Think like a director of photography: one shot, a lens, a light, and what the microphone hears.
One shot, one move
Veo excels at a single continuous shot. Name the subject, the action, and one camera move — push-in, slow tilt, tracking — and stop. Two moves in one prompt usually cancel each other.
TryA lone rider crosses a mirror-flat salt lake at dawn, wide anamorphic framing, slow push-in, hooves echoing
Put dialogue in quotes
Veo 3.1 speaks. Write the line inside quotation marks and say who delivers it and how. Keep it to a sentence; eight seconds is not long.
TryAn old fisherman on a pier, gulls overhead, he looks at the camera and says "the tide waits for no one", warm evening light
Hold a character with references
Up to three reference images fix a face, an outfit, a product or a style across the shot. Use the same references on the next prompt and the character survives the cut.
TryReference: three photos of the same ceramic mug. Prompt: the mug on a marble counter, morning light, steam rising, slow orbit
Describe the sound as its own line
Ambience and effects are generated with the picture, so give them their own clause: what the room sounds like, one or two specific effects, whether there is music. Silence reads as a choice, not a default.
TryA bakery at 5 a.m., dough thumping on the counter, oven door creak, the first tray sliding in, no music