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Most of the cost in AI video comes from clips that never get used. Five habits keep your spend on the shots that make the final cut.

What you get

A finished ad with every clip accounted for.

Time to read

About 4 minutes. Each step works with any toolset.

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What you need

  • An image model and an image-to-video model
  • A short brief with the look you want
  • A place to log what each generation cost

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Steps

1

Lock the look on a still

Get the frame right as a still image first. Stills are faster and cheaper to redo, so do your exploring there: composition, light, product placement.
2

Animate only the approved still

Feed the approved still to an image-to-video model as the first frame. The look is already decided, so the model only has to add motion.
3

Generate five seconds, not ten

Start every shot at the shortest length. Extend only the clips that work instead of paying for long takes you end up trimming.
4

Check the price before you run

Models charge very differently for similar shots. Compare the price per second for the shot you need before you press generate.
5

Keep a receipt per project

Log what every still, clip and upscale cost. You will know what each finished ad really cost and where the money went.

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Try it

Enter your own provider prices to compare animating every attempt with locking the look on stills first.
The default values are examples, not real prices. Replace them with the prices your provider shows before you run a job.
One camera move per clip. Ask for a single move, like a slow push-in. Fewer moves in a prompt means fewer retries.
Avoid this: animating too early. The expensive mistake is generating the whole video before anyone has approved the look. Still, approve, then animate.

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Before you publish

  • Lock the look on a still
  • Animate only the approved still
  • Generate five seconds, not ten
  • Check the price before you run
  • Keep a receipt per project

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Two ways to go further

Let Vinci make it

Tell us the brief and budget and we produce the ad with the cost agreed up front. Book a demo to get started.

Free and open source Vinci

Run the Vinci studio on your own machine with your own model keys. It shows the price before every job.

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Run this workflow in the open source studio

These skills cover this guide: @tryvinci/image-generate, @tryvinci/first-last-frame, @tryvinci/video-generate, @tryvinci/video-upscale.
1

Install and start in demo mode

Demo mode uses practice providers, so it costs nothing and needs no key.
2

Open a skill

Open the studio at http://127.0.0.1:4310/studio and pick image-generate.
3

Connect your own keys when ready

Add provider keys under Connect. Live spend stays off until you set VINCI_ALLOW_LIVE_SPEND=1, and every job shows its price first.

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