Worked Example — Automotive / Car Commercial

Original worked example by jnMetaCode (MIT). Applies the 5-stage structure to a car commercial — where reflective surfaces, a moving light sweep, and automotive rig camerawork are the craft. Distinct from product-commercial.md (tabletop macro): here the hero is a vehicle in motion.

Concept: a coupe carving a coastal road at dusk, light streaking across the bodywork. Swap the car and road, keep the surface/light discipline.

Further reading (inspiration, not copied — all rewritten in our structure): commercial/product patterns in LichAmnesia/awesome-ad-video-prompts (CC BY 4.0).

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Variables you need to define first

The complete prompt (copy-paste ready)

1 · Core theme

automotive commercial | reflective surfaces in motion | speed and form beauty | a moving light sweep reveal | photoreal, no plastic CG car, no floating-in-void render

2 · Character & scene

Hero (the car): {{car}}, {{surface}}. The bodywork is the subject — its form revealed by how light moves across it. Imperfections that read as real, not CG: faint road grime and dust on the lower panels, a bead of water, heat haze off the hood, real tire sidewall flex and tread, true reflections of {{road}} sliding across the paint.

Scene: {{road}}, {{grade}}. A real environment reflected in the surfaces — never a seamless studio void.

3 · Atmosphere & quality

Shot on ARRI Alexa with anamorphic primes, from a camera car / Russian-arm rig (the real automotive-ad tool). {{grade}}, film grain, true specular highlights and reflections — the "wet"/metallic look comes from real environment reflection, not CG bloom.

4 · Camera rules

Low tracking shots skimming the bodywork, a rig move that lets {{light_sweep}} travel along the form, a pass alongside the moving car.

• Breathing: keep it minimal — automotive rigs are stabilised; a smooth glide, not a handheld float.
• Sound: No score. Production audio only — the engine note, tires on {{road}}, wind, a turbo or EV whir. (If the brand needs a music bed, add it deliberately in the edit — don't let the model invent one.)

5 · Storyboard (3 beats, ~10s)

0–3s · Surface (the reveal in reflection)
Action: Macro-ish on {{surface}} as {{light_sweep}} travels across it —
        the form reads through moving light and reflection, not a flat lit
        side.
Camera: Slow rig glide along the bodywork.

3–7s · Motion (the car alive on the road)
Action: {{car}} carves through {{road}}, tires gripping, the environment
        streaking in the paint, heat haze off the hood.
Camera: Low tracking pass alongside, the world reflected and rushing.
Sound:  Engine + tires + wind in sync.

7–10s · Hero rest (restrained close)
Action: The car settles to a stop; the last of {{light_sweep}} slides off
        the body.
Camera: Hold, a slow glide to a stop.
Close:  No logo slam, no spinning turntable, no lens-flare burst. Just the
        car at rest and the light leaving the surface.

Negative prompt (Seedance / Kling — paste into the dedicated field)

blurry, low resolution, watermark, text overlay, subtitles, logo, oversaturated colors, plastic CG car, glossy unreal render, video-game look, 3D cartoon, floating car in white void, seamless studio infinity backdrop, blown-out highlights, flat even lighting, perfectly clean showroom surfaces, warped reflections, melting/morphing bodywork, wrong wheel rotation, frame flicker, ghosting, spinning turntable, cheesy lens flare

Why it's built this way

• Light reveals form (the automotive move). A car ad isn't a flat-lit product shot — the body is revealed by a light sweep travelling across reflective surfaces. Build the storyboard around moving light and reflection, not a static beauty pose.
• Real reflections = realism (Rule 5). Road grime, a water bead, heat haze, the environment streaking in the paint. A perfectly clean car in a white void is the CG default; the reflections and grime sell it as real.
• Automotive rig, not "cinematic" (Rule 2). "ARRI + anamorphic, camera car / Russian-arm rig, low tracking" anchors the model to real car cinematography. "Car driving, cinematic 4K" gives a game render.
• Restrained close (Rule 6). Car at rest, light leaving the body — not a logo slam or turntable spin. Premium is quiet.

Usage: generate the motion beat (3–7s) first — if the reflections, tire grip and environment streaking read as real there, the surface and hero beats frame it. Watch for warped reflections and wrong wheel rotation; negate them.

Model: Veo 3 and Sora 2 give the best reflective-surface and motion realism; Kling is strong on the tracking pass. Watch wheels rotating the wrong way at speed — keep passes short or add the wheel-direction negative.