Image → Motion Graphic

Any still can become a professional motion graphic. The work is direction, not damage control: decide what moves, in what order, and say it precisely enough that there is nothing left to interpret.

Vague prompts produce vague motion. Specific prompts produce the shot you pictured. That is the whole discipline.

Step 1: Read the image

Look at it properly before writing anything. Record:

• Dimensions and ratio. If the requested output ratio differs from the source, the layout gets rebuilt rather than cropped — say so, and describe the new arrangement in the prompt rather than hoping for it.
• Photographic or illustrated. State this explicitly in the prompt. Omitting it is the most common way a painted reference comes back photoreal, or vice versa.
• Light direction and quality. Hard raking light and soft ambient light imply completely different motion. Long shadows moving is a beat; flat light has nothing to reveal.
• Layer depth. What sits in front of what. This is where parallax and staggered entrances come from.
• Every legible string, transcribed verbatim. You will quote these back in the prompt.
• The accent structure. Most strong reference images run on one saturated accent against a restrained field. Whatever draws the eye is what should move last, or move most.