Prompts / Google Flow

Glass Tide

A lone monk stands on a cracked salt flat at dawn as a giant rusted crab machine rises behind him, then bows when he plants his staff, 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: dawn on an endless white salt flat cracked into hexagon tiles; a lone monk in a white hooded robe with a tall staff stands small in the frame. 3-7 s: the ground splits and a colossal crab-shaped machine of rusted copper plates rises behind him, salt pouring off its legs. 7-10 s: the monk calmly plants his staff; the machine freezes, then lowers its huge head to him. Low-angle wide shot, slow push-in. Sound: wind hiss, grinding metal, one deep resonant gong. 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

Style comes first so the model knows how to paint the salt before it builds anything. "muted shadows with warm highlights" suits dawn light on rusted copper plates, and "mature realistic proportions" keeps the monk a grown, believable figure beside the machine rather than a cartoon.

Timed beats

The first beat sets scale only: a small monk on hexagon tiles. The second is the rise, with salt pouring off the legs. The third is the calm answer: staff planted, machine frozen, head lowered. Splitting threat and response into separate beats stops the model from blending them.

Camera

"Low-angle wide shot, slow push-in." The low angle makes the crab machine tower over the frame. The slow push-in tightens on the monk and the lowered head without cutting away from the standoff.

Sound

"Sound: wind hiss, grinding metal, one deep resonant gong." Wind fits the empty flat in beat one. Grinding metal belongs to the rise. The single gong can land on the staff strike, giving the ending one clear accent.

Rules

"Full-frame 16:9 with no letterbox bars" asks for a picture that fills the frame. The next line rules out subtitles, on-screen text, watermarks and logos. The final line repeats the aspect and sets a 10-second length.

Second by second

1. 0–3 s: dawn on an endless white salt flat cracked into hexagon tiles; a lone monk in a white hooded robe with a tall staff stands small in the frame.
2. 3–7 s: the ground splits and a colossal crab-shaped machine of rusted copper plates rises behind him, salt pouring off its legs.
3. 7–10 s: the monk calmly plants his staff; the machine freezes, then lowers its huge head to him.

Make it yours

• Jade turtle machine: Replace "a colossal crab-shaped machine of rusted copper plates" with "a colossal turtle-shaped machine of cracked jade plates" and change "salt pouring off its legs" to "salt pouring off its shell".
• Moonlit salt flat: Change "dawn on an endless white salt flat" to "midnight on an endless white salt flat under a full moon" to try cold blue light on the same standoff.
• Vertical for Reels: Change both 16:9 mentions to 9:16. Keep the low angle but replace "slow push-in" with "slow tilt up", so the frame starts on the monk at the bottom and climbs to the machine's head as it rises.

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
• The Ash Courier: Candlelit hall, feathered wings, slow push-in
• Starfall: Snowy peaks, a falling comet, night sky
• The Drowned Bell: Mangrove lagoon, a sunken bell, sunrise

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