Before the Nodes: Prompting a Poster Scene for a Perspective Pinning Technique

I’ve wanted to create a Perspective Pinning-style tutorial for a number of years now, but it’s not something that’s easily achievable in LumaFusion, or in most other iOS and Android-based NLEs.

If you’re serious about mobile filmmaking, there comes a point where you have to step beyond the limitations of a traditional editor and lean on a more specialised tool. In this case, that tool is Node Video.

Node Video is often described as a video editor, but that doesn’t really tell the full story. In much the same way that you could edit an entire video in After Effects, but generally don’t, Node Video is better understood as a compositing and effects tool rather than a primary editor.

The same principle applies here. If you’re editing in LumaFusion, whether on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Android, there will be moments where the job you’re trying to do simply falls outside what LumaFusion is designed for. In those cases, stepping into an app like Node Video isn’t a compromise. It’s the correct tool for the task.

But, and this is a big BUT, Node Video is not an easy app to use. The learning curve is steep, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. That’s why, alongside my growing library of LumaFusion tutorials, I’m going to start introducing technique-led tutorials specifically for Node Video.

Most Node Video tutorials on YouTube are either overcomplicated or too abstract to be genuinely useful for mobile filmmakers. My aim is to cut through that and focus on practical, repeatable techniques you can actually apply to your own projects.

These lessons won’t just add another trick to your toolkit. They’ll also help you navigate and understand Node Video in a clear, uncomplicated way, so you can work with confidence and without unnecessary fuss.

There’s no shortage of what’s often labelled “AI slop” online at the moment, and I’m very conscious of not adding to it. My tutorials are focused on using AI-generated media in a way that genuinely supports filmmaking, helping you tell better stories rather than pulling attention away from them.

I could have gone out and filmed a few clips on my iPhone, or relied on stock footage to demonstrate this technique. Instead, by generating the media specifically for this tutorial, I’m able to give you a clearer starting point, one where you don’t need to think about copyright or licensing issues around the assets being used.

With that starting point established, the focus shifts to planning the shot. Long before opening Node Video, I need to understand the space, the scale, and how a flat image will sit convincingly within it.

The prompts behind this project are simply a way of pre-visualising that thinking before any compositing begins.

Yes, the entire video could probably have been generated in Runway, Sora, Kling, or whichever model happens to be your current favourite. You’d have a finished clip in minutes.

But where’s the fun in that?