How to build real scene coverage with a master, singles and inserts

You generate a character walking into a kitchen, then a close-up of her face, then a shot of a kettle. Each clip looks good alone. Put them on a timeline and the scene falls apart, because the room has changed shape, the window sits on a different wall, and nothing tells the viewer where anyone is standing.

The cause is that you prompted three separate pictures instead of one space. A camera department solves this before the first take with coverage: one wide shot that establishes the room, tighter shots that sit inside it, and inserts that punctuate it. That habit survives translation into prompts, and it takes one sitting to set up.

Start with the master, then lock the geography

The master is a wide shot that shows the whole space and where the subject sits in it. Generate this first and generate it carefully, because every other shot borrows from it. Write down three fixed facts from the result: where the light comes from, which side the door is on, and what the subject wears.

Then write a one-line geography note and paste it into every later prompt:

```
GEOGRAPHY: narrow galley kitchen, window on frame left, door behind camera right, woman in grey wool jumper at the counter, soft overcast daylight from the window.
```

This line is boring on purpose. It is the continuity anchor, and it does more for matching shots than any adjective about mood.

Write singles and inserts as reductions of the master

A single is the master with the lens moved closer. Do not describe a new scene. Describe the same scene from nearer, and keep the geography line intact.

```
Medium close-up of the woman at the counter, shot from her right side so the window light falls across her face. [GEOGRAPHY LINE] She pauses with a mug in both hands. Static camera, 50mm look, shallow depth of field.
```

For inserts, name the object and the action, and still carry the light direction:

```
Close-up insert of a steel kettle on the hob, steam starting from the spout, window light raking from frame left across the brushed metal. Static camera, macro lens look.
```

Notice what stays constant: light direction, clothing, materials. What changes is only distance and subject. That is what coverage means.

Plan the six shots before you spend credits

For a single scene, a workable minimum is:

1. Master, wide, subject in space.
2. Medium shot, same angle, subject fills half the frame.
3. Single close-up on the face.
4. Reverse or over-the-shoulder, if a second person or object of attention exists.
5. Insert of the hands or key prop.
6. Cutaway to something in the room that is not the subject, such as the window or a clock.

Generate all six with the geography line, then cut them. The cutaway is the one people skip, and it is the one that saves you, because it gives you a place to hide a bad frame or a jump in performance.

What you should see

Before: six clips with six different rooms, and cuts that feel like a montage of unrelated stock. After: the window stays on the left, the jumper stays grey, the light keeps falling the same way, and the cut from master to close-up reads as the camera stepping in rather than the film changing its mind. You will also notice your edit gets easier, since you now have options at every cut point.

Try it on your next scene. Generate the master first, write the geography line, and refuse to start any other shot until both exist.