Runway Gen-4.5 Prompts (2026): How to Write Prompts That Actually Work

Get a Gen-4.5 Session Ready

1. 1

   Open the Video Tool

   From the Runway dashboard, open the Video tool, then switch to the Video tab at the top of the workspace — it sits next to Image and Audio. The prompt box here reads "Describe your shot, or drop an image to animate," and finished Gen-4.5 clips stack up on the right with their own 4K download button. This is the exact tab Runway's official Academy walkthrough uses to animate stills with Gen-4.5.

   

2. 2

   Start from a Strong Source Image

   Image-to-video is only as good as the still you feed it. In the Image tab, open the Image Model dropdown and pick Nano Banana Pro — labeled "Gemini 3 Pro Image" — with Gen-4 Turbo and Gen-4 below it. Runway's Academy video generates every shot this way at a cinematic 21:9 and 2K resolution, because the image defines the composition, lighting, and style that Gen-4.5 will animate.

   

3. 3

   Prompt Each Shot with Image References

   Load your hero shot into the reference slot, then type short shot-level prompts — the input reads "Describe your shot, add image references, or sketch a scene." The Academy demo prompts a close-up of the outfit, a wide shot next to a mining truck, and walking shots on the factory grounds, and notes there is "no need for fancy prompting here" because the reference image already locks in the details.

   

Write the Prompt: Formula, Presets, and Examples

1. 4

   Follow Runway's Own Prompting Formula

   Runway's Help Center article "Image to Video Prompting Guide," optimized for Gen-4.5, says your image already defines composition, subject matter, lighting, and style — so the prompt's role is to describe what should happen: the motion, camera work, and temporal progression, in clear, direct language. Its example prompt: "The camera executes an aggressive, sweeping horizontal arc around the subject, followed by an extremely rapid, aggressive crash zoom that concludes with a sharp focus on the subject's eyes."

   

2. 5

   Borrow Wording from the Camera Presets

   A fresh session greets you with "Introducing Gen-4.5 Image to Video" and preset cards grouped under Camera, Movement, and Action tabs — Handheld shake, Tracking, Push In, Minimal camera, Product orbit, and Arc. Choosing one loads a matching prompt, so the gallery doubles as a phrasebook for camera language. The reviewer behind this test calls these presets the fastest way to learn what Gen-4.5 responds to.

   

3. 6

   Try the Official Sweeping Arc Prompt

   This mountaineer clip was generated with "The camera executes an aggressive, sweeping horizontal arc around the subject" — the 4K filename above the player shows the prompt verbatim, and the settings panel lists Gen-4.5, a seed, and 1280x720 dimensions. The reviewer notes the model executed the move almost perfectly, right down to the motion blur. Swap the subject noun and keep the camera verb phrase to reuse it on your own stills.

   

4. 7

   Go Minimal for Fly-Through Shots

   Runway's fly-through preset ships a deliberately minimal prompt, and this abandoned mega-city at dusk came from little more than "the camera flies through an abandoned futuristic mega city at high speed." The reviewer found Gen-4.5 freely interprets fine detail here and spends its effort on motion, dynamics, and speed instead. The queued prompt below shows the next experiment: "Gen-4.5, Handheld documentary film style. Natural camera shake. Raw indie aesthetic..."

   

Direct the Camera and the Action

1. 8

   Track a Subject with Organic Camera Motion

   For this fashion shot — a red dress crossing the outback with five greyhounds — the prompt was simply that "the camera moves with organic yet steady motion to track the subject." The reviewer points to the small cues that sell it: her eyes flick toward camera before she walks, and the dogs drift chaotically but believably. The details panel confirms the clip was upscaled to 4096x2304 at 5 seconds.

   

2. 9

   Hand the Camera Over with Style Keywords

   To give Gen-4.5 free rein, the reviewer prompts "Handheld documentary film style. Natural camera shake. Raw indie aesthetic. Heavy organic film grain. Natural daylight only" — this armored-truck close-up with an explosion blooming behind it is the result, and the same recipe drove his polar-bear-in-an-avalanche clip. Style keywords, not a shot list, are doing all the work here.

   

3. 10

   Crash Zoom In, but Watch the Head Size

   The prompt "The camera performs an extremely rapid, aggressive crash zoom" drives straight into this close-up, and the model even animated the background banners unprompted. The catch: faces are where Gen-4.5 morphs most, and the reviewer found the artifacts largely disappear once the head fills about one third of the frame height. Keep that framing rule in mind and aggressive zooms become usable.

   

4. 11

   Add Weight with One Small Action

   For a close-up of a mining harness, Runway's walkthrough added the one-line prompt "the man checks and tightens his vest" — and the finished clip gained a visible sense of weight, as if the character were checking his gear fits. The prompt box sits under the reference image with Gen-4.5 and a 5-second duration set below. Small action beats like this make an animated still feel inhabited.

   

5. 12

   Chain Events with Sequential Prompting

   Gen-4.5's signature trick is to write the timeline as plain sentences: "the character walks forward, after a delay the truck explodes, the explosion startles the character and makes them run." Runway's Academy video shows the model rendering those events in exactly that order — no timestamps or special syntax needed. It is the technique Runway recommends to directors staging a beat-by-beat shot.

   

Set Duration, Generate, and Upscale

1. 13

   Confirm Gen-4.5 and Pick 5, 8, or 10 Seconds

   Before generating, check the bottom bar: the model dropdown must read Gen-4.5, the clock chip sets duration — 5, 8, or 10 seconds — and the ratio chip (16:9 here) sits beside it. This gorilla session also shows how two moves fit in one prompt: "The camera moves forward with organic motion to push in closer to the scene. The camera moves backward with organic motion to pull back from the scene."

   

2. 14

   Preview, Then Extend, Lip-Sync, or Retime

   Every finished clip gets a toolbar underneath: Extend, Edit with Aleph, Lip Sync, Act-Two, Retime video, Expand video, Use frame, and Upscale. This surfer clip — prompted so the handheld camera follows him as he smiles, stands up, and leaves the surfboard — was upscaled, so its details panel reads Generated with Topaz AI at 4096x2304. Use frame pulls any moment back into the workflow as a still.

   

3. 15

   Upscale to 4K with Topaz for 10 Credits

   Clips generate at 1280x720 — the settings panel lists it under Dimensions next to the seed. Hover the Upscale button and Runway shows the tooltip "Upscale to 4K with Topaz AI (10 credits)"; the reviewer confirms that is 10 credits for a 5-second clip and calls the upgraded result clearer and sharper. The same panel offers "Reuse prompt and settings" to rerun a look you like.

   

Frequently asked questions