Create a video ad

In FlowAI, ask Flow for a video, for example “make me a video ad for my product”. Tell it what you have in mind (the product to show, the style, the length, a voice-over or not). When it knows which product to show and in which style, it writes the script shot by shot right away. Otherwise, the video opens in its workspace: you choose what's missing and place your shots yourself, or you ask Flow for them. Everything can be changed before launching anything. Images that inspire you (a style, a character, a place)? Send them along with your request.

What you can ask for

• A realistic, live-action video, in the style of your choice: 10 credits, plus 29 credits per second (445 credits for 15 seconds).
• An animated video, in the style of your choice: 10 credits, plus 27 credits per second (415 credits for 15 seconds).
• Someone you see saying their line, a real person on film or an animated character: their lips follow the voice, 11 more credits per second of the shots where you see them speak. Otherwise, the voice plays over the images.
• Precise lips on a shot where the speaker's face is turned away, to the side, in profile or partly hidden: 16 more credits per second of that shot.
• A carousel: 2 to 12 photos with their text, for a carousel or as a video slideshow. 10 credits, plus 12 per photo.

Videos are vertical (9:16) and run up to 60 seconds, depending on your plan. The price follows the length of the shots, by the second, and each shot counts as 2 seconds at least. With a voice-over, they have subtitles; without one, only music and on-screen text. The background music can be removed if you want.

In the workspace, each shot shows its length and its price, and the Script block shows the length and the estimated price of the whole video (it warns you if your credits won't be enough); CreaFlow tells you again before taking the deposit. Afterwards too: if a change makes the animation cost more than your credits, or a paid retouch leaves you too few, Flow tells you first. “Confirm the script” charges a deposit, shown on the button and estimated from the script: one image per shot (12 credits in animated, 16 in realistic), the voice-over (8 credits per block of 500 characters of the script), the estimated characters (a sheet at 12 credits in animated, 24 in realistic) and the product drawing if it is still to be done. It is never above the estimated price of the video, and it is adjusted downward once the characters are drawn: if the preparation draws fewer than planned, the difference is returned to you automatically; if more are needed, they're free. The deposit is then deducted from the price of the animation: the rest shows when you animate, on the “Animate” button, based on the real length of the shots.

