Create a short-form video with Luma Scenes
Luma Scenes turns a creative brief into an editable storyboard before you commit to a full video render.
Instead of prompting one clip at a time and figuring out the sequence afterward, you can describe the complete idea, a product spot, campaign concept, short narrative, or social ad, and let Scenes break it into visual beats.
You can review those beats as keyframes, change anything that is not working, adjust when each moment happens, and only then create the video.
That makes Scenes especially useful when sequence matters: an opening shot needs to lead into a product reveal, a logo needs to appear at the right moment, or an end card needs to land cleanly.
The core workflow is:
Brief → storyboard → review → adjust → render
The review step is one of the most important parts of the workflow. It lets you catch problems while you are still looking at individual keyframes rather than after the complete video has been generated.
Start with a complete idea, not individual shot prompts
Open Luma Scenes by right-clicking and choosing Create Image or Create Video with Luma Scenes.
In the Instruction field, describe the piece you want to make.
You can start with:
- a full script
- shot notes
- a creative brief
- one clear sentence
You do not need to manually turn your idea into a numbered shot list first. Give Scenes enough information to understand the overall sequence and let it build the storyboard.
A useful brief usually answers five questions:
- Where does this happen? Describe the setting, environment, or era.
- What are we looking at? Name the main subject, product, character, or object.
- What happens? Describe the arc from beginning to end.
- How should it feel? Add pacing, mood, lighting, camera language, or visual style.
- What absolutely needs to appear? Call out important product details, logos, pack shots, text cards, or end frames.
For example:
A premium sparkling water commercial in a bright Mediterranean kitchen. Start with condensation running down a chilled can beside sliced citrus. A hand picks up the can and opens it, then cut to sparkling water pouring over ice. Finish on a clean product hero shot with the logo clearly visible and a simple end card. Crisp daylight, refreshing, elegant, restrained camera movement.
That is usually more useful than separately prompting four unrelated shots because Scenes can understand how those moments belong together.
Add references when something needs to stay recognizable
References are optional, but they are useful when the sequence depends on a specific visual anchor.
Add images for things such as:
- a product
- packaging
- a logo
- a visual style
- an environment
- a character or subject
Give each reference a clear role rather than adding a collection of unexplained images.
For example:
Use the first reference for the product packaging. Use the second reference for the overall lighting and color palette.
Keep the set focused. Scenes is capped at roughly 10 total frames including references, so short, clearly structured pieces are the best fit.
Choose your video model deliberately
Select the model based on the kind of final piece you want.
Ray 3.2 is a good fit when you want the sequence broken into more, shorter clips. The Ray 3.2 path does not generate audio.
Seedance can often produce a more continuous clip and supports voiceover. Availability varies, so some enterprise accounts may not have access to it.
The important distinction is that Scenes plans the sequence, while you choose the renderer.
Also choose the available duration and aspect ratio that fit the intended delivery. Use 16:9 for landscape-oriented work or 9:16 for vertical placements when appropriate.
Review the storyboard before creating the video
Once Scenes has processed the brief, the modal expands into the storyboard view.
You will see the story broken across a timeline with individual keyframes representing important moments in the sequence.
Treat this as an approval pass, not simply a preview.
Check each frame for:
- Story clarity: Can you understand the sequence without watching the final video?
- Product accuracy: Is the correct product, logo, color, or packaging visible?
- Composition: Does each frame work as an intentional shot?
- Sequence: Does one beat logically lead into the next?
- Final frame: If the piece needs a product hero, logo, or title card, is it correct before you render?
Logos, products, and end title cards are particularly strong use cases for Scenes, so they are good anchors around which to build a short spot.
Adjust the timing
The timeline is editable.
Drag keyframes along the timeline to control exactly when different beats happen.
This is useful when a particular moment needs to land at a specific point—for example:
- the reveal at the midpoint
- a product close-up before the final shot
- a logo during the last few seconds
- a title card at the end
Think in terms of beats, not simply evenly spaced shots.
A reveal may deserve more time than a transitional frame. An end card may need enough room to be readable. A rapid montage may intentionally compress several moments together.
Fix individual problems instead of starting over
You do not have to throw away the complete storyboard because one frame is wrong.
You can regenerate, iterate on, or replace an individual keyframe while keeping approved frames unchanged.
A practical iteration loop is:
- Review the complete sequence.
- Identify the frame that is breaking the story.
- Fix that frame.
- Review the transition around it.
- Continue until the sequence is ready.
Once the storyboard is approved, create the video.
You can also extract the storyboard frames as individual assets rather than immediately rendering the finished sequence.
A helpful reminder
Luma Scenes is designed for short-form sequencing, not long-form filmmaking.
Start with a contained idea: one product story, one campaign beat, one short narrative, or one social spot. If a concept requires many scenes, a large cast, or extensive continuity across a long runtime, split it into smaller pieces instead of asking one Scenes generation to manage everything.
And when people are involved, expect to spend more time reviewing and regenerating keyframes. The approval step is where those issues can be caught before the final render.
Key takeaway
Use Luma Scenes to plan before you render. Give it the complete creative idea, add references for anything important, choose your render model, then treat the generated storyboard as an editable approval surface.
