First and Last Frame AI Video

A start frame alone tells an AI video model where a shot begins and leaves the ending to chance, so the camera drifts, the reveal lands in the wrong place, and the next shot no longer cuts in. First and last frame video, also called keyframe video, fixes both ends of the shot with two images and lets the model interpolate, or invent, the motion in between. We read the prompts behind 6 shots from 5 films made in Flick, 2 of them made from a start and an end frame, including a 25-second opening shot from the Summer 2026 Filmmaker Residency. This page shows those shots with their exact prompts, the models in Flick that take an end frame, and how to write the move between the two frames.

Describe a first and last frame shot

No style16:9

Walk in with the platesA breeze at the windowPick up from the last frame

What is first and last frame AI video?

• A keyframe is a frame you set yourself; the frames between two keyframes are interpolated, or generated to join them.
• In Flick, the end frame is an optional second image on the Image to Video node, and it always goes with a start frame.

When should you add an end frame to a start frame?

First and last frame examples from real films

• The small picture in the corner of each clip is its start frame; the prompt describes the end frame.
• The prompts are copied exactly as the filmmakers wrote them.

00:12

A dolly back from a close shot to a wide, with dialogue

Use the provided close shot as the direct first frame and the provided wide shot as the direct final frame. Create a realistic live-action cinematic shot that performs a smooth continuous dolly back from the first frame to the last frame. Start relatively close on the two gangsters, framed roughly from above the chest upward, then gradually pull back until the shot fully matches the provided wide final frame and reveals the whole restaurant, the hostages, and the right-bottom male victim. Keep the same luxury rooftop restaurant at night, floor-to-ceiling window, city lights outside, warm practical lighting, and premium ARRI Alexa 35 film realism. The male gangster carries a revolver and delivers his line in a calm, cold, threatening Texas drawl: “Everybody cool, this is a robbery.” The female gangster carries a pistol and is more manic, gleeful, and excited by the fear around her; after a man screams, she says in a thick Texas drawl, with deranged enjoyment, “Or everybody dies!” During the pullback, diners around them panic and scream. Near the end of the dolly back, the man in the bottom-right corner of the final wide frame cries out, “Oh my God!” and the female gangster immediately turns and shoots him. After the shot, more people scream. Keep the male gangster emotionally controlled and dangerous; keep the female gangster wild, delighted, and intoxicated by the terror she is causing. No music, no score, only dialogue, screams, gunshot, and natural room tone. Preserve photorealism, true anatomy, realistic gun handling, believable performance, and a continuous smooth camera move from the close first frame to the wide final frame. 无音乐

Zhelun “Jerry” Lin, director of The Perfect Proposal

00:25

A slow pan that eases into a push toward a cottage

Opening establishing shot, 16:9, 25 seconds, one continuous uninterrupted take. The shot begins wide on the open countryside of the start frame and slowly transitions to settle on the painting cottage of the end frame.

Camera Movement: Begin with a slow, smooth lateral pan drifting across the countryside, gliding over rolling fields, water, and treelines, letting the landscape reveal itself gradually. After the pan carries across the vista, the camera eases into a gentle, steady push-in that zooms toward the cottage, tightening from a sweeping wide vista down to a composed medium framing of the painting cottage as it comes to rest. The motion is continuous and cinematic throughout, one flowing move with no cuts, never rushed.

Scene: Soft natural daylight, gentle atmospheric depth and haze on the horizon, subtle drifting of grass and leaves in a light breeze, calm water surface with faint ripples. Serene, contemplative, cinematic mood.

Audio Constraint: No sound. Completely silent shot.

Sandi Jerome, director of Churchill's Mum

When is a start frame enough?

00:05

A crow lands while everything else holds still

A single black crow flies in and lands on top of the weathered wooden fence post. Once perched, it settles its wings and looks around with quick, natural bird movements, tilting and turning its head to survey the surroundings. Subtle feather ruffle in the light breeze. Everything else stays still: the fence, wires, and blurred golden prairie background hold steady with warm late-afternoon light. Grounded, realistic wildlife motion, no camera movement.

Marius Jensen, director of Still Time

00:10

One sentence: a flickering oil lamp

The oil lamp’s flame flickers, which makes the shadow flickers accordingly.

