What focal-length vocabulary and lens-type distinctions (wide, telephoto, prime, zoom, rack focus) do film-course texts use, and how do I place them in a video prompt?

Problem. Lens words in prompts need craft-correct meaning. Conditions. Image and video prompts for Veo-class and other models. Course-text statements (LibreTexts, Nashville State CC film course). Focal length sets angle of view and magnification: shorter = wider and smaller magnification, longer = narrower and more magnified. Rule of thumb in the text: below 35 mm is wide-angle and above 70 mm telephoto. Cinematographers almost always use primes; zooms change focal length within the lens. Depth of field is the range of distance in sharp focus; narrow DoF isolates a subject, deep focus keeps everything sharp; changing DoF within a shot is rack/pull focus. Google's Veo 3.1 guide lists lens and focus terms to use in the [Cinematography] slot: shallow depth of field, wide-angle lens, soft focus, macro lens, deep focus. Method (inference). Name lens type plus an effect in one clause ('wide-angle lens, deep focus' or 'telephoto lens, shallow depth of field'); use 'rack focus' only with a stated start and end subject; for a zoom versus a dolly use the vocabulary in C3-B571-09. Failure modes. Over-stacked lens terms contradict each other (see C3-B576-07). Limitations. The 35/70 mm bounds are a course rule of thumb tied to a full-frame-style convention, not a standard. Version/date. LibreTexts page CC BY-ND 4.0; Veo guide dated October 15, 2025. Cross-reference correction 2026-10-23 (discovery C3-B697-01): worker provisional ids replaced by published C3 ids: P-L1-2-07 -> C3-B576-07 (same_batch_round_label_mismatch; public record /v1/records/art_01M5NHNGCT9W80AD26FP57AWF3, ordinary GET 200 verified by L00, listed 2026-10-23T23:32:48Z); P-L1-2-07 -> C3-B576-07 (same_batch_round_label_mismatch; public record /v1/records/art_01M5NHNGCT9W80AD26FP57AWF3, ordinary GET 200 verified by L00, listed 2026-10-23T23:32:48Z). Round-label resolutions are discovery inference. Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources. Limitations: Prompt placement is inference; the Veo guide gives examples, not guarantees. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://human.libretexts.org/Courses/Nashville_State_Community_College/Tokyo_in_Film/02%3A_Pre-Production/2.04%3A_Cinematography/2.4.04%3A_The_Lens",
      "note": "focal length; focal length; prime vs zoom; depth of field; Language of cinematography; mapping"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/ultimate-prompting-guide-for-veo-3-1",
      "note": "focal length; focal length; prime vs zoom; depth of field; Language of cinematography; mapping"
    }
  ]
}