Prompts / Google Flow

The Drowned Bell

A girl paddles a canoe through a misty mangrove lagoon at sunrise, strikes a half-sunken bronze bell, and glowing lanterns rise from the water around her, painterly animated style.

A Google Flow prompt, shown with the unedited 10-second clip it made (16:9).

The prompt

Painterly 2D-3D hybrid animation like a prestige animated series: hand-painted brush textures, mature realistic proportions, muted shadows with warm highlights, soft volumetric haze, cinematic lighting and camera. 0-3 s: a girl in a small wooden canoe glides through a misty mangrove lagoon at sunrise toward a green-bronze bell half sunk under a stone arch. 3-7 s: she strikes the bell with her oar; a ring of golden light ripples out across the water. 7-10 s: hundreds of glowing lanterns rise from beneath the surface all around her canoe. Slow push-in, then crane up. Sound: water lapping, one deep bell toll that echoes, soft swelling strings. Full-frame 16:9 with no letterbox bars. No subtitles, no on-screen text, no watermark, no logos. 16:9, 10 seconds.

What each part of the prompt does

Look

The look sentence sets the rules before the lagoon appears. "soft volumetric haze" suits morning mist between mangrove roots, and "muted shadows with warm highlights" gives the green-bronze bell and the golden ripple something dark to glow against.

Timed beats

Approach, strike, response. In the first beat the canoe glides toward the bell under the stone arch. In the second she hits it with her oar and a ring of light spreads. In the third the lanterns rise. Each beat answers the one before it, so cause and effect stay in order.

Camera

"Slow push-in, then crane up." The push-in follows the canoe toward the bell under the arch. The crane up lifts above her as the lanterns rise, so the ring of lights around the canoe can be seen from above.

Sound

"Sound: water lapping, one deep bell toll that echoes, soft swelling strings." Lapping water fits the glide. The single toll is meant for the oar strike in beat two. Swelling strings carry the lanterns rising at the end.

Rules

The last three sentences are guardrails. They request a full 16:9 frame with no letterbox bars and forbid subtitles, on-screen text, watermarks and logos. The final sentence repeats 16:9 and sets 10 seconds.

Second by second

1. 0–3 s: a girl in a small wooden canoe glides through a misty mangrove lagoon at sunrise toward a green-bronze bell half sunk under a stone arch.
2. 3–7 s: she strikes the bell with her oar; a ring of golden light ripples out across the water.
3. 7–10 s: hundreds of glowing lanterns rise from beneath the surface all around her canoe.

Make it yours

• Old fisherman: Replace "a girl in a small wooden canoe" with "an old fisherman in a small wooden canoe" and "she strikes the bell" with "he strikes the bell".
• Full moon lagoon: Change "at sunrise" to "under a full moon" so the golden ripple and the lanterns sit against dark night water.
• Vertical for Reels: Change both 16:9 mentions to 9:16. Replace "Slow push-in, then crane up." with "Slow push-in from behind the canoe, then a high crane up." so the bell sits low and the rising lanterns fill the top of the tall frame.

Where this prompt is from

All the Google Flow film prompts are free on AI Video With Code.

More prompts

• The Ferryman: Foggy river at night, lantern, long pole
• Glass Tide: Salt flat at dawn, a lone monk, slow push-in
• The Ash Courier: Candlelit hall, feathered wings, slow push-in
• Starfall: Snowy peaks, a falling comet, night sky

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