# Directing Performance in AI Video — a prompting skill
Source: ekly.ai/guides/directing-ai-performance — free to use with any AI assistant.

## Hard rules
1. Verbs and targets, not emotion adjectives — "stops chewing, sets the fork down" not "is annoyed."
2. One film, one idea — remove any beat that doesn't change the meaning.
3. Transitions are grammar, not decoration.
4. Comedy is structure: where the joke lives in the cut and the hold.
5. Emotional structure needs a place for the feeling to land — usually on the listener.
6. Status is physical. Listening is performance.
7. Direct the speaker and the listener.
8. Register by genre — don't paste comedy timing onto drama.

## Chapters
- Shot grammar and rhythm: /guides/directing-ai-performance#shot-grammar-and-rhythm
- Comedy timing: /guides/directing-ai-performance#comedy-timing
- Emotional/dramatic structure: /guides/directing-ai-performance#emotional-and-dramatic-structure
- Body language and face: /guides/directing-ai-performance#body-language-and-face

## Related guides
- Story & dialogue — /guides/ai-video-story-and-dialogue
- AI video by genre — /guides/ai-video-by-genre
- Shot templates — /guides/ai-video-shot-templates