As a kid, I've mentally spent more time in a fantasy realm than I did in the real world. Now that I think about it, this may be true for me even as an adult. I've spent a good portion of my childhood playing RPG video games with a medieval fantasy setting. I knew how to deal with golems, ghouls, and goblins better than humans.
It's been a while since I've played something like this since as I got older I began to prefer more fast-paced games. People keep telling me that I have to give Baldur's Gate 3 a try, and I think that's something I'll do over the winter.
For years I thought that spending so much time in my childhood playing fantasy-themed video games wouldn't have any direct benefits in my professional life. But when I started writing these Runway Gen-2 fantasy video prompts, it was like I tapped into an endless stream of inspiration.
Although I don't have enough free time anymore to dedicate even an hour out of my day to enter the fantasy realm again, I'm extremely happy that I got to experience these fictional worlds while I was young. I think they helped boost my imagination and they really helped me learn proper English as a non-native speaker.
Today, I was inspired to write this article in an attempt to show you how you can create stunning videos when you're willing to tap into your imagination. All of the videos featured in this article were made from text-only prompts on the Runway AI platform.
How to Make AI-Generated Fantasy Videos With Runway Gen-2
Using Runway Gen-2 to generate videos is an easy way to get your hands on beautiful and unique visuals. If you make fantasy-themed content on YouTube or any similar platform, you can keep your viewers mesmerized by showing them short clips they've never seen before depicting some of the stories you're telling.
Some of the videos you can create on the Runway AI platform are so good that you can even use them in short films. Otherwise, you can include them in other types of visual content like ads and music videos.
When I think about some of the RPG games I played when I was younger (mostly those that came out in the late 1990s or early 2000s), I immediately remember the cinematics that would play between different chapters. I specifically remember the video game cinematics in Diablo 2 as being amazing. Some of the videos I created for today's article reminded me of those cinematics.
Although it's possible to make excellent videos with Runway Gen-2, it's important not to set your expectations too high. It'll take time before text-to-video models can create exceptional results. The technology is still not fully there yet. But if you don't have money to hire an animation team, this is the best budget alternative.
When you're writing Runway prompts for fantasy videos, you want to pretend like you're a cinematographer and describe the scene, camera view, angle, and/or what type of lighting you want in the clip. I'll show you how to do that in the next section of the article.
10 Runway Gen-2 Prompt Examples for Fantasy Videos
This is the part of the article where the real fun begins. Although writing prompts for Runway Gen-2 may appear easy, it's often difficult to generate videos that feature ideas, concepts, and objects you can't see in the real world. That's why the videos I included here today were a bit challenging to create. Nevertheless, with the right prompt, you can truly make anything on the Runway AI platform.
Let me show you 10 different fantasy-themed prompts I wrote along with the videos the Runway Gen-2 AI model generated from them.
prompt #1: lost temple of forgotten dreams, medium shots of a long-lost temple with dream-inspired artifacts, dreamlike illumination
The temple here kind of reminds me of something you'd see in Angkor Wat. I think that a video like this could easily be featured as a cut scene in an indie video game. The aesthetic is similar to something you'd see in old RPG video game cinematics. I really like the lighting here, I'll remember to use the keyword 'dreamlike illumination' more often.
prompt #2: astral dreamwalker, close-up shots of a dreamwalker navigating surreal dreamscapes, shifting and dreamlike lighting
This clip kind of blends the fantasy and sci-fi genres. The main character has an interesting device that allows her to navigate through the surreal dreamscapes. It's very interesting that the AI model went in this direction because I was expecting something different.
prompt #3: floating island observatory in a high-fantasy setting, floating island with a mystical observatory, soft and celestial lighting, shots tracking the island
It's not realistic to expect the Runway Gen-2 model to create exactly what you describe every time. Although I don't usually include results that aren't tied to the prompt, I really like this video. Even though you can't see the island floating, it's still a great shot.
prompt #4: phoenix birth, close-up shot of a phoenix nest with a hatching egg, fiery and phoenix-themed lighting, shots capturing the birth of a phoenix
The fiery elements here are stunning. I also like the fact that you can see the egg heating up because it's hatching. I was always fascinated with this mythological creature. I remember the expansion of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 having a phoenix unit that you could use in battle. It was amazing.
prompt #5: discovery of an ancient portal gateway in the middle of a forgotten forest, wide-angle shot of a portal hidden within the heart of a forest, magical forest illumination and ethereal lighting
I'm going to be honest right now - I really believe there is a chance of an ancient portal gateway being discovered on Earth at some point. Imagine just taking a peaceful stroll in nature and you go through a door or hidden passage and you're transported to another world. If something like this ever gets discovered, I'm instantly booking the first flight to go through the portal.
prompt #6: first person view of exploration of a mystical maze filled with enchantments and illusions, mysterious and ever-changing labyrinth lighting
I didn't get to see the exploration of the maze from a first-person point of view, but this is still a really interesting clip. I'm fascinated by the inclusion of the camouflaged character on the right who quickly leaves the maze after a second. This is a very mysterious scene.
prompt #7: timeless clockwork city in a fantasy world, aerial shots of a city where time is controlled by clockwork mechanisms, steampunk-inspired cityscape, vibrant lighting
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I prefer atompunk over the cyberpunk aesthetic. There's something extremely fascinating to me about how people imagined the future would look like during the 1950s and 1960s. That's why I often use this aesthetic both in Runway and text-to-image models like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.
prompt #8: crystal-forged kingdom in a high fantasy setting, aerial shots showing a kingdom constructed entirely from magically grown crystals, radiant crystal illumination
If this kingdom was in a video game, I'd imagine the main character could find a lot of quests here. The only thing missing is a few dragons flying around to protect the kingdom. This video starts off perfectly but the castle eventually starts losing its shape. Stuff like this is bound to happen with Runway Gen-2 sometimes, but you can just run the prompt again and generate another video.
prompt #9: minstrel tavern in the middle of a whimsical village, medieval fantasy setting, wide-angle shot of a tavern in a whimsical village
This is without a doubt one of the best videos in the entire article. Sometimes, the Runway AI model does a much better job than you expected. There are a ton of details in this scene and not a single one feels out of place.
prompt #10: ancient standing stones in a forgotten forest, medium shots of ancient glowing standing stones enchanted with magical powers, mystical forest illumination with ancient runes
Imagine how many archaeological discoveries are yet to be made. Picture finding stones like this in the middle of a forest and discovering that they've been standing there for millions of years and that they contain some type of magical properties. This may sound crazy to some, but I think there's a non-zero chance for it to happen. Some people believe in ghosts; I believe in magic.
Final Thoughts
The Runway Gen-2 AI model can produce great fantasy videos from relatively short text descriptions. I included a lot of variety in my prompt examples to show you how powerful this AI model is. However, you can create a bunch of videos that share a team and put them together to create a coherent piece of content.
If you're new to the Runway AI platform, you should know that you're able to extend a video you created up to three times. This would make a single scene last 16 seconds. I included only short 4-second videos here, but you can find longer clips in some of my other articles that feature Runway Gen-2 prompt examples.
If you need video content at a relatively affordable price, I suggest that you start using Runway AI models because they can generate amazing clips.
