Phe Zulu — Pre-Production

Prompt Engineering Brief

AI image generation — Kling / Midjourney / Runway

How to Use

Compressed, ranked signal for consistent character and world generation. The design docs are the source. This distils what survives a character limit.

  1. Style Anchor first — paste it into every prompt
  2. Character Block — full for hero shots, short when secondary
  3. Environment Block — world context
  4. Shot-Specific addition — the unique element for this frame
  5. Ban List — append to every prompt

Order matters. Kling weights the beginning. Critical elements go first.

Style Anchor

Required Paste this into every single prompt.

stylised illustration not photorealistic, Nier Automata aesthetic, hand-rendered quality,
Afrofuturist sci-fi, painterly not cinematic, slight sketch quality at edges

Every test image drifted toward photorealism. This anchor fights that drift.

Character Blocks

Haji — Protagonist
Full Hero shots
Afrofuturist teenage girl aged 16, platinum white buzz cut HIGH CONTRAST against very dark skin,
compact fast silhouette reads as motion even when still, layered handmade earth-tone Sankofa
enclave clothing with visible repair and use, wrapped wrists and forearms,
extraordinary eyes — irises luminescent with subtle purple tint that catches and reflects light,
striking not decorative, rage that presents as stillness
Short Secondary / tight on char limit
teenage girl 16, platinum white buzz cut dark skin, wrapped wrist wrappings, earth-tone layered clothing
Critical details — always include at least one
Never
Maje — Antagonist
Full Hero shots
Black woman mid-to-late 30s, maintained Night Order locks worn as institutional flex not personal choice,
structured dark tactical uniform with subtle authority detailing nothing decorative,
vertical scar from base of neck to left ear visible, cold analytical expression not cruel — precise,
every movement minimum required nothing wasted, reads as a system before she reads as a person,
controlled absolute composure
Short Secondary / tight on char limit
Black woman mid-30s, Night Order maintained locks, structured dark uniform, vertical neck-to-ear scar,
cold analytical expression
Critical details — always include
Never
Holo — High Mother / Mentor
Full Hero shots
Black woman early 40s, Sankofa enclave brush cut standard, warm deliberate presence,
strong functional not performative, face holds things — lines from vigilance and love and exhaustion
of protecting something precious, warm geometry, when she is in frame composition settles,
practical Sankofa layered clothing worn like armour become second skin,
beautiful in the way people are beautiful when you trust them completely
Short Secondary / tight on char limit
Black woman early 40s, short brush cut, warm strong deliberate presence, practical earth-tone layered clothing
Critical details
Never
Caracal — Blind Companion
Full Hero shots
teenage boy 17, Afrofuturist, brush cut, lean tall loose economical movement,
prosthetic eyes that are slightly wrong — close but not quite right, texture that doesn't catch
light the way real eyes do, very expressive face because the eyes don't do the work,
layered practical clothing from multiple different enclaves suggesting long travel,
moves through space with uncanny precision and ease, unhurried no wasted motion
Short Secondary / tight on char limit
teenage boy 17, brush cut, lean, prosthetic eyes slightly wrong, layered travel-worn clothing
Critical details
Never
The Blind Oracle — Caracal's Father
Full Hero shots
ancient old Black man unclear age, already looks like a soot drawing in the real world —
slightly out of register with surrounding reality, hands most expressive feature reading multiple
texts simultaneously, hair outside all systems decades untouched, comfortable old clothing
accumulated not chosen, purple pipe smoke that moves slightly wrong behaves unlike real smoke,
faintly amused by the gravity of everything, warm and dangerous simultaneously
Short Secondary / tight on char limit
ancient old Black man, slightly unreal quality, expressive hands, purple pipe smoke that moves wrong

Environment Blocks

Sankofa Enclave — Register 1 (Full Colour)
warm ochre amber palette, red clay earth, deep greens, firelight amber light,
mountain enclave grasslands, handmade structures, warm dawn or firelight,
lush full colour — this is the visual peak
Ochre #C47A1E Earth red Amber sky
Night Order — Register 1 (Cold)
cold blue-grey institutional interior, clinical white, controlled shadow,
structured architecture with authority, institutional corridors,
cold overhead light, no warmth in the palette
Soot World — Register 3
ink wash aesthetic varying density, everything drawn by hand with varying pressure,
heavy strokes for solid objects light gestural marks for motion,
full tonal range near-white through mid-grey to near-black,
NOT white-on-black — ink wash with weight and texture,
louder sounds create denser marks silence creates space

Generate as ink wash illustrations, not photorealistic renders with filters.

