Product video · a clip per SKU

Product video for every SKU. The object does not drift.

Most AI product video holds for about two seconds. Then the hem changes length, the metal goes from rose to yellow, and the label melts into letters the product never had. We lock the object first and move only the camera. That is the difference between a clip you can post and a range you can actually ship.

LifestyleWalk, skirt flare, fabric macro, face.12s · 9:16
Feature calloutWorn, then alone. Type drawn in post.12s · 9:16
UGC try-onHanger, hold-up, wear, turn.15s · 9:16
Product macroOne stone, one ground, light behind it.13s · 9:16 · Fine jewelry client
100+creatives a month, per client pod
5–7 daysturnaround on a catalog batch
32M+ads behind the format picks
$200M+in ad spend managed

Three clips we generated, one delivered for a client and credited in its caption. Audio is stripped for autoplay; the delivered files carry it.

Five formats

A Catalog Does Not Need One Video. It Needs Five Kinds.

These are the cuts we actually ship on live catalog programs, with the lengths they actually run at. A format is a locked camera move, a lighting setup and a set, with the product as the only variable. Every clip below is delivered client work.

  • 38s · Style Union
    Product detail

    The object alone on a plain ground. Turntable, slow push, one macro. The safest cut on the list because there is nothing in frame for the model to invent.

    • 0:00Static hold, product centered
    • 0:01Rotate or push, one move only
    • 0:09Macro on the material, settle
    Runs at 12s, 16s or 24s per SKU, including the full 360 product video turn; the delivered reel here cuts several SKUs together. Fits: jewelry, accessories, hard goods, footwear.
  • 20s · Style Union
    Feature callout

    The product worn, then alone, with one leader line naming the material or the spec. Every character of that type is drawn afterwards as a design layer.

    • 0:00Worn, in context, hands in frame
    • 0:05Leader line draws on, one claim
    • 0:08Product alone, clean ground
    Runs at 12s per SKU; the reel here carries five SKUs back to back. Fits: anything with a material or construction claim.
  • 20s · Style Union
    Lifestyle reel

    The product worn or used in a real set, with the camera moving through it. The cut where drift costs the most, so the lock block does the most work here.

    • 0:00Wide, full product in frame
    • 0:04Turn or walk, motion in the material
    • 0:14Macro, then a face beat
    Runs at 20–25s. Fits: fashion, bags, eyewear, anything worn.
  • 28s · Style Union
    UGC try-on

    Hand-held, one person, one room. The product arrives on a hanger, gets held up, gets worn, gets turned. Reads as a person rather than a brand.

    • 0:00To camera, product still in hand
    • 0:04Hold-up: print, belt, hardware
    • 0:10Worn, front and back turn
    Briefed at 15–20s; this delivered cut came in at 28s. Fits: apparel, footwear, anything with a fit story.
30s · 16:9 · Style Union
The fifth format

Motion feature. For a performance or construction claim a surface cannot carry. A section through the fabric, air moving, a mechanism working. Not a prettier photo of the outside.

It is the one cut on this page that is not vertical, and that is deliberate. This format lives on the product page rather than in a feed, so it is framed 16:9 and allowed to run up to a minute. Shooting it 9:16 to match the others would be matching the wrong thing.

Fits: performance fabric, footwear tech, engineered goods.

Why only five

Because a sixth costs consistency and buys very little. A range reads as one brand when the moves repeat. Every new format is a new thing that can drift, and a new thing to check.

Five failure classes

What Goes Wrong, And The Prompt That Fixes It

The first prompt is the one most people write. The second is the same brief with the product locked. Where a pair of clips sits beside them, nothing else changed between the two: not the reference image, not the engine, not the length.

