# Veo Flow Prompting > Use when writing or fixing prompts for Google Flow video generation - Veo 3.1 or Gemini Omni Flash - including multi-clip scripts, dialogue clips, silent clips, the @me avatar, on-screen text, and clips that keep getting blocked by the content filter. Encodes the verified prompt anatomy, the per-clip complexity budget, and the failure modes that cost real credits. - Skill: `raphaelbgr/veo-flow-prompting` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add raphaelbgr/veo-flow-prompting` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/raphaelbgr/veo-flow-prompting/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: raphaelbgr (https://skillmd.com/u/raphaelbgr) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/raphaelbgr/veo-flow-prompting --- # Veo 3.1 / Gemini Omni Flash prompting Field-tested rules for Google Flow (`labs.google/fx/tools/flow`). Full source-cited background: [`docs/google-flow-veo-playbook.md`](../../docs/google-flow-veo-playbook.md). UI map and credit costs: [`docs/flow-ui-map.md`](../../docs/flow-ui-map.md). Filters and policy: [`docs/content-filters-and-policy.md`](../../docs/content-filters-and-policy.md). Claim tags used throughout: `[FACT]` = stated by a Google primary source · `[ESTIMATE]` = practitioner guidance · `[UNVERIFIED]` / `[CONTESTED]` = confirm in-product before relying on it. Never invent model behaviour; if you are unsure, tag it. > **Which model is which.** "Omni Flash" is **Gemini Omni Flash**, Google's any-input > (text/image/audio/video) → video model with native audio. It is not a Gemini text > LLM and there is no product called "Veo 3 Flash". **Veo 3.1** (Lite / Fast / Quality) > is the cinematic model. Both are selectable in Flow's model dropdown. `[FACT]` --- ## 1. The per-clip prompt block Field order, every clip: **LOOK → CAMERA → ACTION → FIDELITY → DIALOGUE → AUDIO → EXCLUSIONS** (+ optional POST NOTE). Google's own five-part formula for Veo 3.1 is `[Cinematography] + [Subject] + [Action] + [Context] + [Style & Ambiance]` `[FACT]`. The block above is that formula plus the three lines production keeps needing (fidelity, audio direction, exclusions). ``` LOOK: CAMERA: ACTION: FIDELITY: Keep natural, realistic body proportions. Do not slim or idealize. DIALOGUE: He says, "" AUDIO: Ambient noise: <...>. SFX: <...>. EXCLUSIONS: a clean frame with no subtitles, no captions, no on-screen text, no lower-thirds, no logos, no watermark. ``` **Every clip prompt must be self-contained.** The generator never sees your other clips. Repeat wardrobe, setting and identity in *every* clip. A "base card" at the top of your script document is human reference only — it is not merged into anything. **Complexity budget per clip** (production-learned; overloaded clips render wrong): - Max **2 action beats**. More than that → split into two clips. - Exactly **one camera move** `[FACT]`. Vague or contradictory camera cues make the model default to near-static. For a locked frame, say `static shot, camera completely still` `[ESTIMATE]` — omitting the camera line does *not* give you a locked frame. - **No invisible micro-props** (pressure sensors, hidden latches). Imply them through timing instead: *"the moment it leaves the cushion, the alarm sounds"*. - **State changes only at the very end of the clip** — never a mid-clip lighting transition inside the LOOK line. - In close-ups keep **one character in focus**; others soft-blurred or off-screen with off-screen dialogue. **Length:** ~100–200 words per prompt `[ESTIMATE]`. Beats of 4–8s. Omni Flash goes to 10s; Veo 3.1 caps at 8s. 1080p/4K require an 8s clip; Extend caps at 720p `[FACT]`. **Lens to feel:** 16mm expands space · 35mm natural · 50mm intimate · 85mm compresses for intensity · wide-angle for establishers `[ESTIMATE]`. **Timestamp prompting** packs several shots into one generation `[FACT]`: ``` [00:00-00:03] Medium close-up, slow push-in: . [00:03-00:07] Static medium shot: . [00:07-00:10] Slight low angle, locked frame: . ``` **Anchor performance to words:** *"firm flipping gesture on 'flip that'"* works; "expressive gestures" does not. --- ## 2. Dialogue, language and silence - Write **directions in English** (best visual control) and **dialogue in the target language**. This pattern is production-verified. - Non-English dialogue **must keep its accents** — `nao → não`, `e → é`, `missao → missão`. Accents drive pronunciation; never ASCII-strip a dialogue line. Spell numbers out in words. - Speech is **attributed to a named speaker**, and kept to 1–2 short lines per clip. **On quotation marks the sources conflict** `[CONTESTED]`: Google's Veo prompt guide shows quoted dialogue (`A woman says, "We have to leave now."`), while separate Google guidance says to use a colon after the speaker's action and **avoid quotation marks**, because quotes push the model toward rendering the text on screen. Field testing sided with the colon form, and it composes with the caption bug below — so **default to** `Man says: Bom dia!