Step by step

1. The product: if Flow doesn't know yet which one to show, choose it in the Product block (or “No product”). Then choose up to 3 of its photos, the ones that show it as it really is: they serve as its model in every shot where it appears. It appears as is, or redrawn for the video if you ask Flow; what is written on it may then get distorted.
2. The style: in the Style block, click a card, or describe your own to Flow. A clone keeps the ad's style: to remake it in another rendering (clay, cartoon…), ask Flow, which rewrites the clone for that rendering.
3. The script: in its block, “Write the shots with Flow” has Flow write them based on what you chose, title included (their number and length follow the story and your plan); the pencil next to the title, at the top, renames the video. For each shot, what you see and what the voice-over says (or, without a voice-over, the on-screen text and the length of the shot). The number of shots follows the story, up to 24. Each shot takes place in a single location, filmed in one take: to change location or move on to something else, add a shot (the cut is made in the edit). You edit it directly: the scenes, the text, adding, removing or moving a shot, the shots where someone speaks on screen (and those with precise lips), and the mood of the music. For another idea, ask Flow. Choose the voice in the Voice-over block (listen to each one with ▶): each voice has its own pace, and Flow takes it into account for the length. When someone speaks to the camera, the voice is matched to their character once drawn (gender, age, origin), unless you picked it yourself or asked Flow for it. “Confirm the script” starts the preparation and charges the deposit.
4. The characters: the recurring ones are drawn once, one sheet each (a board showing their head up close from several angles, then their full body; for a character whose face is never seen, only the part we see), then reused in every shot where they appear (same face and same outfit, but a pose and a framing specific to each shot). The sheet is a model: a shot only shows of the character what the script says. Their sheet sets their outfit for the whole video; if a shot needs another outfit, tell Flow for that shot. In a realistic video, you choose who plays each character (except one whose face is never seen: their sheet is drawn right away): an actor from the bank (ten ready faces, free: their sheet's share of the deposit is given back, and the scenes are written for them), or “Generate from the script” (their sheet, included in the deposit; Flow also generates them if you ask it to). Clicking an actor shows their face up close: confirm them, or move to the next one. If the actor doesn't match the written character (a woman played by a man), the lines and the script adapt to them, without changing what we see of them. Check them: click a sheet, then “Ask Flow”, and tell it what to change, or “My photo” puts your own photo in place of the drawing. A window then asks you whether the script stays as it is, or whether Flow adapts it to the person in your photo (without changing the story, one retouch). “Add a character”, in the Characters details, brings a new one into the video: you say who they are, and Flow rewrites the script once you confirm (one retouch). The script can still be changed at this step (it counts as one retouch): the sheets already drawn are kept when it still shows them, and the new ones are drawn. “Confirm the characters” starts the images and the voice-over. Your redrawn product is drawn as soon as you ask, even before you confirm the script, and reused as is. If it is drawn at this step (asked for later), it is confirmed at the same time: in the workspace, it shows in the Product block (the button becomes “Confirm the characters and the product”, or “Confirm the redrawn product” when there is no character). A video with no recurring character and no product drawing to confirm goes straight to the storyboard.
5. The storyboard: the voice-over and one image per shot, based on your script and these sheets. A recurring place keeps the same setting: the image of the first shot that shows it is the model for the next shots in that place. To change a place, redo those shots together. To change an image, open the shot, click “Ask Flow” and tell it what you want: it sees the whole video, retouches the image (only what you ask for) or redraws it, several shots at once if needed, can start from other images (up to 3 per shot: another shot, a sheet, an image you send it) and offer you 2 versions to choose from. “My photo or video” uses your photo as is (cropped to vertical), or your video instead of its animation. In the workspace, “Add a shot”, above the shots, adds one: what we see, what is said, where it goes, and its image, drawn from the description or your photo or video (nothing is drawn then). To move a shot, grab it by its handle and drag it: the others make room to show where it lands. Hover a shot and its buttons put your photo or video on it, or remove it. Its texts (what we see, what is said, the on-screen text) are edited in its detail. These changes (adding, moving, removing or rewriting a shot) aren't sent right away: above the shots, the workspace says what they will redo (an image if what we see changes, the voice-over), then “Apply” (there, or at the top of the workspace) does them all at once, with a single voice take, and “Cancel” drops them. Meanwhile, the conversation with Flow and the animation wait. An added shot that is drawn counts as one retouch; adding, moving or removing a shot re-records the voice-over. The sheets, the product and the voice can still be changed, and the story by asking Flow: only what changes is redone. Each redone image (shot or sheet) counts as one retouch, and an image asked for in two versions counts as two: the video offers 1 per shot and per sheet, pooled together, 8 at most. Beyond that, each redone image is charged at its own price: 12 credits in animated, 16 in realistic, and a character sheet 12 credits in animated, 24 in realistic. The free retouches cover the most expensive images first. The price shows beforehand, and the counter above the shots. Changing what is said or the voice doesn't count, but re-records the voice-over: 3 free takes per video (the first one included), then 8 credits per take for each started block of 500 characters of the script. If a new take fails, the video keeps its storyboard: redo it with “Try again” on the Voice-over card (free). On-screen text is free.
6. The animation: “Confirm and animate” charges the rest of the price (the button shows it, deposit deducted), animates each shot then edits the video, in a few minutes. Each animated shot is checked: if it drifts from its image (a product or an outfit that changes, someone who appears), it is redone automatically. Each place gets its background sound (the ambient sound: a car, a street, a shop…), placed under the voice. The estimated time left is shown, and each shot animates as soon as it's ready. You can keep chatting: the video appears as soon as it's ready.
7. The video: watch it, download it as an MP4 or find it in your Studio. The subtitles, on-screen text, placed images, sound and effects are then adjusted in the edit. A shot can still be redone, its image or its animation (free the first time, then for credits): “Redo this shot” in its details (or “Redo” on the edit's timeline), or ask Flow, and the video is edited again with it. Your videos and carousels, in progress or finished, are also in the “Videos” tab of the Editor page: one click reopens them in Flow.

The carousel is created in one go, with no storyboard: its photos arrive with their text, to download together, along with their video slideshow version. Once it's finished, a photo can be redone or a text changed by asking Flow.

Before launch

On a wide enough computer screen, a video not launched yet is built in its workspace, full screen, with the conversation on the left. It's built step by step: each block arrives once the previous step is done, in this order, from left to right: the product, the style, the script, the voice-over, the music. For a clone, the original ad is there from the start, and the style is the ad's. A block that arrives lands straight in its place, the view glides over to it, and it doesn't move from there: once the video is launched, it's the same workspace, with everything in the same place. When Flow writes the whole video in one go, these blocks arrive together, already set.