THE CHECK ON EVERY DELIVERED CLIP
LOCK-01 GeometryParts counted on the first, middle and last frame, and on any frame where the camera reveals a face it had not shown. A count that changes fails the clip.
LOCK-02 MaterialNamed by trade term in the brief, then read against the reference where a highlight crosses the surface, because that is where it would go if it went.
LOCK-03 ColorCIELAB against the reference, twelve frames a clip. Inside 5 ΔE ships; past it the take is re-fired rather than sent. The takes that came back at 7.2, 9.3 and 9.9 are on these pages with their figures instead of in a delivery.
LOCK-04 TypeEvery frame carrying a label, a tag or a screen is read. Lettering the brief did not specify fails the clip whatever it happens to say.
LOCK-05 ScaleThe product measured against the body or the surface under it, at the start and after every cut. A size that changes fails.
Read byA person, on four of the five. Only color carries a number.
LOCK-01 The object changesdrifted 2 of 2 · held 2 of 2
The model treats the product as a suggestion. Legs, handles, buttons, prongs and straps get added, removed or reshaped as the camera moves. It is the failure that survives the longest, because a clip can look beautiful and still be the wrong object. Across fifteen products the line is clear: parts a person can count held every time, a chair's four legs, one hoop per ear, a trench's ten buttons in two columns of five. What broke was the part nobody can count. A rattan weave re-wove itself between one second and the next, and the dome flattened while it did.
Not your productFixed by QuickAds
LOCK-01 · Geometry holdsHover or tap for the locked take.8s · broken drifted 2 of 2 · locked held 2 of 2
Broken prompt A rattan pendant light in a cozy living room, camera slowly orbiting, warm lamp glow, cinematic, 4k

Why it fails: nothing in that sentence describes the weave, so every frame is free to re-weave it, and an orbit asks for a new frame sixty times a second.

Locked prompt Reference image is the product; where this text and the image disagree, the image wins. Reference image is the product; reproduce it exactly. Pendant shade woven from natural rattan, a 40 cm dome, an open weave of evenly spaced horizontal rattan strips lashed to vertical ribs, one plain black cord entering the top, no bulb visible. Rib count, weave spacing and dome silhouette match the reference image and do not change at any frame. Camera: slow 30 degree orbit right, eye level, no push-in. Soft even daylight, plain background, shade unlit. Negative: extra ribs, changing weave, closing weave, tassels, beads, fabric shade, second lamp, morphing.

Why it holds: a weave cannot be written down as a number, so the instruction points at the image and forbids the shade from drifting off it.

Count the parts and write the count down. Where the parts cannot be counted, the reference image is the whole specification, and the check is frame against frame rather than frame against a number.

LOCK-02 The material changes
Material drifts mid-clip. Leather goes to canvas, oak to painted metal, a knit flattens into jersey the moment it moves. It usually happens as a highlight crosses the surface, because that is where the generator has the least information and the most freedom. We have not once managed to provoke it. Four materials, picked because they are the ones that usually go: pebbled full-grain, a suede nap, brushed steel and a chunky cable knit. All four came through a careless prompt unchanged, and the suede came through a hard raking key that flattened the nap for a second and then gave it back. The trade-term rule stays, because a check needs a name to check against, and because the class is real on delivered work even though this engine would not repeat it on demand.
Broken prompt Luxury tan leather handbag on a marble table, slow pan, soft studio lighting, high quality

Why it fails: luxury and high quality are not descriptions. They are the exact words a model fills in with its own average, which is a different bag every time.

Locked prompt Reference image is the product; where this text and the image disagree, the image wins. Reference image is the product; keep its material exactly. Top-handle bag in pebbled full-grain leather, warm tan, visible grain at every frame, antique brass hardware, two brass feet, one brass push-lock clasp. Material, color and hardware finish stay constant through the clip. Camera: slow left-to-right pan, 15 cm travel. Soft single key upper left, white marble, no reflections of the bag. Negative: patent, suede, canvas, woven, silver hardware, color shift, texture morph.

Why it holds: a trade term names one thing. Pebbled full-grain has an answer; premium does not.

Name materials by trade term: pebbled full-grain, micro-polyester grid, bouclé, 14K rose gold. Never by adjective.