` and keep the quoted form as a fallback if speech fails to trigger at all. Full detail: [`dialogue-and-voice`](../dialogue-and-voice/SKILL.md). - **No ellipsis and no mid-sentence periods** in a dialogue line — they stop the voice and the lip-sync dead. Use commas; punctuate only at the very end. - **Name the language on every spoken line** (and every background murmur). Omitting it causes audio failures and random-language output. - **Regional accent control:** tag every line, e.g. `DIALOGUE (PT-BR, carioca accent - coda "S" softened to "sh"): "..."`. Accent adherence is unstable `[UNVERIFIED]`; fallback is to record or TTS in post. - **Silent clip recipe:** no quoted speech, no speech cues at all, *positively* specify the ambient audio, then add `no dialogue, no speech, silent`. Speech cues are the primary trigger for both spoken audio **and** burned-in captions `[FACT]`. Flow also has an explicit toggle: View Settings → **Return silent videos: On**. **Never mention the mouth, lips or speaking in a silent clip** — "his mouth opens slightly as if about to speak" reliably generates actual speech. Emotion goes through eyebrows, jaw and eyes. - Audio is **always generated** and there is no mute flag `[FACT]` — so direct it per clip. If only one clip should carry crowd noise, say so and keep the others quiet. --- ## 3. The gotchas that cost credits - **Burned-in junk captions.** Veo burns garbled subtitles into clips even when told not to `[FACT]`. Google's documented mechanism is negative prompting written as *positive description* — describe the clean frame you want, not "no X". End every clip with the EXCLUSIONS tail above. It is effective but **not foolproof**; inspect every render. - **On-screen text is garbled**, including short words and accented words. Generate the plate clean and add real text in post, or use Flow's **Type Overlays** tool. Same for end cards. - **Branded real locations** get approximated. Describe them generically (*"a grand white Belle Époque beachfront hotel"*), optionally add a reference photo of the place, and never ask for the brand name or logo on screen — exclude it. - **SynthID watermark is always on, no opt-out** `[FACT]`. Label your output as AI-generated where the platform requires it. - **PG / stylized action renders better and avoids refusals**: no explicit weapons, no blood, no real explosions. Alarms, chases and heists are fine. - **Aspect ratio:** 9:16 for Reels/Shorts, 16:9 for YouTube/TV. If the UI already sets the ratio, do **not** also write "Vertical 9:16" in the prompt text. - **Credits are spent per generation, and there are no free re-rolls** for successful generations `[FACT]`. Validate identity with one cheap, calm close-up before committing to a whole sequence. (You are not charged for *failed* generations `[FACT]` — but see the NPOV note below: a filtered generation in Flow's UI has been observed to charge anyway.) --- ## 4. When the content filter blocks you Flow returns a single generic message — *"This prompt might violate our policy about generating harmful content"* — for completely different underlying causes. Do not guess which one you hit. Full detail, including how to read the real reason out of the API response, is in [`docs/content-filters-and-policy.md`](../../docs/content-filters-and-policy.md). The one finding that changes how you write prompts: > **NPOV — the news framing itself is the trigger, not the faces.** > Verified by inspecting the generation-status API: a blocked generation returns > `failureReasons: ["NPOV"]` (Neutral Point Of View). Framing a clip as a **news > broadcast** — anchor, newsroom, "delivering the news", and even a *news-coded set* > (channel logo wall, world map panel, anchor desk) — fails, no matter how neutral the > content. The **same real events told as a casual story or anecdote pass**, with the > same people, the same dry wit and the same facts. The fix: generate *"two people sharing absurd stories to camera, dry deadpan amusement; not a news broadcast"* over a **generic** modern studio, and composite the newscast look (logo, chyrons, ident) 100% in post. The model sees storytelling; the audience sees a newscast. Related: naming a real celebrity in dialogue may trip a separate **prominent-people** filter. Prefer the no-name variant by default (*"a famous player"*, *"a European airport"*) so you never gamble credits on it. --- ## 5. Before you deliver a multi-clip script Run the continuity protocol and produce a regeneration ledger — both live in [`skills/multiclip-continuity`](../multiclip-continuity/SKILL.md). Skipping this is the single most expensive mistake in multi-clip work: props teleport, wardrobe changes between clips, and characters act on facts they were never told. Identity, avatars, reference photos and consent: [`skills/identity-and-likeness`](../identity-and-likeness/SKILL.md). --- ## 6. Honesty rules - Big claims in a script are framed as **vision** ("what if…"), not fact. - A statistic needs a source in hand before it appears as fact in a script. - Mark every unconfirmed model behaviour `[UNVERIFIED]` or `[CONTESTED]` and say so out loud — model behaviour and pricing move fast, and a stale "fact" in a prompt playbook burns real money.