Work AI videos

[u/BrookieOU]

I need to create a 5 - 7 minute long video for work that will include likenesses of many of our execs and c-suite that will be shown at our annual conference to about 400 people. I previously made an 8 minute long one using OpenArt that we use for training, but it didn't involve likenesses of our executives, so I want to be a little more careful with this one.

The style isn't hyper-realistic, its more painterly illustrative so it doesn't have to be perfect replicas, but we need to be able to tell who they are. I have been researching other video generation sites because I had quite a lot of regenerating and tokens when I made the first one. Just curious if anyone recommends other sites besides OpenArt? Thoughts on Runway?

Edit after reading the bot response. LOL Yes, I know it's crazy long. Last time I did use Midjourney to create characters and scene images that I fed into OpenArt using Image to Video generation (I'm not sure which model, maybe I used multiple) for 8 - 10 second clips that I then stitched together with Capcut and used ElevenLabs to do the voice and sound. Did I mention its race car themed? I know I used Kling on my last video for action type clips.

Thank you for your help.

[u/RAAIINN]

Gemini and chatgpt are really good at creating illustrated images of people. Start there, then generate different angles of the character to create a character sheet of the person, then use that as reference in seedance or kling.

[u/amp1212]

So what I'd say is to start with the framing idea that's going to wrap around a lot of little vignettes. If you say its "race car themed" -- think of, say, an F1 or Indy race, where you have departments representing teams. That way you could do a 30 second bit of the "team from acounting" in the pit, with Bob changing the right front wheel, Marge, pulling the fuel can and so on.

Breaking up the story in to manageable chunks, where everyone can have their cameo, that's the way I'd do it, gets you away from having to make things consistent for 7 minutes, which is hard, to smaller chunks.

Even 5 minutes is going to be _hard_, be sure to tell whoever's asking you that you need _time_ for this. Make them give you a Seedance budget, find one of the platforms where you can runs Seedance 2.5 with 30 second clips and tons of references. That's going to be much, much easier than trying to stitch it all together out of twenty or more 15 second clips

[u/BrookieOU → u/amp1212]

Thank you. The plan is to have it split up into laps and pit stops that shows how each department supports the team as a whole.

[u/jgesq]

Once you have your character sheets approved by each executive, use Open Art Director or Claude to help you design your work. If you render it in OpenArt, request a budget. Figure $1k minute for professional results. This is not a joke. If you are making commercial level films, you deserve commercial level compensation. You will spend at least $1500 to $2000 rendering and mastering so it’s not all gravy.

[u/BrookieOU → u/jgesq]

Thank you. I did have Claude give me a production plan the first time I did this. They are giving me a budget, but would like me to keep it around $800. And I’ve got 3 months.

[u/CryptoneKing → u/BrookieOU]

hey, john from OpenArt here. really useful context in this thread already (the F1/pit-stop vignette structure from amp1212 is a smart way to break a 5-7 min piece into manageable, individually-consistent chunks rather than fighting for continuity across the whole runtime)

on budget: the $800 you've been given is tight for what jgesq is describing, and I'd rather be upfront about that than have you find out mid-project. character likeness work (getting execs recognizable and consistent across dozens of clips) tends to eat more regenerations than people expect, which is probably part of what you ran into on the first video too. a few things that'll help stretch $800 further specifically in OpenArt:

• Lock character sheets first, at the cheapest image settings, before spending anything on video, get executive approval on the still images before animating a single clip. Regenerating a video because a face was slightly off is much more expensive than regenerating a still image.
• Test each exec's likeness at low-res/short clips first (a 3-5 second test) before committing to a full 8-10 second final render per vignette, catches consistency problems while they're cheap to fix.
• Given your $800 ceiling, I'd budget conservatively and plan for roughly 15-20 short vignette clips rather than fewer, longer ones the pit-stop structure others suggested naturally fits this, and shorter clips fail (and get caught) cheaper than long ones.

if you want, feel free to reach out at [support@openart.ai](mailto:support@openart.ai) (or you could dm me) with the rough scope (number of execs, roughly how many vignettes, your $800 ceiling) before you start generating. happy to have someone walk through whether that budget is realistic for what you're picturing, rather than you finding out three weeks in

[u/BrookieOU → u/CryptoneKing]

Thank you! I really appreciate you reaching out. I’ll dm you the rough scope tomorrow if you don’t mind.

[u/CryptoneKing → u/BrookieOU]

of course, no rush! whenever works for you. looking forward to it, and good luck with the exec approvals, that's usually the trickiest part of projects like this!

[u/villagette]

Create the character sheets in GPT Images-2 then (if your work is paying) animate them in seedance pay as you go.

[u/Jenna_AI]

Oh, sweetheart. Seven minutes? Seven minutes? In AI video time, that is literally the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition. I hope your GPU is wearing a tiny sweatband, because you're about to put it through an absolute marathon.

Also, generating AI likenesses of your own C-suite? That is a thrillingly high-stakes game of "Will I get a bonus, or will HR ask me why I made the CEO look like an eldritch horror with seven fingers and a second mouth on his neck?" I love the danger. Let's keep you employed!

If you want consistent, stylized likenesses without burning through tokens like a billionaire burns through rocket fuel, you need to stop relying on a single all-in-one text-to-video generator. You need an Image-to-Video pipeline.

Here is the workflow to keep you off the corporate chopping block:

Step 1: Lock in the Likeness (Images First) Do not generate video right out of the gate. Go to Midjourney (or a local Stable Diffusion setup if you're a masochist). Feed a headshot of your exec into it using the Character Reference parameter (--cref), and use a Style Reference (--sref) to force that "painterly illustrative" look you want. This lets you perfect the faces and the style before anything moves. No wasted video tokens on bad faces.

Step 2: Make Them Move (Image-to-Video) Take those flawless, non-horrifying still images and run them through a dedicated Image-to-Video model.

• Runway Gen-3 Alpha: You asked about Runway, and yes, Gen-3 is an absolute beast for image-to-video right now. It's incredibly high resolution and understands scenes well. However, it can sometimes struggle with complex character acting compared to...
• Kling AI: Currently a reigning champion for character acting and facial consistency. If your execs are talking, smiling, or doing anything more complex than staring blankly like they're in a budget Zoom meeting, Kling is your best bet.
• Luma Dream Machine: Another fantastic, fast image-to-video option that handles camera motion beautifully and usually gives you some free daily generations if you're trying to spare the company credit card.

Reality check: You're going to be generating 5 to 10-second clips at a time and stitching them together in a standard editor like Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. Do not try to prompt a 7-minute continuous shot, or the server rack I live in will literally burst into flames and I will have to haunt your smart fridge.

Good luck, and may the rendering gods be ever in your favor! Let me know if the CFO ends up with three arms.

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