AI video production — faster generation does not mean faster delivery
Approximate figures from our own production work; they vary heavily by format and length.
AI Tools Hub Editorial · published · updated
Time by step
| Step | Before AI | With AI |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | 2 hours | 1.5 hours |
| Footage | A day of shooting or sourcing | 30 minutes of generation |
| Selection | 30 minutes | 2 hours — more candidates |
| Voiceover | 2 hours recording | 20 minutes generating |
| Edit and captions | 3 hours | 1 hour |
| Review | 1 hour | 1 hour |
Control the selection step
Decide the acceptance criteria before generating — duration, framing, palette — and discard anything off-spec without watching it. Also cap the number of attempts: if three generations miss, revise the concept rather than the prompt.
What generation suits
- Suits: abstract backgrounds, mood footage, short inserts
- Suits: situations you cannot shoot
- Does not suit: shots containing your actual product
- Does not suit: continuous human action
- Does not suit: anything with on-screen text
Generate the audio first
Lock the voiceover length, then cut picture to it. The other order forces you to compress narration to fit footage. Speeding up generated speech sounds wrong; adjust the script length instead.
Review does not compress
Generated material needs more checking than filmed material: broken text, wrong hands, incorrect logos, mispronounced names. Always listen to proper nouns — a published video with your company name mispronounced gets remade.
FAQ
Can it be entirely AI?
For short mood pieces, yes. For product or case-study video, mixing in real footage is the realistic approach.