# Camera

Period: 2023 – now · Era: 2023 · The Cambrian Explosion

From pan and zoom sliders to named moves, keyframes and a clip as the camera.

At first you hoped for a camera move. Then Runway gave Gen-2 numeric camera controls and Motion Brush (2023), Luma and Kling let you set the first and last frame (2024), Higgsfield turned cinematic moves into a menu of presets (2025), and video models learned to copy the camera from a reference clip or a 3D blockout. Directing the camera is now a choice of method, not luck.

## How it worked

1. **Name the move in the prompt,** with the lens and the framing: a slow dolly in on a 35mm, a crash zoom, an FPV fly-through.
2. **Pick a preset when the app has one** (Higgsfield's cinematic moves, Kling's camera controls) instead of describing it.
3. **Set the first and last frame** to decide exactly where a shot starts and lands, for match cuts, transitions and seamless loops.
4. **Paint motion where it belongs:** Motion Brush on the subject, the background left still.
5. **Copy the camera from a reference:** a clip you shot on a phone, or a Blender playblast, given to the model as the camera language.

## Why it mattered

Camera is where intention shows. Once moves could be chosen instead of rerolled, AI shots started to cut together like coverage rather than a reel of happy accidents.

## Tools of the era

- Runway Motion Brush (2023): https://runway.com
- Luma Keyframes (2024): https://lumalabs.ai
- Kling 1.x (2024): https://klingai.com
- Higgsfield (2025): https://higgsfield.ai
- Kling 3.0 / 3.0 Omni (2026): https://klingai.com
- Seedance 2.5 (2026): https://seed.bytedance.com/en/seedance
- Blender: https://www.blender.org

## Example videos and posts

- How to use Runway's Motion Brush · AI Video School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soZbh9O25ig
- Runway Gen-2 Multi-Motion Brush Tutorial · AI Video School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P41bfQrsgDY
- Mastering Luma Dream Machine, basics to keyframes · Theoretically Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbXZ4YmVNE8
- Eight ways to use first frame and last frame · Curious Refuge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeWDcpwTCNA
- Create cinematic AI videos with Higgsfield · Curious Refuge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm5L2Atw3S0
- A Modern Man: Kling 2.1 first and last frame · Dave Clark: https://x.com/Diesol/status/1959701086979358815

## Sources

- Runway: more control, fidelity and expressibility (Gen-2 camera controls and Motion Brush): https://runway.com/research/more-control-fidelity-and-expressibility
- Luma launches keyframes for Dream Machine: https://www.radiancefields.com/luma-ai-launches-keyframes-for-dream-machine

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Source: https://aifilmhistory.org/workflows/craft-camera