LOCK-03 The color driftsdrifted 2 of 2 · held 2 of 2
A brand red slides toward orange under warm light. A cream tote goes white against a bright wall. This is the one worth measuring rather than arguing about, which is what the panel further up this page does.
Wrong colorFixed by QuickAds
LOCK-03 · Color lands inside the bandHover or tap for the locked take.8s · broken drifted 2 of 2 · locked held 2 of 2
Broken prompt Red performance t-shirt on a model, dynamic movement, golden hour lighting

Why it fails: golden hour is a color instruction. It is applied to everything in frame, and the garment is in frame.

Locked prompt Reference image is the product; where this text and the image disagree, the image wins. Reference image is the garment; sample the fabric color from it and hold it: deep sundried-tomato red, midtone #892128. Lighting must not recolor the fabric. Neutral daylight, no warm gels, no golden hour. Model turns 20 degrees left over 4 seconds; fit and sleeve length unchanged. Negative: orange, burgundy, magenta, color cast on fabric.

Why it holds: a hex is a target the render can be checked against afterwards. An adjective is not.

Light the set for the mood, not the product. If the brief wants warmth, warm the room and keep the product color-locked in the prompt, then measure the result before it ships.

LOCK-04 Type gets inventeddrifted 2 of 2 · held 2 of 2
Text on packaging or a nameplate is generated along with everything else, so it says whatever a label like that usually says, in a typeface nobody chose. Sometimes it smears; on current engines it more often comes back clean, legible and wrong. The blank label below came back carrying a brand name in both takes, and both times the name belonged to a real company. No generator is allowed to write your type, so we stop asking it to.
Type inventedFixed by QuickAds
LOCK-04 · Type is never generatedHover or tap for the locked take.8s · broken drifted 2 of 2 · locked held 2 of 2
Broken prompt Shampoo bottle with brand label rotating on a white background, product commercial style

Why it fails: the label is being generated, so the model writes what a shampoo label usually says. That word is not yours, and it may well be somebody else's.

Locked prompt Reference image is the product; where this text and the image disagree, the image wins. Reference image is the product. Do not render or redraw any text or logo; keep the label area as a flat neutral patch. Camera: 90 degree turntable over 6 seconds, white sweep, soft top light. Negative: text, typography, letters, logo, watermark.

Why it holds: the real label goes back on as a tracked layer in post. Type is never left to the generator.

The callout clip at the top of this page works the same way. Every word on it (the material, the spec, the leader line itself) is a design layer over locked footage. AI handles form. Humans own substance.

LOCK-05 Scale and weight go wrongdrifted 2 of 2 · held 2 of 2
A tote renders the size of a weekender. A ring swallows the knuckle. Fabric floats with no weight in it. Motion exposes this in a way a still never does, which is both the risk and the reason video is worth doing.
Wrong sizeFixed by QuickAds
LOCK-05 · Scale and weight holdHover or tap for the locked take.8s · broken drifted 2 of 2 · locked held 2 of 2
Broken prompt Woman walking with a stylish tote bag, fashion film, slow motion

Why it fails: no size is given, so the model picks the average tote, and the average tote is bigger than yours.

Locked prompt Reference image is the product; where this text and the image disagree, the image wins. Reference image is the bag. Medium tote, 38 cm wide, 30 cm tall, sits at hip height on the shoulder; not oversized. Natural weight: the bag swings slightly with each step and the strap stays the same length. Model walks toward camera, three steps, full bag in frame, nothing cropped. Negative: oversized, floating, strap stretching, bag resizing.

Why it holds: centimeters, plus a sentence about how the object should behave when it moves.

State size in centimeters and in words, and say what physics you expect. Numbers beat adjectives every time.

The failure classes are real; we read them off delivered runs. The clips illustrating them were generated on purpose, on invented products, from the two prompts printed under each pair. Nothing else changed between the two: not the reference image, not the engine, not the length. Two takes each; the tallies are what came back. No client product appears in them. Material would not break on any of the four products we aimed at it: the tan pebbled top-handle bag, taupe suede chelsea boot, brushed steel insulated bottle and the cream cable-knit wool sweater all came through a careless prompt unchanged.

