AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
Blank Fields Get Invented
Explain that a part left blank in a motion prompt does not stay empty, because the tool fills it in, usually with the wrong thing.
Animating Stills
Image to Motion
Overview
# Overview
Curriculum.UnitsTurning still images into controlled motion, and diagnosing failed generations. Students read camera movement from real trailers, write four-part motion prompts, and cull a large set of clips down to the few that hold together.
# Objectives
Curriculum.Units- 01 By the end, you can Read a real trailer and name its camera movement shot by shot, with the correct camera words.
- 02 By the end, you can Write a four-part motion prompt — subject, camera, environment, pace — for each still.
- 03 By the end, you can Describe only movement in the prompt, since the still already fixes look, subject, lighting and framing.
- 04 By the end, you can Diagnose a failed generation by naming the glitch and its cause, then generate a set and keep only the best clips.
# Sessions
Curriculum.Sessions- Four Part Motion Prompts
- Demo Score Two Prompts The class scores a failing prompt and a passing prompt on screen to see what makes a prompt work.
- Worksheet Four Parts On Paper On paper, learners write all four prompt parts for a still, then shorten them into one prompt.
- Demo Leave Nothing Blank The teacher fills in a prompt live, leaves one part blank, and shows the tool guessing wrong.
- Fixing Broken Clips
- Game Predict Which Prompts Break Teams look at five prompts, guess which two will fail and why, then watch them run.
- Video Tools for Animating Stills
- Build Tool Roulette Sprint Each pair gets a random free video tool and forty-five minutes to make a five-second clip.
- Reading Camera Movement
- Worksheet Direct The Shot Learners look at six storyboard panels and pick a camera word and a speed word for each.
- Culling Your Clips
- Worksheet Cull And Record Teams score their clips on realism, motion, and matching, keep one, and write down the reason.
Applied · Film
# Knowledge & Skills
ACA-AppliedExplain the anchor exception: a word that points to something already in the still is free, but a word that describes something new counts as a repeat and adds a cost.
Name the common faults in clips, such as face melt and room morph, using their set names.
Match each fault to its cause: a prompt that contradicts itself makes the room change shape, and a prompt that repeats itself makes the subject slowly change.
Explain that each extra second in a clip makes it less steady, because every frame is built from the frame before it.
Plan on about twenty tries for every one clip you keep, per shot, because getting a clip right depends on how many times you try.
Watch a real trailer and name the camera movement, shot by shot. point w2d4-s2-p1; evidence w2d4-e2, w2d4-e3
Cause-to-Glitch Map Contradiction causes room morph; high repeat causes subject drift.
Four-Channel Motion Prompt Subject, camera, environment, pace — an empty channel is a decision, not an omission.
MRCF Word Scoring Every word in a motion prompt is motion, repeat, contradiction, or filler; the target is all M.
The Delta Rule The still already fixes the look; the motion prompt describes only what changes.
AI
# AI Concepts
ACA-AI.ConceptsAligned with AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI View framework →
AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
Sort Motion Prompt Words
Sort every word in a motion prompt into one of four types: M for motion, R for repeat, C for contradiction, and F for filler, aiming for only M words with no R, C, or F words.
AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
Fill All Four Shot Parts
Fill in all four parts for every shot (subject, camera, environment, and pace), because any part left empty is decided by the tool, and even 'nothing moves' is a decision you must write down.
AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
Seen Motion Comes Out Clean
Explain that movement the tool has seen many times before comes out clean, while movement it has not seen before does not.
AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
Six Shot Types
Name the six shot types (animated still, first-frame, start-and-end frame, cinemagraph, camera-move hero, and extend) and state the use, tool choice, and prompt style for each.
AI4K12 · Five Big Ideas in AI
The Delta Rule
Explain the Delta Rule: the still picture already sets the look, subject, lighting, and framing, so the prompt should describe only the movement, because describing the picture again gives the tool two versions of the scene and it mixes them.
# AI Competencies
ACA-AI.CompetenciesAligned with UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students View framework →
AI Techniques and Applications
4.3.4 Iteration and Feedback
Using systematic feedback and improvement processes to refine AI systems and collaborate in their ongoing development.
# AI Skills
ACA-Tools.SkillsAligned with Derived from course activity
Derived from course activity
LoRA Training & Prompt-Driven Image Control
Training a LoRA matched to the target image-generation model, and diagnosing prompt failures when generated characters/scenes go wrong. Evidence: "you must generate a LoRA in the same model as youre going to use for image generation" and "we had problem here because of a bad prompt we did, and started making so many strange faces" (image-generation/animating-stills).
# Competency Goals
ACA-AI.GoalsAligned with UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students View framework →
UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students
CG4.3.4.3 Co-Creators in AI Ecosystem
Engaging as collaborative partners in the continuous development, refinement, and improvement of AI systems.
UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students
Four-Part Motion Prompt
Write a motion prompt in four parts: what the subject does, how the camera moves, the background, and the overall movement.
UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students
Name the Fault, Rewrite It
Name the fault you see in a clip (warping, flicker, or the subject's look changing) and rewrite the prompt to fix its cause.
UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students
Budget Clips, Keep Few
Make a set number of clips and keep only a few, instead of stopping at the first one that looks good enough.
UNESCO · AI Competency Framework for Students
Leave No Channel Blank
Fill in every part of a motion prompt so the tool has nothing left to guess.
Deliverable
# Animating Stills
Projects.BriefsTurn a still image into a short moving clip with controlled movement. Name any problem before you change the prompt to fix its cause. A set of short moving clips. Each one is saved with its four-part motion prompt and a written review.
Transfers to: Naming a defect precisely enough to fix its actual cause.
# Assessed toward these aims
Projects.RubricsThis deliverable is where students demonstrate
- D Animate stills with controlled motion, and diagnose a failed generationLook out for
- Four-part prompt (write a motion prompt in four parts): All four parts (subject, camera, environment, pace) are filled in for every shot. No part is left for the AI tool to decide.
- Problem diagnosis (name the problem and change the prompt): Each problem is named (warping, flicker, or the subject's look changing) and its cause in the prompt is stated. Then the prompt is changed to fix that cause.
- Camera reading (read camera movement from a trailer): Camera moves in the reference trailer are picked out, shot by shot, and named with the correct camera word.
- Volume and selection (make a set number and keep only some): The team makes the set number of clips, keeps about one clip in twenty, and writes a clear reason for each clip kept or cut.
- Delta discipline (fill in every part, describe only movement): The prompt describes only movement. It does not describe the look again, because the still picture has already fixed that.