How long should a shot be?
Pacing for 15, 30 and 60 s

In a short AI film, one shot lasts roughly three to five seconds. That gives you the count as well: a 15 second film is three to five shots, a 30 second film six to eight, a one-minute film ten to fourteen. There is no tighter rule than that, and you rarely need one.

The other half matters just as much: shots are given in whole seconds, and together they make up exactly the length of the film. Not roughly. If the sum is off, the narration, the music and the edit all drift apart.

Why three to five seconds

That is long enough for the viewer to take in what they see and for one movement to play out. Shorter, and the camera has barely started; longer, and video models tend to stall, repeat themselves or let the details melt.

Behind that rule sits another one: one shot, one camera move. If a moment needs a push-in and then an orbit, that is two shots, not one longer one. So the length is set by the move, not by your patience.

Medium close-up, eye level, 50 mm lens. The camera moves in from a medium shot to a close-up over the full four seconds. The baker lifts a tray of bread out of the oven and exhales, and her shoulders drop. Steam rises past her face, flour dust drifts through the window light.

Notice that the length of the move ("over the full four seconds") is written into the prompt. That tells the model how long it has to reach the closing frame, so it doesn't stop halfway.

How many shots fit in the film

• 15 seconds: three to five shots. Hook in the first one or two seconds, turn in the middle, payoff or CTA in the last three.
• 20 seconds: four to six shots, same three-part structure.
• 30 seconds: six to eight shots. Hook, situation, complication, climax, resolution.
• 60 seconds: ten to fourteen shots, the same arc with more room in the complication.

The hook can be shorter than average. A two-second opening shot is perfectly fine if it stops the scroll, even with the sound off. The other shots make up the time.

Why the seconds have to add up

A typical first plan for a 15 second bakery ad: six shots, each "a few seconds". Add them up and you get about 25 seconds. You find out in the edit that half of it has to go, and the payoff is what gets squeezed.

The same plan done properly: 2 s hook (crust cracking, macro), 4 s the baker at the oven, 4 s a customer taking a bite, 5 s the shop window with room for the logo in the edit. Fifteen in total. Every second has a job.

The exact sum matters because everything else hangs off it. The narration word count, the length of the music and the placement of sound effects all follow the seconds in the shot list.

Rhythm: never two alike in a row

Rhythm isn't only about length. Every shot should differ from the one before it in both shot size and angle: a close-up can be followed by a low-angle wide, not by another eye-level close-up.

Ration the big moves (drone, orbit, reveal). In a 30 second film one or two is enough, and the rest stay simple. That gives the big move its weight, and you can place it where it counts most.

Sound counts in seconds too

English narration fits about 2.5 words per second, so a 30 second film takes around 70 words; Hungarian manages roughly 2 to 2.3. The script must never run longer than the film, and it shouldn't describe what the picture already shows.

Put the exact length into the music prompt as well, and say where it builds. That way ElevenLabs Music gives you a bed that ends together with the shot list.

Warm acoustic folk, hopeful and bright, 112 BPM, acoustic guitar, upright bass and brushed snare, instrumental, 30 seconds, builds over the last eight seconds, one second of silence before the final chord.

Plan your next 30 seconds like this

1. Fix the lengthWrite down the film's length in whole seconds. That is the frame everything has to fit into.
2. Choose the countFor 30 seconds, pick between six and eight. If unsure, start with six.
3. Hand out the secondsGive each shot whole seconds: one or two for the hook, at least three for the payoff.
4. Check the sumAdd up the numbers. If they don't make 30, trim or extend before you write a single prompt.
5. Put the length in the promptWrite the duration of the move into every video prompt, and match the narration word count to the length.