LongCat AI video works differently from a short-clip generator, and the prompt you feed it has to work differently too. A 10-second tool rewards one striking image. LongCat rewards structure: because the model can hold a scene for up to 961 frames, what you describe determines whether that length stays coherent or wanders. This page is the workflow guide — how to write the prompt, what to say no to, and how to keep a shot going without it falling apart.
LongCat Video responds to detailed, structured prompts. A minimal description produces a minimal result. Build every prompt out of these five components:
Weak: "a car driving down a road". Strong: "A sleek red sports car driving down a winding coastal highway at sunset. The camera follows alongside the vehicle, capturing reflections of the golden sun on its polished surface. The scene transitions from close-up details of the wheels to a wide aerial shot revealing the dramatic coastline below. Cinematic lighting, photorealistic, 4K quality." The second prompt gives the model concrete visual targets and motion choreography instead of leaving both to chance.
LongCat Video accepts negative prompts to filter unwanted elements. A common default negative prompt covers: bright tones, overexposure, static frames, blurred details, subtitles, watermarks, paintings or images in the frame, washed-out gray, worst quality, low quality, JPEG artifacts, ugly or incomplete anatomy, extra fingers, poorly drawn hands and faces, deformed or disfigured limbs, fused fingers, still pictures, and messy backgrounds.
Add exclusions specific to your use case — "camera shake", "color distortion", or "abrupt scene changes" — to steer output further from the failure modes you actually care about.
Temporal sequencing is the difference between a coherent clip and a static scene with minor movement. Structure prompts with explicit time markers — "initially", "then", "finally" — so the model gets a narrative progression to animate rather than a single frozen description.
Motion vocabulary also matters. Use specific verbs (floating, accelerating, dissolving, emerging, circling), adverbs (smoothly, gradually, rapidly, rhythmically, gently), and transitions (transforming into, fading to, zooming out to reveal) to tell the model what to move and how fast.
Not every image converts well to video. Effective source images share four traits:
Then write a complementary prompt that describes the motion you want, rather than re-describing the image the model can already see.
The whole point of LongCat AI video is duration, and duration is earned through continuation:
No timeline surgery, no seed archaeology, no per-frame color matching. Each extension inherits the previous frames, so you spend your time directing rather than repairing.
LongCat Video outputs at 480p or 720p, and the frame ceiling sits at 961 frames. That is enough for minutes of footage, but it is not infinite: continuation is a repeated generation operation, so inspect every join for identity drift, color shifts, and motion resets. If a cut looks wrong, shorten the continuation segment and re-anchor with the reference image before trying again.
Or start from the LongCat Video homepage to see benchmarks and examples.
Use a five-part prompt: scene description, motion direction, cinematographic elements, style references, and technical qualifiers. Detailed, structured prompts produce far more coherent results than a single vague sentence.
LongCat Video generates up to 961 frames, which is what makes minutes-long output practical. It supports text-to-video, image-to-video, and video continuation, and outputs at 480p or 720p.
Yes. Negative prompts filter unwanted elements such as blurred details, overexposure, extra fingers, deformed faces, and watermarks. Add use-case-specific exclusions like "camera shake" for tighter control.
Generate a clean base clip first, then extend with continuation segment by segment. Continuation inherits the subject and motion of the previous frames, but inspect every join and shorten a segment if identity or color drifts.
Choose an image with a clear focal point, depth cues, directional elements, and dynamic potential — clouds, trees, fabric, or flowing water animate well, while flat, busy stills do not.
Five-part prompts, negative exclusions, and continuation — the LongCat workflow that keeps motion coherent past the 8-second wall.