invideo AI Prompts Guide: Briefs That Make Good Videos

invideo AI (invideo.io) generates a complete narrated video from a text brief. You describe what you want, and it writes the script, assembles stock footage and visuals, adds a voiceover and captions, and hands you an editable video. Because the whole video comes from your words, prompting here is less like describing a picture and more like briefing a producer. This guide shows what a good brief contains and how to write one you can reuse.

What the prompt controls in invideo AI

When you submit a brief, invideo AI makes a chain of decisions: the script (what is said, in what order), the footage (which stock clips or generated visuals appear for each line), the voice (who reads it and how fast), the captions and text overlays, the music, and the pacing. Anything you do not specify, it decides for you. A one-line prompt therefore produces a generic video, not because the tool is weak but because you left every decision open.

The fix is to make the decisions yourself, in the brief. Once the first video is generated you can refine with text commands, which the editing and export guide covers, but it is cheaper to get the big choices right in the brief than to steer them afterwards.

The seven parts of a strong brief

1. Audience. Who is watching and what they already know. First-time home bakers is a different video from professional pastry chefs even on the same topic.
2. Platform and length. A 45-second vertical video for short-form social, a 3-minute landscape explainer for YouTube, a 90-second square ad. Length shapes how much script is written; platform shapes orientation and pace.
3. Structure. Tell it the beats. Hook in the first three seconds, three tips, recap, call to action. Or: problem, cause, solution, proof, offer. Structure is the single biggest lever on whether the video feels made rather than generated.
4. Tone and script style. Conversational and warm, or crisp and authoritative. Second person. No jargon. Short sentences. If you have a phrase that must appear word for word, put it in quotation marks and say it must be used verbatim.
5. Voice. Describe it: a calm British female voice at a relaxed pace, or an energetic American male voice. You can change the voice later, but naming it in the brief saves a round.
6. Visual style. Real stock footage of kitchens and hands, or clean animated graphics, or a mix. Mention colour mood (warm, bright, muted), whether people should appear, and anything to avoid (no stock clips of people pointing at whiteboards).
7. Call to action and on-screen text. What the viewer should do at the end, and any text that must be shown, such as a website name or a line of key stats.

Not every video needs all seven, but a brief with fewer than four usually comes back needing heavy edits.

Writing style that works

• Write in plain sentences, one decision each. The tool reads the brief as instructions; a wall of adjectives is harder to follow than a numbered list.
• Give the script facts to use. If the video is about your product, include the three facts you want mentioned. Otherwise the script will stay generic or, worse, invent details.
• Name what to exclude. No background music, no stock footage with visible logos, no claims about results.
• State the language and spelling so script and captions match your market.

Settings at a glance

Control names may differ in the current interface. Generation minutes and watermark-free export depend on plan; check the platform’s current pricing page.

Common mistakes

• Describing a feeling instead of a video. Something inspiring about productivity gives the tool nothing to build. Name the audience, length, beats and tone.
• Too long. A 5-minute first draft is hard to fix. Make a 60-second version, perfect the formula, then scale up.
• No facts. Without specifics the script fills with filler. Give it three concrete points.
• Ignoring the opening. Specify the hook. The first line decides whether anyone watches the rest.
• Changing everything at once. When the result misses, change one part of the brief and regenerate so you learn what each part does.

Save every brief that produced a video you kept, with the date and the video name. A library of proven briefs is the fastest way to make the next one, and a method for doing that across tools is in track prompts across AI tools.

Try it

Make a 60-second vertical video for Instagram Reels aimed at first-time home bakers.
Structure: 3-second hook asking why their bread comes out dense; three short tips (measure flour by weight, let dough rise until doubled, bake with steam); a one-line recap; end card.
Tone: warm, conversational, second person, short sentences, British English spelling.
Voice: calm female British voice, relaxed pace.
Visuals: real stock footage of home kitchens, hands kneading dough, bread in ovens; warm natural light; no people looking at camera; no visible brand logos.
Captions on, large and readable on a phone. Music low and gentle.
End card text: Three fixes. Better bread. Try one this weekend.

Regenerate once with the visual style changed to clean animated graphics with a cream and terracotta palette and compare; keeping structure and script fixed while changing visuals shows you how much of the result the brief really controls.