How to make AI videos: a complete workflow for 2026
Quick answer
To make an AI video, define the finished job, choose the right starting input, break the idea into short shots, generate a representative draft, fix the largest visual or audio mismatch, edit the accepted shots together, and review the final export on its destination screen. Most wasted effort comes from choosing the wrong workflow or asking one generation to make an entire finished video.
What you already have | Start with | Best use |
|---|---|---|
Text-to-video | Invent a new shot from a description | |
Image-to-video | Preserve a person, product, composition or style | |
Video-to-video or AI editing | Restyle, replace or revise material you already shot | |
Talking photo | Make a still face speak | |
Lip sync | Match mouth motion to replacement speech or song |
1. Define the finished job
Write one sentence containing the audience, format, duration and desired action. For example: “A 15-second vertical product demonstration for Instagram that shows the bottle opening and ends on the approved pack shot.” This is more useful than starting with a vague request for a “cinematic marketing video.”
Audience: who should understand or act on the video?
Destination: website, advertisement, presentation, TikTok, Reels, Shorts or internal prototype?
Format: horizontal, vertical or square?
Duration: one short shot or a sequence of several shots?
Non-negotiables: product identity, character, language, brand claim, disclosure or end card?
2. Choose the starting input
Use text when invention matters more than exact appearance. Use an image when the first frame, character, product or composition matters. Use existing footage when the motion is already correct and you need to change style, subject or details. Use a dedicated talking-photo or lip-sync workflow when speech synchronization is the actual job.
3. Turn the idea into a shot plan
Treat each generation as one filmable shot. A 20-second video may need four accepted five-second shots rather than one prompt containing four locations and a complete story.
Shot 1: establish the subject and location.
Shot 2: show the main action or product benefit.
Shot 3: add a detail, reaction or proof point.
Shot 4: finish on the approved product, person or message.
4. Prepare references before generating
Clean inputs save more time than elaborate prompts. Use a sharp source image, readable product geometry, an unobstructed face, and a frame that already resembles the composition you want. Remove visual defects before animation because video generation can amplify them.
5. Write one-shot prompts
For text-to-video, describe subject, action, setting, camera and visual treatment. For image-to-video, let the image establish appearance and focus the prompt on motion. Use the image-to-video prompt examples when beginning with a still, or the practical AI video prompting guide for a general shot structure.
A ceramic bottle stands on a wet stone pedestal at sunrise. Water runs down the surface as the camera moves slowly from left to right. Natural reflections, restrained motion, continuous shot.
Workflow recipe
A cinematic, ultra-realistic lakeside garden path surrounded by blooming flowers (white daisies and soft pink roses) leading toward a calm blue lake with majestic mountains in the background. Warm sunlight shines through tree branches, creating soft sun rays and gentle lens flare. The camera is handheld at chest level, simulating a person slowly walking forward along the stone pathway, producing a natural subtle sway. Camera framing remains static (no panning or tilting), only slow forward movement with slight handheld motion. Flowers and leaves gently sway in a light breeze, and the lake surface has soft, subtle ripples. Sunlight flickers naturally through the leaves as the perspective advances slightly. Rich depth of field with foreground flowers shifting softly as the viewer moves forward. Seamless loop animation, smooth continuous motion with no visible cuts or jumps. Cinematic lighting, ultra-detailed, immersive atmosphere. Aspect ratio 16:9.
- Model
- veo3.1-lite
- Format
- 9:16
- Resolution
- 720p
- Duration
- 8 seconds
Water runs down the bottle while the camera makes a slow left-to-right arc. The product remains rigid and centered. Continuous shot.
Create the first proof shot
Start from text or an approved image, choose the model that fits the shot, and evaluate one short generation before building the full sequence.
Try AI Video Generator6. Generate a representative proof
Test the hardest or most representative shot first. If the project depends on maintaining a person’s identity, a package’s shape or synchronized speech, prove that constraint before producing easy establishing shots.
Problem | Change next | Do not change yet |
|---|---|---|
Subject looks wrong | Use a stronger reference or reduce the motion | Music, captions and transitions |
Motion is chaotic | Request one action and one camera behavior | Resolution and color grade |
Shot feels frozen | Add one visible subject or environmental movement | The whole visual style |
Faces or products drift | Shorten the shot and reduce turns or occlusion | Unrelated scenes |
Lip sync looks late | Check source audio, pauses and visible face angle | Background design |
7. Build the edit around accepted shots
Generation creates source material. The finished video may still need trimming, sequence changes, captions, music, sound effects, brand elements and an end card. Keep important text and logos in an editor when exact spelling and placement matter.
8. Review the final video where it will appear
Watch once without sound: does the action read visually?
Listen without watching: is speech clear and is music masking it?
Check the first second and final frame at mobile size.
Inspect hands, mouths, product labels, reflections and scene continuity.
Confirm consent, licenses, disclosures and commercial-use terms for every input and tool.
Export once, then watch the actual exported file rather than only the editor preview.
How to choose an AI video platform
Choose a platform based on the workflow you must complete, not a single showcase clip. Compare supported inputs, current models, duration and aspect-ratio controls, editing tools, audio support, queue behavior, commercial terms and the cost of an accepted shot. See the current best AI video generators and AI video generator pricing guide for narrower comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
Many platforms provide a limited trial or guest workflow, but limits, watermarks, model access and commercial terms change. Verify the current product page before planning a deliverable around a free tier.
Use text-to-video to explore ideas quickly. Use image-to-video when you already know how the subject or composition should look. Many controlled workflows create or approve a still image first, then animate it.
Use the shortest duration that can contain the requested action. Complex sequences are easier to control as separate shots joined in an editor.
Use approved reference images, keep identifying details visible, reduce simultaneous changes, and build each new shot from a controlled reference rather than relying only on repeated text descriptions.
Some products can assemble scripts, stock material, avatars, narration and captions, but generated footage still needs factual, visual and rights review. For controlled creative work, a shot-based workflow remains easier to diagnose and revise.
Runbo Li is the Co-founder and CEO of Magic Hour, where he builds AI video and image tools for content creation. He is a Y Combinator W24 founder and former Data Scientist at Meta, where he worked on 0-1 consumer social products in New Product Experimentation. He writes about AI video generation, AI image creation, creative workflows, and creator tools.
