Leading Lines
How to use a line to point at your subject. Four stills, four prompts, Midjourney.
The prompts
Copy them, run them, change whatever you want. No signup.
cinematic film still, a single robed figure cresting an immense sand dune ridge, the ridgeline running away into a horizon of identical vast dunes, wind lifting a fine plume of sand from the crest, warm amber first light on the windward face against the deep cool blue of the lee shadow, immense scale and solitude, minimalist composition, photorealistic, shot on 70mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Greig Fraser in Dune --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable franchise
cinematic film still, two roped climbers moving along a knife-edge snow ridge with an eight-thousand-metre drop on both sides, a plume of spindrift tearing off the crest into a sea of cloud below them, warm gold first light on the summit snow against the cold blue-white of the shadowed face, immense scale and exposure, photorealistic, shot on 70mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Anthony Dod Mantle --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration
cinematic film still, a low camera-level shot inside a long road tunnel as a single car tears toward the lens with headlights flaring, a wall of sodium tunnel lights streaking away into the distance behind it, warm orange sodium against the cool blue-white of the headlights and the wet asphalt, extreme motion, immense receding perspective, photorealistic, shot on 35mm, film grain, high frame rate, cinematography in the style of Newton Thomas Sigel --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, video game, motion blur smear
cinematic film still, two tiny figures fighting on the roof of a speeding train crossing an immense curved viaduct over a deep green gorge, the bridge stretching far ahead and behind them, warm low sun raking along the carriage roofs against the cool blue shadow of the gorge below, immense scale and exposure, high wide drone angle, photorealistic, shot on 70mm, film grain, cinematography in the style of Dariusz Wolski --ar 9:16 --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, recognizable actor
Why it works
Your eye follows lines. A road, a ridge or a row of lights pulls your eye along it, and whatever sits at the end of the line is what you look at. Each of these four prompts puts a line in the frame and puts the subject on it.
Put your subject at the end of a line. In the dune shot, an immense sand dune ridge runs down the frame and stops at the walker. Your eye follows the ridge down to them.
Put your people on the line. In the mountain shot, the two climbers stand on a knife-edge snow ridge. The ridge is the brightest line in the frame, so you find them fast.
Make every line meet at one spot. In the tunnel, a wall of sodium tunnel lights streaking away into the distance makes every light point toward the car.
Use a curve to point at your subject. In the bridge shot, the curve of an immense curved viaduct leads your eye to the train.
Before you run it
Name the line in the prompt. Each prompt says what the line is: a ridge, a row of tunnel lights, a curved bridge. Midjourney builds the frame around the thing you name.
Use the same settings. All four were made with --style raw --stylize 250 --v 8.2.
To make it yours, keep the line and change the rest. Swap the subject and the place. A road, a river, a fence or a hallway all work the same way.