• A click on a block opens its details; nothing opens by itself. A block that's already done can still be changed.
• Product: choose it (or “No product”), then its photos.
• Style: click a card, or describe your own to Flow.
• Script: on its card, “Write the shots with Flow” has Flow write them based on what you chose, title included (“Write the clone with Flow” for a clone), and “Ask Flow for ideas” opens the conversation to talk it over first. The pencil next to the title, at the top, renames the video. Once its shots are written, its details list them: “Add a shot” adds one, and open a shot to rewrite what we see, what is said (with a voice-over), the on-screen text, its lips (voice-over, standard or precise) and, without a voice-over, its length (from 2 to 15 seconds); its arrows move it. The block shows the estimated length and price, and what's still missing.
• Voice-over: “Choose a voice” (listen to them in the block), or “No voice-over”. With a voice-over, it sets the length of each shot; removing it asks you whether its lines become the on-screen texts or go with it.
• Music: “Background music” (describe its mood, or import your own), or “No music”.
• Once everything is set, “Confirm the script” appears, at the top and on the Script block; if something is still missing, it takes you to where you can set it.
• Flow sees the video as it is, unfinished shots and choices still to make included: ask it to write or change shots, or open a block, then write to it. Ask it where you stand, too: it tells you without changing anything.

Everything you place is saved with the video: you find it as you left it when you come back, and so does Flow.

The workspace

Once the video is launched, it is made in the same workspace, with everything in the same place. The blocks read from left to right, like a diagram: what feeds the script, one under the other (the original ad for a clone, your product, the style), then the script, then the characters with the voice-over and the music below them, then the shots one after another on a line, and at the end the edit and the finished video. Blocks keep arriving one by one: the Characters after the script is confirmed (a sheet that loads while the script is read, then their sheets, each in a frame shaped like it; with no recurring character, their block says so), then the Shots, one card per shot that gets its image then its animation, then the Edit and the Final video. Nothing moves by itself from one step to the next. Drag a block to put it elsewhere; “Reset layout” lines them all up in order again. The Style block shows the video's style: another style can be picked freely while nothing is drawn; once the characters are drawn, changing it redraws them (it counts as one retouch); once the images are under way, it no longer changes. The style you chose stays when Flow rewrites the script for something else (a duration, some lines): to change it, pick another one or ask Flow. “Open workspace”, under the video in the conversation, takes you there. The top bar shows the steps in order and the button for the current step. Everything updates live. Click a block: its details open right next to it (change the text, choose whether a shot's lips follow the voice and whether they're precise, use your own image, change the style). Before launch, your product's photos are chosen in its details: one to three for the video (the first three are picked in advance, and at least one always stays); a product with no photo can get one there, which is also added to your brand. You can also drag an image from your computer straight onto it: onto the Product block, into a shot's details (your own image) or onto a character's sheet. To send it to Flow, use the “+” in the conversation, or drag it into the box where you write to it. The script is edited there directly until the characters are confirmed, with “Edit the script” on its card; after that, each shot is edited in its own detail. Before you apply, the workspace tells you what will be redone. “Confirm and animate” sits above the shots. The voice, the music and the original ad play right on their block. An animated shot plays when you hover over it. The finished video plays in its own block, which holds its versions and its buttons: download, edit the video, view in the Studio. Flow sees the whole video with every message (its shots, its sheets, its product, its images); what you open only tells it what you're talking about: write “change the product in this image” and it knows which shot you mean. Same for a character: click its sheet, then write to Flow. A click on “Shots” selects them all at once. What you opened goes with your message and shows above your bubble; to talk about it again in the next message, click it again. Whatever you ask it to change, it changes in this video, at the step it's at, without creating another one, even while images are being drawn (it waits a moment for them). During the animation or the edit, nothing changes until it's over: it tells you so. Drag to move around, zoom with the scroll wheel, and “Fit all” reframes the whole thing. Drag the conversation's border to make it wider or narrower; the button next to “Back” hides it to give the whole room to the workspace (“Ask Flow” brings it back). The page link keeps the workspace open, and the browser's back button closes it. “Back” takes you back to just the conversation; from there, “Video workspace”, sitting on the box where you type, reopens the workspace (with several videos, pick one). The voice-over and the music have their own blocks: before launch, the voice (or each speaker's voice) and the music are changed there, and your own music is imported there. Once the script is confirmed, “Change the voice” (until the animation) and “Change the music” on their block take you to Flow, which knows what you mean: tell it what you want, or let it suggest. A finished video can change its music for 3 credits, then it is re-edited with it, for free. Each block has its sockets, the small dots on its edges: its inputs on the left (what it receives, with their name), its output on the right. Its links follow the order of the video, before and after launch alike: the product and the style into the script, the characters' photos into their “Inspiration” input (bottom left), the shots one after another, then the last shot, the voice and the music into the edit. An input with nothing plugged in stays hollow. In a narrower window, everything stays in the conversation. On a phone, ask Flow for your video: it opens in the conversation, where you pick your product and your style. Its script and the next steps are done on a computer, in the same conversation (without a plan that includes video, “Write the script” shows you the plans). A finished video can be watched and downloaded on a phone.

