Introduction

Scene Builder is a two-stage app for creating cinematic video scenes from a text description. First, frame your scene by describing what you want and applying suggested cinematic effects. Then, animate the resulting frame into a finished video. 

It's built for filmmakers, directors, and content creators who want creative control over both the look of a scene and how it moves.

Prerequisites

Before using Scene Builder, you'll need:

• A text prompt — a description of the scene you want to create (minimum of 10 characters)
• Reference images (optional) — Images to guide the characters, scene, or visual style of your generated frame

This app requires credits to run and does not support infinite generations in Explore Mode.

Step 1 — Accessing Scene Builder

Scene Builder lives in the Apps section of Runway. You can get there two ways:

1. Navigate to Apps in the left sidebar, then use the search bar to find Scene Builder
2. Navigate to Apps in the left sidebar, select the Video category, and locate Scene Builder

Select the app to open it.

Step 2 — Framing your scene

Scene Builder runs in two stages: Frame your scene and Animate your scene.

Frame your scene is the first stage, where you generate the still frame that anchors your video.

• Describe what you imagine — In the prompt field, describe the scene you want to create. The prompt requires a minimum of 10 characters to populate Cinematic effects suggestions. Scene Builder is optimized for cinematic scene creation, so a clear visual description is enough to get strong results.
• References (optional) — Select + References to upload reference images that guide the visual style or composition of your generated frame.
• Cinematic effects (optional) — Once your prompt is in place, Scene Builder will suggest cinematic effects to shape the look of your scene. Select any of the suggested effects to apply them to your frame.

After populating the required inputs, review the aspect ratio selection above the Generate frame button. The selected aspect ratio guide the final video output's aspect ratio.

Click Generate frame to create the image and move to the Animate your scene phase.

If your image needs edits, you have two options to iterate: Redo or Edit.

Example outputs

Scene Description	References	Cinematic Effects	Output
the woman drives the buggy. night time.		Style: Moonlit realism, desaturated Subject: Focused, hands firm on wheel Environment: Empty plains, star-filled sky Composition: Dashboard perspective, wide-angle

Step 3 — Animating your scene

Once your frame is generated, you'll move to the second stage to animate it into a video.

• Prompt (optional) — Guides the suggestions created by the agent in the Motion Effects section
• Motion Effects — Once your prompt is in place, Scene Builder will suggest cinematic motion effects to shape the look of your shot. Select any of the suggested effects to apply them to your video.

Once your scene description is in place, review the Audio and Quality settings above the Generate Video button.

Example outputs

Frame	Motion Effects	Output
	Camera: Dolly bump forward with impact shakes Character: Head whipping side-to-side with jostling Environment: Sand spray trailing behind vehicle path

Next steps

You've used Scene Builder to create a cinematic scene from a single description, frame it, and animate it into a finished video. From here, you might explore:

• Multi-Shot Video — Extend your single animated scene into a longer multi-shot narrative sequence.
• Cinematic Brainstorm — Generate alternative visual concepts from your framed scene to further build the sequence.