Creating videos without cameras

Happy Thursday, Collaborators!

Large companies are doing incredible things with AI.

However, the most exciting use of AI - at least for me - is helping small companies launch initiatives that they never would have been able to create without it.

This week, we’re looking at how AI can expand access to an asset that is often out of reach for startups: high-quality video.

-Mariah

Creating videos without cameras, studios, or talent

High-quality video production is crushingly expensive. Costs typically start at $1,500-10,000 per finished minute, and prices can get much higher.

Budget can make a big difference in video quality, as you can see from these ads Wistia created using three different budgets:

$1,000

$10,000

$100,000

Video production costs can be difficult to manage even if you only want to produce a three-minute ad spot. However, they can become prohibitive if you create corporate video trainings, like Cyber Inc.

The Brand: Cyber Inc

More than 80% of cybersecurity incidents are the result of human error.

And this problem is urgent for businesses of all sizes. The financial impact of cybercrime is expected to reach $10 trillion in 2023.

Trillion with a T.

Frequent and comprehensive employee training is one of the main strategies to prevent cyber crimes. Cyber Inc., a small business based in the Netherlands, creates privacy and security awareness trainings and content. Their clients range from SMEs to multinational enterprises.

The Challenge: Scalability

Cyber Inc. set an ambitious timeline to expand into new markets, but they quickly ran into a roadblock:

Creating training videos.

The company needed to create multiple videos in six different languages. Each video could require new actors and directors. Producing that many videos would be time-consuming, expensive, and difficult to scale.

Cyber Inc.’s CEO began looking for better alternatives.

The Solution: Synthesia

Cyber Inc. chose to test Synthesia to scale their trainings. Synthesia’s goal is to empower everyone to make videos. Founded by AI researchers from Stanford, Cambridge, UCL, and TUM, the company creates cameraless videos with AI.

The process of creating videos in Synthesia was simple:

1. Cyber Inc. wrote training scripts and translated them into the six different languages.

2. Then, the team created an AI avatar. In a few clicks, they chose her appearance, language, and accent.

3. They added the text to Synthesia’s script box.

4. Cyber Inc. chose a background for the avatar.

5. Finally, they inserted animations and screen recordings.

Here’s Cyber Inc’s demo of the final product:

The Results

AI video changed the game for Cyber Inc.

The company was able to create 6 times more trainings than they had in traditional production. Even better? They were able to create those trainings 80% faster.

The faster production time also came with significant cost savings compared to traditional video production.

As a result, the company was able to expand into new markets even earlier than their roadmap predicted.

Cyber Inc. has continued to use Synthesia. It recently saved the team a month of time on updating old courses.

The Takeaway

Do you need to scale your video production? AI tools that can significantly reduce the cost and complexity of scaling already available.

For example, instead of $1,500-$10,000 per finished minute, creating video on Synthesia’s personal plan costs ~$2.25-$3.00 per minute.

However, we would recommend using these tools for training videos and product demos instead of ads at this time. Building trust in your brand is a crucial element of ads. There is still a slightly uncanny element to the AI avatars that may distract or concern viewers.