Contents
  1. The most viral prompt is a single sentence
  2. But the best pieces have prompts that read like engineering specs
  3. 9 patterns you can copy directly
  4. Where I used it

prompt-motion.com collects 229 motion graphics videos made with Claude Opus 5.5, each with its prompt or skill. I went through all of them, and the opening animation on this blog’s home page was built with what I learned.

The most viral prompt is a single sentence

About 30 people reused this one sentence as is:

make a dynamic 15-second motion graphics video that shows what an incredible motion designer you are, like it’s your showreel for a résumé. go all out.

Frame it as a portfolio piece for a job application, add “go all out”, and the model brings everything it has. Of the pieces that say so, nine in ten were done in one take.

But the best pieces have prompts that read like engineering specs

The highest-quality ones run from a few thousand to over ten thousand words, and their structure is almost identical:

  1. inputs: ask me for materials first, including the brand name, images and a royalty-free 120 BPM track.
  2. direction: style, type and color, plus a list of things to avoid (fades, particles, glows, anything that looks like a template).
  3. structure: a shot list written beat by beat, “something happens on every beat”.
  4. build: technical implementation details.
  5. gotchas: notes on pitfalls.
  6. start: deliver a beat sheet and 4 key frames first, and write the full piece only after I approve them.

9 patterns you can copy directly

  1. One continuous shot: no cuts; one element keeps morphing into the next scene.
  2. Something moves on every beat: lay out the timeline by BPM and land the motion on the beats.
  3. The avoid list matters more than the asks: write out every “AI-looking” cliché and ban it.
  4. Animation is a pure function of time: every frame depends only on time t, so you can jump to any frame.
  5. Compute springs with the formula: it feels premium and reproduces exactly.
  6. Let a cursor drive it: real clicks and drags pushing the scene forward are more convincing than things moving on their own.
  7. End where you start: the last frame equals the first, so it loops seamlessly.
  8. Stills first, then the full piece: saves a lot of rework.
  9. Research before you build: read the product’s site and code first, and use its real colors, fonts and UI.

Where I used it

The animation on this blog’s home page is one exercise: a black dot becomes my name, then a prompt box, types, clicks send, turns into the generated image, and finally shrinks back into a dot, on a loop. It’s all written in code, without a single frame of video footage.