Director Controls & AI Director
AI Director is the chat assistant that helps you plan and fill the generator form. Director Controls are sliders and menus on some video models. Together they look similar (“both steer the shot”), but they work in different layers.
Two layers: chat vs generate
1. While you chat (AI Director)
- When AI Director is open, the app sends a snapshot of your current form (including Director Control values, if any) along with your message.
- The assistant uses that to give relevant advice and to fill fields like prompt, title, duration, size, etc.
- For stability, AI Director usually applies only core fields to the form. Director sliders and camera menus are normally left as you set them — the assistant does not constantly overwrite them unless you explicitly ask to change those settings in chat.
So: you still choose Director Controls on the form; AI Director sees them and is guided not to repeat the same technical jargon in the written prompt when those controls are already set.
2. When you press Generate
- Your prompt text (from you or from AI Director) is sent as the main creative description.
- Director Control values are sent as separate settings.
- MediaSnap merges them in the background into the final instructions for the video model. You don’t have to paste that merged text into the prompt box.
That way you get structured control (sliders/presets) plus natural language (prompt) without doing everything twice by hand.
What you should write in chat vs on the form
| Use prompt / AI Director prose for… | Use Director Controls for… |
|---|---|
| Subject, action, story, mood | Scene consistency vs reference |
| Setting, lighting, wardrobe | Motion strength preset feel |
| Style references (“cinematic”, “1980s”) | Camera preset (pan, dolly zoom, orbit, …) |
| Continuity with your project | Motion blur, bokeh, shake, lens effects |
If you already picked Camera Movement = Orbit, you don’t need a long paragraph in the prompt repeating “orbiting camera” — focus the prompt on what is in the shot and what happens.
If things feel repetitive
If the prompt already says something very specific (e.g. “dolly zoom with vertigo effect”) and you also chose Dolly Zoom in Director Controls, the system tries to deduplicate overlapping instructions when building the final request. Best practice: either describe it clearly in the prompt or use the control — you don’t need both at maximum detail.
Related pages
- Director Controls — what each slider and menu does
- What AI Director Is — overview of the assistant
- How AI Director Helps — workflows and tips
- Prompt-to-Setup Flow — from idea to form