Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash

Habits that work

• Ask for one shot if you want one

  By default Omni cuts between a few shots and builds a little story. For a single continuous shot, write "In a single continuous shot" or "No scene cuts".

  Tabby cat original: "Continuous, unbroken handheld shot of a fluffy tabby cat…"

• Describe the sound

  Leave sound out and the model picks a track for you. Give music a genre and a mood, put ambience and dialogue in too, and quote every spoken line.

  Tabby cat original: "Sound design: Gentle breeze, distant bird chirps."

• Write exclusions as short sentences

  negative_prompt is not available; put exclusions in the prompt itself, such as "No dialogue", "No embellishments", "No extra sound effects".

  Last line of the tabby cat original: "No dialogue."

• Edit one thing at a time

  Short edit prompts work best; a long description can change things you meant to keep. When changing one detail, add "Keep everything else the same".

  Sign original: "Change the text on the sign to say "Omni Flash""

• Time the events

  Natural language such as "After 3 seconds…" or "At 5s…" works, and so does a timecode like [0-5s]; use it for your own cuts and rhythm.

  Portal original: "[10-15s] They start running into the portal"

• Quote on-screen text

  Omni writes text correctly and legibly. For signs or plates that would appear in the scene anyway, put the words you want in quotes.

  Street original: "there's a car with the number plate: "OMNI1.2""

• Detail the people and places

  Google's "meta prompting": ask for micro-detail, expression and timing, describe characters like a costume designer, and be specific about background elements.

  Google's guide: "Be extremely detailed in your descriptions of characters and environments."

• Describe motion for image to video

  Use a sharp image and describe the camera move, the subject's action and the setting changing; that beats "make it move". If the image is only a sketch or a reference, say so, or it may be taken as the first frame.

  Bakery (written to the guide): "The camera slowly pushes in toward the bakery window."

Anatomy of a long prompt

1Shot

Fix the shot first: continuous, handheld, one take.

Original: "Continuous, unbroken handheld shot"

2Subject and setting

Who the subject is, where, looking at what.

Original: "of a fluffy tabby cat sitting on a sunny windowsill, looking out into a leafy garden."

3Small motion

Small movements bring the frame to life; the subject need not do much.

Original: "The cat's tail twitches slowly, and its ears rotate slightly toward ambient noises."

4Light

One sentence for light and mood.

Original: "Sunbeams illuminate dust motes in the air."

5Sound design

A line of its own for ambience; quote any dialogue.

Original: "Sound design: Gentle breeze, distant bird chirps."

6Exclusions

What you do not want, last.

Original: "No dialogue."

In a single continuous shot, [shot size and camera move] of [subject] in [setting].
[0-4s] [first action]
[4-8s] [second action]
[8-10s] [closing image]
Lighting: [light and colour].
Sound design: [ambience, sound effects]. [Character] says: "[line]"
No subtitles. [No music / No dialogue]