How to write a brief for an AI motion graphic

A motion graphic generator is only as good as the brief it reads. Ask for "a cool promo for our app" and it has to guess the headline, the order, the ending and the tone, and it will guess differently each time. Tell it what should appear on screen and it has something to build.

Write the copy, in order

The most useful thing a brief can contain is the exact words a viewer will read, in the order they appear. A motion graphic is a sequence of beats, and each beat is usually one line of text with something happening around it. If you list the beats, the generator does not have to invent them.

Launch teaser for Northwind, a project tracker for engineering teams. Show, in this order: "Another status meeting?", then "Live status", "No standups", "Ships on time" as three separate lines that arrive one after another, then the wordmark "NORTHWIND". Finish on a button reading "Start free trial" with "No card required" below it.

That brief names every beat, the brand, and the ending. Every starter brief in the studio is written this way, so open one from the home page and edit it rather than starting from a blank box.

End on the action

Say exactly what the last frame should ask people to do: "Book a table", "Claim 25% off", "Download the app". Add the small line underneath if there is one, such as a code, a deadline or a web address. An ad that ends without one leaves the viewer with nothing to do.

Name the details that matter

• Numbers and codes. "25% off", "Code LUMEN25", "Ends Sunday, 23:59". Write them exactly as they should be shown.
• Colours, if you have them. "Navy with a mint accent" or "black and electric lime" is enough. Leave them out and the style picks.
• How lines arrive. "Three lines that stack up", "one word at a time", "counting up from zero". These map directly onto animation.

Let the settings do the rest

Format, length and style are set beside the brief, so the text itself does not need to describe them. Pick portrait for Reels, Shorts and TikTok, landscape for YouTube and websites, and square for feed posts. Choose a length from 3 seconds to a minute. A style such as Minimal, Kinetic typography or Vox explainer sets the look; Auto lets the brief decide.

Fix small things in the editor, not by regenerating

Once a piece is generated, its text, colours and sizes are editable in the browser, and blocks can be dragged on the canvas. A typo or a colour you do not like is a ten-second edit, not another generation. Regenerate when the structure is wrong, and when you do, change the brief so the structure is spelled out.