Why per-SKU

One Hero Video Is A Range With Gaps In It

Short-form placements expect products in motion, and a product page converts a visitor on the specific thing they are looking at. A catalog carrying a single hero clip is carrying it on behalf of everything it does not show.

One hero clip1 of 40 shown
A clip per SKU40 of 40

Filling those slots is a format problem before it is a volume problem. Below is one locked format run three times: menswear denim, womenswear tops, and a birthstone ring range for a different client in a different category. Inside each reel the framing, the lens and the grade are fixed; from SKU to SKU only the product and the label change, which is what lets a range read as one catalog instead of forty separate shoots. A format that survives the jump from denim to a gemstone is a format, not a lucky set.

16s · Style Union
17s · Style Union
20s · Fine jewelry client

We publish throughput, not performance. We do not promise a return figure on catalog video, from us or from anyone.

One SKU, two sets

A Format Is Worth Nothing Until You Measure It

Everyone says their catalog looks consistent. We generated the same dress twice, in two different sets, on two different engines, and measured the color rather than eyeballing it.

ΔE 1.8The black, between two clips made days apart in different sets
ΔE 4.2The cream, same comparison. A sheer chiffon reading two different skies
TighterThe two clips agree with each other more closely than either one varies inside itself
QC RECEIPT · CHEVRON MAXI DRESS, TWO SETS
Sourceone reference sheet, two clips, two engines, days apart
Frames12 sampled per clip · 10 and 11 kept
Black, across setsΔE 1.8
Cream, across setsΔE 4.2
Within one clipΔE 1.9 to 6.8, the room moving
VerdictSHIPS

That last line is the argument. Within a clip the cream moves because the model walks from shade into open light, and a sheer fabric is supposed to do that. Across clips it barely moves, because the garment was locked and only the set was allowed to change. Both clips are in the hero strip at the top of this page, and the figures above are measured from the files this page serves rather than from the masters.

Accessories and fine jewelry

A Garment Pipeline Pointed At A Necklace Fails The Same Way Every Time

We ran an apparel pipeline at accessories before we ran it well, and read back every frame that came out wrong. None of it was random. Every defect was a garment default doing its garment job on something that is not a garment, which is why all of it turned out to be fixable, and why the fixes belong in the shot list rather than in the prompt.

30s · Fine jewelry client
8s · Fine jewelry client
14s · Fine jewelry client
13s · Fine jewelry client
  • Scale is the failure mode, not color

    A garment fills the frame at any sensible distance, so apparel work never has to think about it. A stud earring at a chest-up crop is about twenty pixels of product. The crop has to be decided per category before anything is generated: a ring close enough to read the setting and the finger contact, an ear with the lobe and post clear, a chain with enough collarbone to show its length.

    Fits: rings, studs, chains, anything under a few centimeters.
  • Skin, not cloth

    A fine chain reads against skin. Put the same pendant on a crew neck and the collar competes with it and wins, every time. That is a wardrobe decision taken before the shot rather than a lighting fix after it, which is why an accessory brief starts with what the model is wearing and not with the set.

    Fits: pendants, chains, layered necklaces.
  • The ground supports the material or it fights it

    Warm neutrals behind gold. Cool grays and black behind silver and white gold. Ivory and large soft sources behind pearls, never hard light. This is a lookup rather than a matter of taste, and getting it wrong reads as cheap even when the product, the pose and the lens are all right.

    Fits: every metal and stone, which is the point of writing it down.
  • Half of it was never the set

    Hair across a lobe hides an earring. A closed hand hides a band. A busy background at jewelry scale turns the product into texture. The first two are the model and the pose, not the scene, so a better background never fixes them. Knowing which half you are looking at is most of the work.

    Fits: anything worn, which is most of an accessory range.

The four clips above are delivered client work for a fine jewelry brand, shown with permission and not named at their request. They are not measured: the color figures on this page are taken on our own reference products, where we control both sets. The ring clip in the hero strip at the top is ours, and it is the only accessory clip here carrying numbers.

