The Camera Above
Put the camera above to make someone small. One storyboard, one prompt, Midjourney.
The prompt
Copy it, run it, change whatever you want. No signup.
photorealistic cinematic film still, a tense workplace drama in an old brick factory, the camera high above, looking straight down a tall square stairwell. In the right foreground at the top, a man in a dark suit rests one hand on the iron railing, large and dark, seen from behind at the shoulder. Far below at the bottom of the stairwell, a young worker in faded blue overalls stands small, looking up at him. The iron railings and the concrete steps wind down in a square spiral, and all of their lines lead to the worker. He stands in the only pool of light, from a single hard work lamp; everything around him falls into deep shadow. Cold gray-green concrete against the one warm pool of light. Shot on a 24mm lens at f/5.6, deep focus, Kodak Vision3 500T color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain, cinematography in the style of Roger Deakins. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --no painting, illustration, sketch, drawing, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, collage, grid, text --ar 16:9 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2
The board
This drawing came first. It shows where the camera is, who is big, who is small, where the lines go and where the light falls.
Midjourney never saw this drawing. Every choice on it was written into the prompt as words.
Why it works
Each choice on the board became one phrase in the prompt.
Put the camera up high. the camera high above, looking straight down puts us above the worker. Looking down on someone makes them look weak.
Make the boss big and the worker small. rests one hand on the iron railing, large and dark puts the boss close to the camera. stands small, looking up at him puts the worker far below. The boss fills the corner, and the worker is tiny.
Let every line point at him. all of their lines lead to the worker turns the railings and steps into arrows. Wherever your eye starts, it ends on him.
Light only him. He stands in the only pool of light keeps everything else dark. The light makes him the one thing we look at.
Before you run it
Expect the boss to turn around. We asked for him seen from behind. Three of four renders turned him to show his face anyway. Keep the render where we see the back of his head.
Watch the lamp. The lamp hangs straight over the worker’s head, and at small sizes it can look like a hat. To move it, say where it hangs, like “a work lamp hanging to one side.”
Check the frame against the board. All four renders kept the high camera, the small worker, the lines and the one pool of light.