Runway Prompts #3: Magic and Spells
Runway prompts to cast magic and spells
"Runway Prompts" is a 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 to animate Midjourney images.
The primary goal of this article series is to save you time and video generation credits while creating a video in Runway.
In this article series, each prompt will be re-run at least four times to determine whether it can consistently produce a desirable outcome.
The Runway’s Magic
One of the most exciting aspects of animating images into videos is incorporating magical effects, such as the subject casting magic. It's like turning anyone into a superhero with just a few words in the prompt.
While there are practically infinite types of magic that can be imagined, not all of them will work reliably in Runway Gen-3 Alpha Turbo. Alas! So, for the time being, keep your imagination in check. The technology isn't there yet.
The failure rate is high. But it’s worthwhile to try.
I'll focus on the three magical powers that I've tested and work reliably in Runway:
Fire Spell
Lightning spell
The magical portal
Fire Spell
The fire spell is working quite well.
I summarized its prompt pattern as:
Prompt Pattern 1
Subject + casts a [X] spell while + action[X] could refer to a fire or lightning spell. The final "action" is typically "smiling" because it works in the majority of cases.
The word "cast" often causes the subject to raise their hand.
Here’re are the prompts that work reliably (at least 3/4 success rate)
subject casts a fire spell —> a fire spell as expected but without facial expression
subject casts a fire spell while smiling —> works better when smiling
subject casts a fire spell while dancing —> make the subject dances, increase the movement dynamic
subject lights up a fire with her right finger while smiling —> it is like holding a fire than casting a spell
Prompts with a subject appear to have a higher success rate than those without (i.e., “casting a fire spell” without mentioning the subject).
Examples of successful cases:
subject casts a fire spell
subject casts a fire spell while smiling —> the type of fire may vary
subject casts a fire spell while dancing
subject lights up a fire with her right finger while smiling
Another prompt pattern that I discovered is:
Prompt Pattern 2
Subject + action + AND + casts a [X] spellIt is similar to the previous prompt pattern, but it connects an action/verb and places the spell casting at the end.
The main advantage is that it adds more action while casting the spell.
Here’re are the prompts that work reliably (at least 3/4 success rate):
subject sings and casts a fire spell
subject dances and casts a fire spell
subject dances and casts a fire orb spell —> apparently fire orb is better than fireball and fire spell if you want the spell to have a sphere shape
subject dances and casts a fire orb spell with both hands
subject punches and casts a fire spell
subject casts a fire orb spell with both hands while smiling —> this adds another action (smiling) at the end and it works! But only for “smiling”. I tried other actions like crying, hating, cursing, laughing, and talking but all failed.
“Smiling” seams to be a powerful keyword in Runway.
It is unknown whether adding emotion (laughing, crying, etc.) to a Midjourney image will help to reduce failure in Runway because the emotion has already been "baked" into the starter image before animation—something to try in the future.
Notable failures:
Here’re the prompts that look fine but failed to generate desirable result:
with anger, subject casts a fire orb spell with both hands
subject casts a fire orb spell with both hands angrily
subject casts a fireball spell —> may work but <50% success rate and not always resulted in a fireball.
Subject utters and casts a fire spell
Subject sings and casts an inferno spell burning everything —> probably no inferno spell?
Subject points a finger to the left to cast a burning spell
Examples of successful cases:
subject sings and casts a fire spell
subject dances and casts a fire spell
subject dances and casts a fire orb spell
subject dances and casts a fire orb spell with both hands
subject punches and casts a fire spell
subject casts a fire orb spell with both hands while smiling
Examples of failed cases:
subject casts a fireball spell (<50% success rate and not a fireball)
subject casts a fire orb spell with both hands while crying (crying yes, fire orb no)
Lightning Spell
Prompt Pattern 1 and 2 are also applicable for lighting spell:
subject casts a lightning orb spell —> the lightning orb looks quite spectacular
subject casts a lightning orb spell while dancing and smiling
subject dances and casts a lightning orb spell
subject dances and casts a lightning orb spell while smiling —> when having multiple actions: dances, casts, smile, the light orb appears to be deprioritized
subject dances and casts a lighting spell while smiling
subject practices tai chi and casts a lighting spell —> adds a new action “tai chi”
Examples of successful cases
subject casts a lightning orb spell
subject casts a lightning orb spell while dancing and smiling
subject dances and casts a lightning orb spell
subject dances and casts a lightning orb spell while smiling →light orb effect is reduced when there are many actions
subject dances and casts a lighting spell while smiling
subject practices tai chi and casts a lighting spell
Magical portal
The magical portal has a slightly lower success rate than fire and lighting spells.
subject casts a magical spell while dancing —> about >50% success rate
subject opens a magical portal while smiling —> not very clear where the portal will lead to
subject opens a portal to a magical realm while smiling
Examples of successful cases:
subject casts a magical spell while dancing —> about > 50% success rate
subject opens a magical portal while smiling
subject opens a portal to a magical realm while smiling
Other spells
I have little success with other spells. Here are the other notable failures:
subject casts an ice spell with both hands while smiling
subject summons a meteor storm while smiling
subject summons a devil while chanting
subject conjures a spirit
subject calls a spirit while smiling
subject raises a Santa Clause while smiling
subject casts a toxic spell while smiling
subject casts a protection shield spell with both hands while smiling
subject casts a healing spell with both hands while smiling
Please share with me if you know other cool spells that work reliably in Runway.
Conclusion
The magic spells that have been proven to work reliably in Runway are fire, lightning, and magical portal.
The prompt patterns are:
Subject + casts a [X] spell while + action
Subject + action + AND + casts a [X] spellThe failure rate for magical actions and superpowers is high. Runway Gen-3 Alpha Turbo currently appears to have a limited options for reliable magic.
I hope you liked this article!
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