaced.

Once the boards pass, ask for a scene-by-scene motion plan before animation. Each scene should specify duration, starting frame, ending frame, subject movement, camera movement, transition, on-screen copy and the acceptance check.

What stills cannot approve

Stills cannot prove pacing, easing, camera continuity, motion blur, audio sync, transition logic or whether text remains readable while moving. Render a low-cost motion proof after the boards pass. It can use fewer frames, a shorter duration or representative transitions rather than the complete final export.

Inspect the opening, fastest camera move, densest scene, two scene handoffs and the final hold. Look for sudden scale resets, elements teleporting between layouts, type blurring during zooms, single-frame flashes, abrupt easing and music or narration drifting away from the visual beat.

The approval sequence should be copy and evidence, still design, motion proof, final render, then delivery check. Each gate answers a different question and prevents the most expensive review from carrying every risk.

Trick 5: review like a designer without design jargon

Duncan's advice is refreshingly practical: say what you see. Too much copy, make the headline larger, remove the small buttons, or make the sequence flow like one continuous camera shot. Each note identifies a location and a visible problem. Make it better does neither.

Use a four-part note: scene, evidence, smallest change and protected element. For example: In scene three, the headline competes with six labels and cannot be read at phone size. Remove the labels, enlarge the headline and preserve the dot texture and camera path. This tells Claude what to change and what success must not destroy.

Praise is production data. Duncan's note that he liked the elements made of dots told Claude what to keep. Without this, a broad revision can erase the strongest visual while fixing a weaker one.

Turn each correction into one clean rule

After a revision is accepted, update the design-system file. Replace an obsolete rule instead of appending a contradictory one. Keep a brief change log with the problem, evidence, new rule and affected scenes so future work can distinguish a deliberate decision from accidental drift.

Work one round at a time. A batch of ten unrelated notes makes it hard to know which change improved or damaged the result. Group corrections by class, such as copy density, hierarchy, transitions, camera continuity or color contrast, then review the new render against the same rubric.

Set a stop rule. If two focused revision rounds fail to improve the same scene, revisit the reference, product angle or storyboard. Duncan abandoned a watch promo because the problem was not polish. The concept did not feel sufficiently premium or dynamic, so he changed the product and references.

A realistic afternoon production plan

First hour: collect references, verify creator links and write the borrow and exclude lists. Second hour: analyze the references, define approved copy and assets, then write the design system. Third hour: build and review six still boards. Fourth hour: approve the scene plan and render a short motion proof. Remaining time: complete one focused correction round and the final export.

Keep a folder for sources, approved assets, copy, design system, boards, renders and review notes. Number every render. Save contact sheets and final checks beside the output so a later revision can reconstruct why a rule exists.

This workflow does not guarantee great taste, but it makes taste inspectable. That is the real advantage: every visual decision can be traced to a reference, a brand rule, an approved board or a review note instead of being buried inside one giant prompt.