How to Use AI for Professional Video Production

It's week eleven of 2% Better 💪 , the series where I highlight an operational improvement my team is implementing that's not world-changing but gives us a meaningful small efficiency gain. We'll cover how I use AI to speed up video creation while keeping things feeling empathetic and human (no uncanny valleys here!). 📓 Summary: Folks love videos - that's one of our top requests in feedback surveys. That said, videos are time-consuming to create and maintain. I use ChatGPT and Grammarly to take bullet points and create a strong draft. 🌀 Background: We have a large video catalog covering features, setup steps, how to get the most out of our platform, etc. Creating and updating these videos takes a good chunk of our time. Previously, I spent hours taking the bullet point outline and crafting the first draft. For the past year, I have instead fed that outline to ChatGPT and/or Grammarly, and it generates an excellent first draft 90% of the time (sometimes ChatGPT likes to add too many puns). I've used ChatGPT's Custom Instructions and Grammarly's Brand Voice (s/o to Sinclair Blackmon for this hack!) to help our tools write thoughtful scripts targeting our users. What's more, if we're _updating_ a script, I'll share that with our tools and use it to polish. For instance "make this script more concise - our users are really busy." We still use human on-screen talent (Alexis Thompson), which gives our videos the empathetic, human element our users deserve! 📈 Impact: I shave off 30% of the script writing or updating process, while still having control over the final product. Combined with Wistia's AI features like automatic chapters, we're nearly 50% more efficient than we were a year ago. What's a 2% better way you use AI for content creation or maintenance? #CustomerSuccess #CustomerEducation #CusEd #Efficiency #EdTech #Operations #SAAS #2percentbetter

Last week I experienced one of the biggest 'holy sh*t' moments of my career. A moment which fundamentally changed the way I think about the future of marketing. We launched our first announcement video using an entirely AI generated speaker. Using an existing video and a tool called Heygen, we were able to produce a full reading from our brilliant VP of Business Atif Khan without having to shoot in-person. The results were great: 100k+ views 1k+ engagements Zero questions about how real the video was. This has completely ripped up the production playbook. Previously our workflow looked something like: script → edit script → shoot → edit video → review → re shoot → edit video → finalize Whereas now: script → edit video → review → edit script We’ve removed several steps from our production workflow and saved days of shooting time. It allows us to be more agile and creative in our script writing, and being able to change a few words or the cadence of speech without reshooting means we can test and iterate multiple different variations. Put simply, I see a future where in-person production ceases to exist. We turned this video around in roughly 5 days, which previously would have taken 2 weeks minimum Leaning into AI will be the most powerful thing any marketing team does over the next 2-3 years. Small teams can now achieve huge outcomes Shoutout to the incredible thirdweb video team for making this happen Sian Morton John Andrew Begafria

“I’m excited about using GenAI for video, but my team is resisting,” shared a frustrated CMO from a $100M tech firm. Heads nodded. Turns out, this wasn’t an isolated case. Just about every CMO in the Huddle had heard some version of “we don’t have time,” or “it won’t look good enough,” or “what about the copyright issues?” That resistance is understandable. Video has heretofore been expensive, time-consuming, and daunting for teams without full-time producers. But GenAI is changing that, just like every other aspect of content creation and marketing.  To understand how far a rank amateur could go with the current tools, I decided to produce a video about the upcoming CMO Super Huddle. Wisely, I had an experienced coach from Day 1 in the form of Samantha Stark, founder of Phyusion, an AI adoption & consulting firm. Sam helped me through each of these key steps: 1. BrandGPT - A container for all your brand guidelines, assets, and previous content 2. Strategy - Use BrandGPT to develop and refine objectives and strategy 3. Script & Storyboard - Use BrandGPT to draft script, storyboard and prompts for animations 4. Voiceover track - I used my own voice recorded via GarageBand (for virtual voices, try ElevenLabs) 5. Audio track - Reverse engineered the sound I was looking for on ChatGPT and created the track on Suno 6. Animation - I used ImagineArt (Veo 2 & Kling) to create 7 penguin animations because I was familiar with the tool, had credits, and Sora couldn’t get the tone right (Sam recommends Sora, RunwayML, Midjourney, Veo 3) 7. Editing - I used Descript since I already had a license, which was fine for a proof of concept. When the pros took over, they moved to Kapwing. Halfway through, I was ready to quit. Sam talked me off the ledge. (Ping me to see my amateurish rough cut.) While I can create short (under 10 seconds) animated scenes, crafting a professional-looking 60-second video was well beyond my skill level and current toolset. Clearly, I needed even more professional help, and that’s when Steve Mudd of Talentless.ai came into the picture. Steve and his team used Veo3 to create more, better animations. They added sound effects. They tightened up the edits and added speaker card animations in Adobe Premiere and After Effects. They retextured the Super Huddle logo into ice and then exploded it with Midjourney. The result? Flocking awesome or for the birds? You tell me (turn up the sound and watch below.) As Sam noted during our Bonus Huddle last week, “These tools are getting better almost daily, so what you see now is the worst it will be," while adding, “Your brand isn’t just what you say. It’s the experience of how you say it.” Sharing her enthusiasm, Steve exclaimed, “We’re at the beginning of a creative renaissance.”   With GenAI, video is no longer an expensive, time-consuming luxury. The only question is whether you're ready to press play. 🎥 Watch the CMO Super Huddle video below, created with GenAI, polished by pros.

Thrilled to share that over the past three months, I've been part of an extraordinary team pushing the boundaries of AI video production. We've successfully crafted 100 minutes of content, launching two groundbreaking series that topped performance charts in recent months. Beyond these, we've developed a range of ads, internal videos, and educational content. 🔍 **Key Insights from Our Journey:** 1. **Choose right Use cases for Generative AI:** Generative AI excels in animation ca live action, unlocking vast potential in storytelling. You may use AI to produce good quality at a fraction of the cost. 2. **Invest to get Strong Ideas:** The success of our series and ads stems from months dedicated to refining unique, compelling storylines that had not been explored before. 3. **Users accept AI quality:** While acceptance of AI-generated content is high, audiences are critical of any flaws. They value the emotional, educational, and connective impact over production costs. 4. **Patience Pays Off:** AI production speeds up processes by 20%, yet it demands meticulous reworks and patience. 5. **Diverse Tools, Better Outcomes:** We utilize various AI tools to enhance our workflow—Midjourney for detail, OpenAI for speed, Runway for video editing, and Pika for its unique capabilities. 6. **Human Oversight is Crucial:** Rigorous quality checks are essential. Surprising elements can emerge, necessitating a keen human eye. 7. **Human Expertise Remains Key:** Even in 2024, the real magic happens when skilled professionals steer the technology. Investing in creative and marketing teams is crucial for harnessing AI's full potential. A heartfelt thanks to my incredible colleagues: Junaidah Said Khan, Kubhaer Haaziq, Abdul Hakim, Emad Khalid Mughal, Raheel Faraz, and Shargeel Zafar for their collaboration and innovation. #GenAI #AI #AIproduction #AIvideo #AIcontent #AImarketing #CreativeTech #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork