So, AI video generation. Yes, it’s everywhere. I’m annoyed watching fake videos about a 2028 Maserati Grecale that doesn’t really exist. Do they think we’re stupid? A single pic of an AI-generated car with a camera bouncing around it and zooming. That’s really lazy, and the minute I see it, that YouTube clip gets closed. That said, AI video capabilities have really been quietly getting fantastic.
OK, rant over so I can get to the real point of this post. I’ve been fiddling with tools like Google Flow over the past month. At first it felt gimmicky, but I have to admit that for me the potential is starting to show. If you haven’t tried it yet, let’s talk about what it can do in everyday speak.
So What Is Google Flow?
Google Flow is an AI video creation tool that lets you generate short video clips using text prompts, images (which they call ingredients), or even existing text content. You describe the scene in everyday English, detail helps a lot, by the way. Click and bam, it tries its best to channel your inner Spielberg.
I Turned My Wi-Fi 7 Article Into a Video just to try it out.
So to give this all a good ole college try and I said, “Ok, let’s take some text from another article.” I chose the Why Wired Ethernet Beats Out Wi-Fi article. I gave it the first sentence or two and described what the “fake AI actor” should look like. It took about a minute for the Google Veo 3 engine in Google Flow to click thru % complete on two versions. So, I’m expecting cartoony junk or a jittery mess. I got something that shocked me. No jitter, great audio, some dude that looked like he came from an old school clothing catalog. Even the tone of voice for this guy matched my content. Honestly, I was like seriously impressed. Check it out below.
So, in all honesty, I tweaked it a bit. The first version didn’t have an Eero 7 Max Router in there like this and it goofed because its actually about half the size that it is in real life (I know because I own 2 of them), but I’m getting what looks like production studio quality stuff here with just words and two jpeg files tossed in as “ingredients” and text. Holy crap!
SceneBuilder is what makes continuity soo much easier
SceneBuilder built into Google Flow really kicks ass. I quickly learned that getting consistent results from AI in video can be a really pain in the ass. Give it text and run it a few times. Each time your actor looks different, talks differently, and what the hell are they wearing?! So my “actor” was generated once I save him as a jpreg ingredient, the Eero Max 7 is a jpeg ingredient.
So, ingredients aside Scenebuilder has an “extended” feature. Once you have the perfect actor or set of actors on screen you just click extend and tell it what they will say next. Wham! You’re production studio and actors are consistent! And the transitions, I’ll tell ya I couldn’t see them… So, I see this and think why am I getting crappy AI gen car videos on YouTube?! Come on, its not that hard to make good content nowadays!
Ok, I gotta remember to stop ranting so much. Let’s wrap this up shall we?
Become your own director and give it a try
So, your name doesn’t have to end with “berg” or sound like Scorsese (yes, I had to double check the spelling of his last name). And you don’t need a studio, or fancy lighting. It’s crazy to think AI has made production this much easier; no wonder BAFTA and SAG are pissed! Okay, enough with reading this blog article go out there and make something, cool, creative and worth watching…