Prompts / Google Flow

The Sand Leviathan

A patched-sail sand-ship skims across orange dunes at dusk until a colossal whale of sand and stone breaches right beside it, 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: dusk over an ocean of orange dunes; a wooden sand-ship on runners with patched sails skims fast across the sand. 3-7 s: the dune beside it swells and cracks. 7-10 s: a colossal whale made of sand and stone breaches alongside the ship, sand cascading off its back, the crew frozen at the rail. Tracking shot alongside, then wide. Sound: wind in sails, runners hissing on sand, a deep whale call. 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

Putting the style first means the dunes and the whale share one painted surface. "hand-painted brush textures" suit rippled sand and patched sails, and "soft volumetric haze" gives the dusk air a dusty depth before the whale breaches.

Timed beats

Motion, warning, reveal. The ship skims fast in beat one. The dune beside it swells and cracks in beat two, a short beat that only hints. The whale breaches in beat three while the crew freeze. Holding the warning to one beat builds tension before the reveal.

Camera

"Tracking shot alongside, then wide." Tracking alongside keeps pace with the fast ship and puts the swelling dune right next to it. Going wide for the breach leaves enough room for the whale's full size.

Sound

"Sound: wind in sails, runners hissing on sand, a deep whale call." The sails and runners carry the first two beats of fast travel. The whale call is saved for the breach, so it is the one low sound in the clip.

Rules

"Full-frame 16:9 with no letterbox bars" stops a cinema crop over the wide dunes. The ban on subtitles, on-screen text, watermarks and logos keeps the picture clean, and the last line fixes 16:9 and 10 seconds.

Second by second

1. 0–3 s: dusk over an ocean of orange dunes; a wooden sand-ship on runners with patched sails skims fast across the sand.
2. 3–7 s: the dune beside it swells and cracks.
3. 7–10 s: a colossal whale made of sand and stone breaches alongside the ship, sand cascading off its back, the crew frozen at the rail.

Make it yours

• Sand serpent: Replace "a colossal whale made of sand and stone" with "a colossal serpent made of sand and stone" and "a deep whale call" with "a deep rumbling hiss".
• Silver moonlit dunes: Change "dusk over an ocean of orange dunes" to "midnight over an ocean of silver moonlit dunes" for a cooler, darker setting.
• Vertical for Reels: Change both 16:9 mentions to 9:16. Replace "Tracking shot alongside, then wide." with "Tracking shot alongside, then tilt up as the whale breaches." so its height fills the tall frame.

Where this prompt is from

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

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