Prompt Library / Cinematic Establishing Shot / for Midjourney

Cinematic Establishing Shot Prompt for Midjourney

This is the Midjourney version of the cinematic establishing shot prompt: a wide opening frame that establishes place, time and mood before any subject appears — the first shot of a sequence. It is formatted the way Midjourney takes prompts best. Free — copy it, replace the bracketed parts, and paste it in.

The prompt

✎ Editable — click in, customize or extend this prompt, then copy. Your edits copy with it.Take this prompt into the Generator and customize it to your own specification →

Reference image — keyframe

Attach a reference image: choose a file, drag & drop it here, or click here and paste. It never leaves your browser.

Attach reference image

Push copies this prompt with a reference line naming your image, and downloads the image file — attach it in the model to complete the pair. This page stages the pair for you; it cannot upload into the model itself (sites cannot reach into each other), so the final attach happens there. The image is downscaled to at most 1024px and stored only in this browser, paired with this prompt. If browser storage is full, it is kept for this visit only.

The deliverable — and how to check it

Deliverable: one establishing image, 21:9, that reads as a location in a single glance: foreground element, midground subject ground, and background depth all present. Acceptance check: a viewer who has never seen the project can name the place type, the time of day and the mood in one sentence; no person is close enough to camera to become the subject.

Series: YouTube Production — Step 1 of 3 — the opener. See its place in the full workflow

Using this prompt with Midjourney

Midjourney does not read sentences - it reads weighted descriptors, which is why this version is comma-separated with parameters at the end. Change --ar for a different shape, and add words after --no to exclude more.

What this route costs — and how to pay less

Cost structure: subscription-bundled — Midjourney has no pay-per-image route; generations draw on the GPU time of whichever monthly plan tier you hold. The same prompt is pre-configured in this library for every major model, so you can run it on whichever route fits your budget — comparing the structures before you generate is a free way to save money.

Replace the bracketed placeholders — [LOCATION], [TIME OF DAY], [FOREGROUND ELEMENT], [WEATHER OR ATMOSPHERE] — with your own details before pasting.

Other versions and customization

See all model versions of this prompt, or open the prompt gateway to build a custom prompt from your own one-line goal, formatted for Midjourney or any other model.

More Midjourney prompts

Character Keyframe Consistency Workflow for Midjourney Product Ad Hero Shot for Midjourney Storyboard Sequence Sheet for Midjourney

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