SL-107 / Warm-Ups

One Step In

Someone walks into frame and stops. The stop is the challenge.

The brief

A person walks into frame and comes to a stop. Everything interesting is in how they arrive, not in the walking.

Why it's hard

Models stop dead on a mark. A real body needs a step and a half to shed its momentum, and then makes a small correction once it has arrived.

The craft key

Prompt the deceleration, not the walk: a step and a half to settle, then one correction.

Skill Tests

03 / 28

Animal anatomy Human anatomy Biomechanics Physics & mass Water simulation Crowd dynamics Multi-shot continuity Face consistency Camera movement Unbroken take Motivated lighting Cutting rhythm Hands & fingers Hair & fabric Reflection & refraction Scale & depth Impossible geometry Period accuracy Music sync Aging & time Natural asynchrony Eye-lines & gaze Particle behaviour Motivated light source Consequence & persistence Time manipulation Graphic-layer discipline Colour as storytelling

Every challenge is scored against the same vocabulary, so you can compare them. Lit cells are what this one tests.

Starter prompt

Built with the CEMI MediaMax system for Google Veo 3.1. Prompts stay in English — that is the language these models take instructions in. Treat it as a starting point and start varying it.

one-step-in

An empty hallway with worn linoleum and a coat hook on the wall. Someone walks in from the left and stops. The stop takes a step and a half: the last stride lands long, the weight rocks forward and settles back, and a moment later one foot corrects an inch. They do not hit a mark. They stand and look down the hall. Lit by a bare ceiling bulb; the far end goes dark. Camera at chest height on a tripod with a small operator drift, in the style of Kelly Reichardt. A doorframe edge cuts the near left of frame, out of focus. Older 40mm lens. No slow motion.

Derived from the CEMI MediaMax production canon — cemi.media

Style reference: Kelly Reichardt (plain, unhurried observational staging)

Why it's built this way

The lesson is the stop, not the walk. Real deceleration costs a step and a half and ends with a small correction, so describe those three moments in order rather than asking for a natural walk. Then vary the entrance speed — an amble, a hurry — and notice that the faster the entrance, the bigger the settle has to be.

Watch for

A dead stop on the mark — the body freezes on the last footfall with no forward rock, no settle, and no correction, which reads instantly as an animation rig hitting a keyframe.

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