Runway Prompts #1: Body language and expressions

Runway prompts for expressive gestures and facial expressions

Use pre-tested Runway prompts to speed up your AI video creations and save your precious Runway generation credits.

"Runway Prompts" is a new article series that shares image-to-video prompt keywords and phrases that are proven useful in Runway. You can use them as-is or as building blocks to create longer Runway prompts for animating Midjourney images.

The primary goal of this article series is to save you time and video generation credits while creating a video in Runway.

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Runway is a popular AI video generator that typically uses Midjourney images to create videos.

Like Midjourney, one must test a keyword or phrase to see if it will work in Runway when creating a video. It is a laborious trial-and-error process that requires many re-runs to determine whether a prompt can consistently generate the desired result.

AI video generation is expensive. The Runway's unlimited video generation (aka /relax mode in Midjourney) begins at $76 per month (annual plan), making the testing process inaccessible to new and casual users. Furthermore, when generating videos in unlimited mode, there are only 2-4 queue slots, whereas Midjourney has 13 queue slots.

In this article series, each prompt will be re-run at least four times to determine whether it can consistently produce a desirable outcome.

Prompts that consistently work well in three to four iterations will be considered good and reliable. Anything less than that is either removed from the list or included to demonstrate the creative possibility despite the low success rate in replicating the results.

A 10-second generation of the Gen-3 Alpha Turbo costs 50 credits. It takes 200 credits to do four re-runs per prompt. To put this into perspective, a Standard Plan ($12/month) has only 625 credits, which is equivalent to testing only about three prompts!

No wonder there are so few articles about Runway prompting.

How to Use the Runway Prompts

Simply paste the prompt as is into Runway, or use it as a building block to create a more elaborate and complex prompt.

Tip: Avoid cramming multiple actions into one prompt. The Runway bot cannot handle them all. Instead, use only one or two actions per generation.

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Runway Prompts that work well (3-4 success rate in four re-runs)

1. Eyes widening, hands gesticulating wildly

2. Eyes widening with a sharp intake of breath —> shocking expression, like "omg"

3. Leaning forward, eyebrows furrowed in intensity

4. Leaning forward, eyes sparkling with excitement —> interested, excited, and smile

5. Chest puffing out, chin tilted upward confidently —> raising hands and putting on the head

6. Teeth flashing, arms windmilling energetically

7. Fists pumping rhythmically —> the fists pump like boxing

8. Nervous laughter, fingers fidgeting with hair

9. Shoulders slumping, gaze dropping to the floor

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Prompt examples:

(1) Eyes widening, hands gesticulating wildly

(2) Eyes widening with a sharp intake of breath —> shocking expression, like "omg"

(3) Leaning forward, eyebrows furrowed in intensity

(4) Leaning forward, eyes sparkling with excitement —> interested, excited, and smile

(5) Chest puffing out, chin tilted upward confidently —> raising hands and putting on the head

(6) Teeth flashing, arms windmilling energetically

(7) Fists pumping rhythmically —> the fists pump like boxing

(8) Nervous laughter, fingers fidgeting with hair

(9) Shoulders slumping, gaze dropping to the floor

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Prompts that are less reliable but worth trying (success rate is 50% or less in four re-runs)

• Shoulders rolling forward, spine straightening abruptly —> for posing model

  

• Hands clasping and unclasping, fingers interlacing tightly —> like praying

  

• Hands trembling as the subject gestures emphatically —> The subject speaks expressively, but the hands may not tremble

  

• Nervous shuffle, hunched posture, biting lower lip —> the subject may use a hand to cover her lips

  

• Jaw clenching between words, body swaying with emotion —> sway with emotion

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