Director models and camera instructions
A director model is trained to follow camera instructions written in the prompt, rather than taking them as a separate setting. As of 2026-09-25.
MiniMax released its Director models in February 2025, describing them as following camera movement instructions more closely. The camera is still asked for in words, but the model has been trained for those words.
Other notes take the idea in other directions. Luma's Camera Motion Concepts and Camera Angle Concepts, in March and April 2025, add named moves and angles to Ray2; Wan 2.2's image-to-video Flash tier names shot control in August 2025, and HappyHorse 1.1 names shot control in June 2026.
Where a model has no named control, the difference between a director model and any other is in how reliably a written move is followed, which a note can claim but not show.
| Date | Line | Version | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 February 2025 | MiniMax Hailuo | Hailuo Director | The Director models follow camera movement instructions more closely |
| 31 March 2025 | Luma Ray | Ray2 | Camera Motion Concepts give Ray2 composable camera moves |
| 18 April 2025 | Luma Ray | Ray2 | Nine Camera Angle Concepts are added for Ray2 |
| 15 August 2025 | Wan | Wan 2.2 | Wan 2.2 image-to-video Flash: faster, with shot control |
| 16 June 2026 | HappyHorse | HappyHorse 1.1 | HappyHorse 1.1 text-to-video names shot control and motion rendering |
Inclusion rule. Entries whose note uses or shows the term. Order. By date, oldest first; undated rows last.
1In the notes
Released a video generation model with enhanced camera control, offering superior adherence to camera movement directives
MiniMax, model release notes
Today, we are releasing our first set of Concepts for Ray2 – Camera Motion Concepts – allowing reliable and composable control over camera motion in video generation.
Luma, Camera Motion Concepts post
Our first release includes nine camera angle concepts, each highly effective and composable with other controls in Ray2 .
Luma, Camera Angle Concepts post
The upgraded Wan 2.2 image to video Flash model, delivers faster speed with optimized stability, more powerful prompt following, improved consistency for text, portraits, and products, and precise shot control.
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, newly released models
HappyHorse-1.1-T2V supports Text-to-Video generation with improved semantic understanding, cinematic shot control, and dynamic motion rendering.
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, newly released models
- T2V-01-Director / I2V-01-DirectorThe Director models follow camera movement instructions more closely
- Camera Motion ConceptsCamera Motion Concepts give Ray2 composable camera moves
- Camera Angle ConceptsNine Camera Angle Concepts are added for Ray2
- wan2.2-i2v-flashWan 2.2 image-to-video Flash: faster, with shot control
- happyhorse-1.1-t2vHappyHorse 1.1 text-to-video names shot control and motion rendering
2Other terms
3Notes read
- MiniMax, model release notes, read 2026-09-25
- Luma, Camera Motion Concepts post, read 2026-09-25
- Luma, Camera Angle Concepts post, read 2026-09-25
- Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, newly released models, read 2026-09-25