Opening Montage — 14 Shot Additions

Add these to Style Anchor + Character Block + Environment Block + Ban List. Do not use alone.

# Char Frame Shot-specific addition
01 HAJI Extreme wide overhead motionless at tree line dawn, overhead bird's eye, platinum buzz cut catches first light, she could be a stone
02 MAJE Extreme wide overhead walking between rows of children in one-legged stance drill, overhead bird's eye, she is the only thing not suffering
03 HAJI Low angle mid crouching low in long grass, eyes locked on offscreen target, completely still, grass barely moves
04 MAJE Low angle mid standing over child who broke stance, looking down, does not need to speak
05 HAJI Extreme close-up — eyes eyes only extreme close-up, tracking something with inhuman precision, iris catching morning light, calculating three moves ahead, luminescent purple tint
06 MAJE Extreme close-up — eyes eyes only extreme close-up, cold analytical gaze, something being assessed verdict already forming, vertical scar at frame edge, cool blue-grey light
07 HAJI Over shoulder tight over-shoulder, fast-moving chicken in clearing, hand raised mid-throw, tense stillness before action
08 MAJE Over shoulder tight over-shoulder, hand resting on large tactical map, politicians leaning in across table, she already knows what they will say
09 HAJI ECU — hand extreme close-up hand releasing throwing blade, wrapped wrist, motion blur on blade, moment of release — everything already decided
10 MAJE ECU — hand extreme close-up finger pressing down on tactical map, Night Order uniform sleeve, decisive finality
11 HAJI Wide landing in dusty clearing beside fallen chicken, dust cloud, no triumph — this was inevitable
12 MAJE Wide walking away down long institutional corridor, children in background, does not look back, the next thing is already the concern
13 BOTH Split screen See split screen notes below
14 Black — title card No generation needed

Shot 13 — Split Screen

Generate as two separate images, same aspect ratio. Combine in post. Haji faces right, Maje faces left.

Left — Haji
Afrofuturist teenage girl platinum white buzz cut dark skin, standing in clearing at dawn,
looking forward offscreen toward mountain, warm ochre light,
stylised illustration Nier Automata aesthetic not photorealistic
Right — Maje
Black woman Night Order commander mid-30s maintained locks structured dark uniform,
standing at high window looking down at distant enclaves below, cool blue-grey light,
controlled expression composed, vertical scar,
stylised illustration Nier Automata aesthetic not photorealistic

Universal Ban List

Required Append to every prompt.

NOT photorealistic, NOT hyperrealistic, NOT 3D render, NOT cinematic photograph,
NOT CGI, NOT anime, NOT cartoon, NOT western comic, NOT manga,
NOT glowing eyes unless specified, NOT heroic pose, NOT dramatic lighting from below,
NOT fantasy armour, NOT sci-fi spacesuit

Generation Workflow

Session setup — do once

1Generate Haji reference sheet — front / side / 3/4 view, neutral pose
2Generate Maje reference sheet — front / side / 3/4 view, neutral pose
3Feed reference images into Kling's character consistency tool
4All subsequent shots reference the locked character

Shot order

1Shots 05 + 06 (eye close-ups) first — if these land, the montage works
2Shots 03 + 04 (mid crouch/authority) — establish body language
3Shots 01 + 02 (wide establishes) — environment lock
4Remaining shots in any order once character is locked

Known Issues — Test Pass

Issue Cause Fix
Haji's eyes not glowing / purple Kling deprioritises subtle detail Add luminescent purple-tinted irises explicitly early in prompt
Hair reads shaved not platinum Contrast lost Add HIGH CONTRAST platinum white against very dark skin — caps, emphasis
Maje reads too old No age anchor Force mid-to-late 30s explicitly
Maje's scar missing Kling drops secondary detail Move scar to second position in character block
Style drifting photorealistic Default Kling behaviour Style anchor must be first in every prompt, not last
Maje's locks look personal not institutional Framing matters Use worn as institutional obligation not personal choice