Fix the sequence and timing first. Create the final video only when the keyframes tell the story you want.
Refine a Luma Scenes storyboard before you render
The fastest way to improve a Luma Scenes result is not necessarily to rewrite the entire prompt.
It is to work directly on the storyboard.
Scenes gives you a sequence of editable keyframes before the final video is created. That means you can treat the storyboard like a lightweight edit: inspect each beat, fix individual frames, change timing, and approve the sequence before committing to the finished render.
This is one of the central advantages of the workflow.
A storyboard that works visually gives the final video a much stronger foundation.
First, review the sequence as a whole
Before focusing on image quality, look at the full storyboard from beginning to end.
Ask:
- Does the first frame establish the idea quickly?
- Is there a clear progression between beats?
- Does the most important moment get enough emphasis?
- Does the sequence have a clear ending?
For a short commercial, that might look like:
Setup → product interaction → benefit or transformation → hero shot → end card
For a narrative concept:
Setup → trigger → escalation → payoff
At this stage, you are evaluating structure first.
A beautifully rendered keyframe is not useful if it belongs in the wrong story.
Then inspect each keyframe
Now review the frames individually.
Look for problems such as:
- incorrect product details
- weak framing
- unwanted objects
- inconsistent environments
- unclear actions
- awkward people
- a logo that is too small
- an end card that does not read clearly
If one frame has a problem, fix that frame.
Scenes lets you regenerate, iterate on, or replace keyframes individually while approved frames stay unchanged.
Instead of:
Something is wrong → regenerate everything
Work like this:
Frame 4 is wrong → fix Frame 4 → keep Frames 1–3 and 5–8
That makes iteration more controlled and helps you preserve the parts of the sequence that are already working.
Make feedback local and specific
When regenerating a frame, focus your instruction on the problem you actually need to solve.
Instead of:
Make this better.
Try:
Keep the same composition and product placement. Change the can from silver to matte black.
Or:
Keep the kitchen and lighting. Replace the current frame with a clean product close-up where the front label is fully visible.
Or:
Preserve the shot, but make the final frame a simple centered logo card on a white background.
The smaller and clearer the change, the easier it is to judge whether the new frame solved the problem.
There is currently no propagate-to-all edit. If the same element needs to change across several keyframes, update those frames individually.
Use the timeline to control pacing
A storyboard is not only a collection of images. It is also a timing plan.
Scenes lets you drag keyframes along the timeline so important beats happen when you want them to.
For example, a short product spot might reserve different parts of the timeline for:
- establishing the environment
- introducing the product
- showing an interaction or benefit
- landing on the product hero
- holding the logo or end card
The exact timing depends on the creative.
The important principle is to give important moments enough room.
If your hero frame appears too late, move it earlier.
If the setup is taking too long, compress it.
If the end card disappears too quickly, give it more room.
Treat the timeline as part of the creative, not just a representation of the final duration.
Build variants from an approved sequence
Once you have a storyboard that works, it can become a controlled creative template.
Instead of inventing an entirely new ad for every variation, rerun the approved sequence with one intentional change.
For example:
Original: red product packaging.
Variant: same sequence, blue packaging.
Or:
Original: English end card.
Variant: same approved sequence with a localized end card.
This works best when the variable is explicit and the rest of the creative should remain stable.
Think:
One approved structure + one controlled change
rather than:
One prompt + many unrelated generations
For now, changes that appear in several keyframes still need to be handled frame by frame. Large batches of automated variants are not yet the workflow to rely on.
Choose the right output after approval
Once the storyboard is ready, you have several ways to continue.
You can:
- create the complete video
- export separate clips
- extract the keyframes
- open the work as Ray 3.2 panels for further shot-level refinement
This makes the storyboard useful beyond a single final render. It can function as the visual plan for a broader production workflow.
For API workflows, there are also two useful patterns:
Input → video
or:
Input → storyboard → approval → video
The approval-checkpoint workflow is especially useful for branded or production work where product accuracy, timing, or the final frame needs to be checked before rendering.
Know when to simplify the concept
If you find yourself repeatedly correcting almost every frame, the problem may not be individual keyframes.
The concept may simply be asking Scenes to manage too much at once.
Keep projects compact. There is a roughly 10-frame total cap including reference images.
If the storyboard contains too many characters, locations, plot changes, and visual transformations, reduce the scope.
A focused short-form product spot will usually give you a better editing surface than trying to compress an entire short film into one Scenes generation.
A helpful reminder
Do not judge the workflow only by the first storyboard it creates.
The storyboard is meant to be edited.
When something is wrong, first ask whether the problem is local or structural.
If one frame is wrong, fix that frame.
If the timing is wrong, move the beat.
If the entire sequence misunderstood the idea, revise the brief and recreate the storyboard.
That distinction keeps iteration focused and prevents unnecessary regeneration.
Treat the Luma Scenes storyboard as the edit before the edit.
Review the structure, fix individual keyframes, place beats deliberately on the timeline, and approve the sequence before rendering.
Once the story works as a storyboard, use it as the foundation for the final video or for controlled variations of the same creative.