Jaime Yao, director of In Our Time

00:04

Sun to storm, described in words

Pema's POV looking out through the kitchen window. What was a sunny day suddenly turns: heavy rain lashes the glass, a violent thunderstorm rolls in, wind whipping, a flash of lightning, water streaming down the windowpanes. Handheld camera settling at the window as if she has just stopped there. Anamorphic old lens distortion, muted colors, low contrast, soft focus, cinematic realism.

Raj Rishi More, director of Seasons

00:03

One glance and a blink, nothing else moves

Extreme close-up of the woman's eyes. Her eyes move to the left and slightly upward in a slow, natural glance, tracking something offscreen. Subtle single blink, faint eyelash movement, tiny shifts in the catchlight. Everything else holds steady: her skin, the cap brim, and the blurred dried-grass prairie background in warm daylight. Grounded, realistic, no camera movement.

Marius Jensen, director of Still Time

Which AI video models take an end frame in Flick?

• The full list today: MiniMax H3 Fast, MiniMax H3 Max, Seedance 2.5 Draft, Kling 4.0, Wan 3.0, FLUX 3, Pruna Draft, MiniMax H3, Seedance 2.5, Seedance 2.0, Seedance 2.0 Mini, Kling 3.0 4K, Kling O3 Pro, Seedance 1.5 Pro, Kling O3, Kling 3.0 Pro, Kling 3.0, Kling 2.6 Pro, Seedance Lite, Veo 3.1 and Veo 3.1 Fast.

How do you make a first and last frame video in Flick?

1. 1Make the start frame

   Generate or upload the image the shot opens on, framed the way its first moment should look.

2. 2Make the end frame

   Edit the start frame into the end frame with an image model, so the place, light and people stay the same.

3. 3Connect both frames

   Connect the first image to the Start Frame input of an Image to Video node, and the second to End Frame.

4. 4Pick a model

   Choose a model that takes an end frame, such as Seedance 2.5, or MiniMax H3 Max on the free plan.

5. 5Describe the path

   Write the camera move and what happens on the way, not what either frame already shows.

6. 6Generate, then adjust

   Watch the take, change one line of the prompt, and run it again until the move lands on the end frame.

How do you write a first and last frame prompt?

1. 1. Say which image is which

   Label the two images in the prompt, so the model never swaps the opening and the ending.

   @image1 is the first frame. @image2 is the last frame.

   Owen Doerr, director of Lifeguard

2. 2. Name one camera move

   Name a single move that can carry the first framing into the last, such as a dolly back from a close-up to a wide.

   Create a realistic live-action cinematic shot that performs a smooth continuous dolly back from the first frame to the last frame.

   Zhelun “Jerry” Lin, director of The Perfect Proposal

3. 3. Describe the path, not the frames

   The two images already show where the shot starts and ends, so spend the words on the journey between them.

   The shot begins wide on the open countryside of the start frame and slowly transitions to settle on the painting cottage of the end frame.

   Sandi Jerome, director of Churchill's Mum

4. 4. Keep both frames in one world

   Repeat the place, light and look that both frames share, so the model has nothing to morph.

   Keep the same luxury rooftop restaurant at night, floor-to-ceiling window, city lights outside, warm practical lighting, and premium ARRI Alexa 35 film realism.

   Zhelun “Jerry” Lin, director of The Perfect Proposal

5. 5. Place events along the move

   Tie each action to a point in the move, so it lands where the frame expects it.

   Near the end of the dolly back, the man in the bottom-right corner of the final wide frame cries out, “Oh my God!” and the female gangster immediately turns and shoots him.

   Zhelun “Jerry” Lin, director of The Perfect Proposal

6. 6. Ask for one continuous take

   Ask for a single unbroken move, because a cut inside the clip breaks the path between the two frames.

   The motion is continuous and cinematic throughout, one flowing move with no cuts, never rushed.

   Sandi Jerome, director of Churchill's Mum

What do people ask about first and last frame AI video?

More on start frames and video models in Flick

Films on this page

• Zhelun “Jerry” Lin · The Perfect Proposal
• Sandi Jerome · Churchill's Mum
• Marius Jensen · Still Time
• Jaime Yao · In Our Time
• Raj Rishi More · Seasons
• Karan Archana · Drop of Water
• Hannah L. · a slow kind of still
• Sam Wasserman · The Miracle