Edit the video

Once the video is finished, “Edit the video” opens a live preview, which changes with every setting and replays in a loop. The settings are grouped in tabs (Subtitles, Text, Images, Sound, Effects):

• the subtitles: shown or not, a ready-made style (TikTok, punchy, clean, boxed) or set by hand: the style (classic, boxed, spoken word highlighted, karaoke with a colored background behind the spoken word, minimal), the position and height, the size, the font, the colors (or any color you like), the outline, the shadow, the background opacity, uppercase, the number of words per subtitle and their entrance animation;
• the on-screen text: shown or not, its style (white box, outline or colored box), its position, its size and its content, shot by shot;
• images placed on top, up to 6: your logo, a product photo or an image from your computer (PNG, JPEG or WebP, which you can also drop onto the preview). Move it with the mouse, pull its corner to resize it, and choose its opacity and its shots (the whole video, or from one shot to another);
• the sound: the voice volume (down to muting it), the music (kept or muted, its volume, a fade-in, lowered automatically when the voice speaks), the ambient sound, and sound effects (whoosh, pop, click, ding, swoosh, boom, cash register, camera) placed at the moment you want, or a whoosh at each shot change;
• the effects: a color filter (warm, cool, vivid, black & white, vintage), a quick zoom at each shot change, a progress bar at the top.

Double-click a subtitle or an on-screen text in the preview to fix it on the spot (Enter confirms, Escape cancels): only what's written changes, not the voice. On-screen text that the voice already says isn't shown when the subtitles are on. You can also display the areas hidden by TikTok and Reels to keep your text readable. “Apply” only redoes the edit: it's free, it takes less than a minute, and the shots aren't redone. Below the preview, the timeline shows the shots one after another, each as wide as it is long: click or drag on it to move through the video, as on its progress bar (with many shots, it scrolls with the mouse wheel or its arrows), and “Redo” opens the shot on its ways to be redone. While a shot is being redone, the editor still opens: you can prepare your settings there, and “Apply” waits until the video re-edited with that shot is ready. Each edit gives a new version (V1, V2…): the previous ones stay available in the workspace. If an edit fails, the previous version stays online and your settings wait for you to try again. Up to 10 new edits per video.

You can also ask Flow, for example “make the subtitles TikTok style”, “write the brand name in capitals in the subtitles”, “add my logo at the top right” or “a whoosh between each shot”: it prepares the settings, you see them in the preview and you apply them yourself. The edit is adjusted on a computer.

Clone a video ad

Click “Clone” under a video ad, in CreaSpy or in Flow. A new conversation opens: Flow watches the video (picture and sound) and proposes the same one for your brand, in your language: same structure, same hook, same pace, same characters, same style and same colors, same variety of locations. The only thing that changes is what belongs to the other brand: its product, its name, its logo and what it promises. If the ad doesn't look like your brand profile (other characters, another mood), the clone follows the ad: tell Flow if you want something else. An ad longer than your plan's maximum length is condensed to that length, keeping its strongest moments; if your credits aren't enough for its length, Flow offers you a shorter version. A long ad can take two replies: Flow watches it, then writes its clone on your next message (“go ahead” is enough). A video is cloned on its own, not with other ads. If your brand profile has several products and Flow doesn't know which one to use, the video first opens in its workspace so you can choose it, then ask Flow to write the clone (on the Script block, or by writing to it). The price is that of the proposed video. Cloning a video ad is included from the Growth plan up.

Good to know

• Only one video is prepared at a time: wait for the previous one to finish before launching another.
• To show your product, it must have at least one photo (see Add my products). You choose the ones that serve as the model (up to 3): only the product is taken from them, not the people or the setting around it. If a photo that shows it as it really is is missing, add it to your product, or import it (or drag it) into the Product block.
• Your product appears in the shots where the script shows it, based on its photos. To keep it faithful, the camera doesn't zoom in on it, and the video shows nothing of it that isn't known (its contents, what it's made of). To show it differently (another style, another material), ask Flow to redraw it for this video.
• Not possible for now: a format other than vertical, a language other than French or English, your own voice, a specific piece of music you don't have (yours can be imported in the Music block), a font of your own. Flow tells you and suggests the closest option.
• A failed video costs you nothing: the credits charged are returned to you.
• A video you delete before it's finished: the animation not yet delivered is returned, but not the deposit, nor paid retouches or voice takes.