Direct a video with presets

Last updated: October 11, 2026

Set the camera move, the lighting, the look and the performance of a clip by picking presets, and keep the prompt for who is in the shot and what happens. Use presets when you know the shot you want and need the model to get it the same way every time.

Before you start

  • Open the session you want the clip in. Results land on that session's board.
  • The preset slots appear for video models that take a prompt. Lip-sync and video-to-music models have no prompt, so they do not show them.
  • Presets add no cost of their own. The cost of the run shows on the Create video button.

The four preset slots

The Create video form has a row of buttons above the prompt. Reference sets holds your own characters, objects, scenes and styles. The other four hold Layer's presets, each a named cinematic technique.

Camera

Camera movement, camera angle, framing and lens: Dolly In, Low Angle, Close-Up, 85mm Portrait. See Camera presets for the full list.

Staging

Lighting, composition and atmosphere: Golden Hour, Rule of Thirds, Fog. See Staging presets for the full list.

Look

Genre looks, optical effects and visual effects: Film Noir, Film Grain, Disintegration. See Look presets for the full list.

Performance

What a character does and how time plays: Hero Stance, Double Take, Slow Motion. See Performance presets for the full list.

Steps

  1. In the side panel to the right of the board, under Tools, click Create video. If the panel shows a tool instead of the menu, click the back arrow at the top left of the panel first.

  2. Click in the prompt box and describe who is in the shot and what they do, for example: An old wizard in an alchemy tower raises a glowing purple potion, drinks it, and transforms into a dragon. Leave the camera and the lighting out; the presets carry them.

  3. Click Camera above the prompt. In Select camera, click the move you want, such as Dolly In, then click Add 1 reference set. The preset appears as a chip in the prompt.

  4. Click Staging and add the lighting the same way, such as Candlelight. Add from Look and Performance too if the shot needs them. To take a preset off, click the × on its chip.

  5. Check Aspect ratio and Duration, then click Create video at the bottom of the panel.

  6. Wait while the clip generates. A tile appears on the board straight away and shows its progress; you can keep working while it runs.

Result

The finished clip replaces the progress tile on the session's board. Open it to watch it full size, or right-click the tile and choose Download. The presets stay in the form, so the next run uses the same direction until you change them.

How presets reach the model

Each preset is a short, written direction from a cinematographer's vocabulary. When you create the video, Layer adds it to your prompt. A preset chip in the middle of the prompt is replaced by its direction at that point; the rest are added at the end. This is why presets work on every video model that takes a prompt, and why they have no weight slider.

To put a preset exactly where it belongs in the sentence, type @ and its name in the prompt instead of using the slot button, for example the camera starts on the potion, then @Pull Out to reveal the tower.

Production tips

  • Shoot coverage, not retakes. Keep the prompt and swap only the Camera preset (Wide Shot, Medium Shot, Close-Up) to get the shots an editor needs to cut a scene together.
  • One move, one light, one look. Presets of the same kind compete: two camera moves or two times of day usually give a shot that does neither. Combine across kinds instead, such as a movement with an angle and a lens.
  • Hold a series together. For a set of ads or a trailer, keep the same Look and Staging presets on every clip and vary only the camera and the action, so the clips cut together as one piece.
  • Start from your art. Add a First frame to animate an approved still; the camera preset then moves through your composition rather than one the model invents.
  • Test the move in draft. Turn on Draft where the form offers it to check that the move and timing read before you run at full quality.
  • Compare models on the same direction. Presets stay attached when you switch between models that take a prompt, so you can run one setup through several models and compare the results on the board.

If something goes wrong

  • You can't find a preset in the dialog. When the session is in a project, the dialog opens with Only in your project switched on, which hides Layer's presets. Turn it off, then search by name or choose Featured.
  • A preset disappeared after you changed the model. The new model cannot use that kind of preset, and a notice names what was removed. Switch back, or pick a model that takes a prompt.
  • The slots are missing. The selected model takes no prompt (lip-sync and video-to-music models), or Multi-prompt is on (the button in the corner of the prompt box). Choose a model with a prompt, or turn Multi-prompt off.
  • The clip ignores the camera move. Check the prompt does not contradict it (static camera with Orbit 360), remove competing presets, and shorten the action so the move has room. Some models follow camera directions more closely than others; try another from the model picker.

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