Introduction
Cinematic Brainstorm takes a single image and generates 9 distinct cinematic scene interpretations from it. It's designed for filmmakers, directors, cinematographers, and creative directors who want to rapidly explore visual directions before committing to a shot or sequence.
Whether you're developing a mood for a film, commercial, or editorial project, Cinematic Brainstorm gives you a broad creative spread from a single starting point.
Prerequisites
Before using Cinematic Brainstorm, you'll need:
- An input image — a photo, still, or any visual you want to use as the creative starting point for your scenes
This app requires credits to run and does not support infinite generations in Explore Mode.
Step 1 — Accessing Cinematic Brainstorm
Cinematic Brainstorm lives in the Apps section of Runway. You can get there two ways:
- Navigate to Apps in the left sidebar, then browse the Image category to find Cinematic Brainstorm
- Use the search bar at the top of the Apps panel and type Cinematic Brainstorm
Select the app to open it.
Step 2 — Adding the inputs
Cinematic Brainstorm has two inputs, both of which are required.
Input image
Upload the image you want to build your cinematic scenes from using the Select button. This can be a photograph, a film still, concept art, or any visual that establishes a starting point. The app is optimized to extrapolate rich cinematic variety from a single image, so your reference doesn't need to be elaborate.
Text prompt
In the Text Prompt field, describe the scenes you want to explore. Because Cinematic Brainstorm is purpose-built for this use case, a short, directional description is all you need — you don't have to over-specify to get strong, varied results across all 9 outputs.
Step 3 — Generating with Cinematic Brainstorm
Before generating, confirm:
- Your input image has been uploaded
- Your text prompt has been filled in
- Both inputs are required — the Generate button will not be active until both are provided
Once everything looks good, select Generate. Cinematic Brainstorm produces 9 scene variations and uses up to 221 credits per generation, using the Nano Banana model to power the generations.
Example outputs
| Input Image | Text Prompt | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt: she enters a y2k chrome tribal-style portal. | ||
| Prompt: Scenes leading up to the input image. He walks towards the RV, strikes a match, throws it onto the vehicle. |
Next steps
You've used Cinematic Brainstorm to expand a single image into 9 cinematic scene directions. From here, you might explore:
- Multi-Shot Video — Transform a single output (or more) into a cinematic video with multiple shots
- Reference to Video — Use one or more outputs to create a video sequence