40 Motion Graphics Prompts That Actually Work (Copy-Paste Briefs by Moment)

Most disappointing AI graphics come from vague prompts. "Add a cool animation here" gives you something generic because you asked for something generic.

The prompts below are written the way you'd brief a good editor. They're built for Rescroll AI Motion Graphics, which builds each graphic on your own talking-head video, but the formula works for any tool.

The formula: what, where, when, how

Every strong brief answers four questions:

1. What appears — the specific content, not "a graphic".
2. Where it goes — beside you, above your head, the top third.
3. When it appears and leaves — ideally on a specific word you say.
4. How it looks — one or two style words, or better, an attached reference.

"Count up to $12,400 [what] beside my head [where] as I say 'twelve thousand' and clear when I move on [when], in white on a dark card [how]."

Replace anything in [brackets] below with your own details.

Numbers

1. "Count up to [$12,400] as I say it, beside my head, on a dark card with the dollar sign in [purple]."
2. "Show [87%] large in the top third as I say 'eighty-seven percent', with a thin progress ring filling to match."
3. "Count my subscribers from [0] to [10,000] as I talk about the first year, with a small growth curve drawing behind the number."
4. "When I say '[three hours]', show a clock face with the hand sweeping round three times, small and above my shoulder."
5. "Flash [$0 → $19k] as a before-and-after: $0 appears on 'I started with nothing', then flips to $19k on 'nineteen thousand'."

Charts and data

1. "Build a bar chart of my monthly revenue from the attached CSV, flat months first, then [October] and [November] spike as I say 'and then this'."
2. "Draw a line chart of [follower growth] that stays flat and then turns sharply up on the word '[viral]'."
3. "Show a pie chart splitting my income: [60%] brand deals, [25%] products, [15%] ads, each slice appearing as I name it."
4. "Put two bars side by side on 'before' and 'after', and grow the second to [four times] the height of the first."
5. "Show a simple funnel — [10,000] viewers, [800] clicks, [40] buyers — building top to bottom as I say each number."

Lists and key phrases

1. "Put my three tips on screen, one at a time, as I say them, stacked in the top third."
2. "When I say 'the biggest mistake', show the words '[Posting without a hook]' punching in large, then clear after two seconds."
3. "Build a numbered checklist of [five] steps; tick each one off as I finish talking about it."
4. "Show '[Myth]' struck through and '[Fact]' appearing beneath it as I contradict it."
5. "Put a pull-quote of '[the line I say]' beside me in large serif text, highlighting '[key word]' in [yellow]."

Screens, apps and websites

1. "Slide my landing page in as a browser window when I say 'our site', then scroll to pricing and zoom in on the price." (Attach the saved page.)
2. "Slide our app's checkout up from the bottom as I say 'one tap', and show a cursor tapping Pay." (Attach screenshots.)
3. "Show [Notion]'s real sidebar and a page titled '[Content Plan]' as I talk about how I plan." (Name the product and it rebuilds the real screen.)
4. "Show a phone notification from [Stripe] saying '[You received $249]' dropping in from the top as I say 'this came in'."
5. "Put my YouTube Studio analytics beside me and highlight the [views] number as I read it." (Attach a screenshot.)

Messages and social posts

1. "As I quote each message from my [landlord], show it as a chat bubble; my reply lands on '[I don't have a cat]'."
2. "Show the tweet I'm reacting to beside me as I start reading it, with the like count ticking up." (Attach a screenshot.)
3. "Show an Instagram comment saying '[this changed my life]' popping in on 'someone commented'."
4. "Show a DM conversation with a brand, three messages appearing one by one as I describe the deal."
5. "Put a TikTok-style video card with '[1.2M views]' beside me when I mention my most-viewed video."

Brand and sponsors

1. "Pop our logo into the top corner when I say '[brand name]', and tuck it away after three seconds." (Attach your logo.)
2. "During the sponsor read, show the [brand] card on its name, the code '[MAYA20]' on the code, a '[20% off]' sticker, and a link-in-bio arrow at the end."
3. "Show a product card with the [product] image, name and price beside me as I hold it up."
4. "Show a lower third with my name and '[Founder, Acme]' in the first five seconds, in the style of the attached screenshot."
5. "End with my handle '[@yourname]' and a follow button pulsing once, bottom-centre, above the captions."

Maps and places

1. "Draw the route from [Lisbon] to [Porto] while I talk about the trip, with a dot at each city as I name it."
2. "Zoom into [Hong Kong] on a dark map when I say where I moved, and drop a pin."
3. "Show a location tag '[Kyoto, Japan]' sliding in at the top when the video starts."
4. "Show a flight path arcing between [London] and [New York] with the flight time counting up."
5. "Put three city pins on a map — [Berlin], [Paris], [Milan] — appearing as I list them."

Structure and emphasis

1. "Show a chapter title '[Part 2: The Offer]' on a dark grid background for two seconds before I start the section."
2. "On a dark grid, build a three-tier pyramid level by level as I name [Skill], [Offer], [Audience]."
3. "Draw an arrow pointing at [the camera on my desk] when I say 'this one'."
4. "Show a split 'Option A / Option B' comparison beside me, highlighting whichever I choose."
5. "Show a small timeline — [2023], [2024], [2025] — with a marker moving along it as I tell the story."

Prompt 16 in action: the site slides in as a browser window, scrolls to pricing and zooms in on "one plan, twenty bucks", then a cursor clicks Get started.

Five things that make any prompt better

• Tie it to a word. "As I say 'nineteen thousand'" beats "around the middle".
• Attach, don't describe. A screenshot of your site says more than a paragraph about it. Rescroll measures a reference's real colours, fonts and spacing.
• Say where you're not. "Beside me" or "above my head" is enough; Rescroll also keeps graphics clear of your face, captions and the app buttons automatically.
• One style, reused. Keep a line like "white text on dark rounded cards, one purple accent" and paste it into every brief.
• Fix with a sentence. If it's not right, say what to change — "bigger, later, a different word" — rather than rewriting the whole prompt.

Frequently asked questions

How many graphics can I add to one video? In Rescroll, up to 40 per video. Most talking-head shorts need three to six.

What can I attach as a reference? Screenshots and images, saved web pages (even a whole folder), logos, PDFs, font files, and data such as CSV or JSON — up to 50 files per moment.

Do these prompts work for horizontal video? Yes. The formula is the same, and Rescroll builds on any aspect ratio, 16:9 included — you just have more room to the sides of the speaker and no app buttons to avoid.

For the craft behind the prompts, see how to add motion graphics to a talking-head video and how to edit like Iman Gadzhi.