In plain terms

What Is A Product Video?

In short

A product video is a short clip built around one item rather than one campaign. The camera moves, the product does not: it shows scale, texture and how the thing behaves, which a still photograph can only imply. In an ecommerce catalog it lives on the product page and in paid placements, and it is made per SKU rather than once for the range.

The practical test is whether the clip is still useful when the season changes. A hero film ages with the campaign. A product video ages with the product, which is to say it does not age until the product is discontinued.

The honest answer

How Many Product Videos Does A Catalog Need?

In short

One per SKU you actually advertise, not one per SKU you stock. Most ranges have a working set well under half the catalog: the products that carry paid spend, the ones with a fit or material question that stills keep failing to answer, and the new drops. Start there, measure which formats survive, then widen.

The number that matters is not the total. It is how many you can ship in a month without the range starting to look like several different brands, which is a question about how locked the format is, not about how fast the render is.

Where this sits

Catalog Video Is One Link In The Chain

Point tools do the generation step and hand the drift problem back to you. We cover the chain end to end, which is where the consistency actually comes from.

  1. Creative intelligence. Which moves, formats and lengths are running in your category right now, read across 32M+ ads.
  2. Creative strategy. Which SKUs get video first, which format each one takes, which slot it fills. A person decides this.
  3. Creative production. The seven steps below, run per SKU, with a QC pass on every clip before anything leaves.
  4. Influencer marketing. The same locked product sheets go to creators, so UGC and catalog video show the same object.
  5. Campaign management. Clips placed, rotated and refreshed. Formats retired when they stop running.
Inside the production link

What Happens Between A Catalog Row And A Finished Clip

This is the part most video tools leave to you. It is a pipeline, not a prompt box, and the order matters more than any single step in it.

  1. The catalog row. A sheet or a feed export. SKU, product photograph, and the one claim this clip is allowed to make. One row in, one clip out, so a range of 200 is a file rather than 200 briefs.
  2. A reference sheet, before any video runs. One front-facing photograph lets a video model invent the sides of the product it cannot see, and that invention is where drift comes from. So the photograph becomes a multi-angle reference sheet first, and every shot is generated against the sheet instead of against the single photo.
  3. The format supplies everything except the product. Camera move, lighting, set, beats and length come from the format. The row supplies the product and the claim. That split is what makes 40 clips read as one catalog.
  4. The engine is chosen per shot. Different shots need different things: a long unbroken take, an exact eight-second cut, a fixed first and last frame, a movement matched from existing footage. We run several engines and pick against the shot's constraints rather than standardizing on one and bending the shot to fit.
  5. Short takes, then a cut. Generation happens in takes of a few seconds. A 30-second reel is a sequence of them assembled afterwards, which is why a format sheet specifies beats rather than one runtime, and why "make it 30 seconds" is an edit decision rather than a setting.
  6. Type and end cards are drawn, not generated. Every price, product name, spec line and logo on the clips above is a design layer placed over the footage. Generated type is unreliable at small sizes and legally risky on a price.
  7. QC against the sheet, before anything leaves. Geometry, material and color are checked against the reference sheet the clip was built from. A clip that drifts is re-fired, not shipped and explained.
The operating line

AI handles form. Humans own substance. The pipeline above is form. Deciding what a ring is allowed to look like, and rejecting the clip where it isn't, is substance.

Three ways to buy: software, a managed pod, or a share of ad spend. What it costs lays them out on the photography side of the same catalog, and video is quoted the same way.

Answers

Common Questions

What do I need to send to get a product video?
Two to four clean photographs of the product, its dimensions in centimeters, the material by its trade term, and a brand color hex if the color is critical. If you already have catalog photography, that is usually enough on its own.
How long does a batch of product videos take?
Five to seven days from reference products to QC-passed clips, and 100 or more creatives a month per client pod across image and video. A first batch of four runs faster because it is small.
How much does a product video cost?
It depends on whether you buy software, a managed pod or a share of ad spend, and on how many SKUs you are covering. The three ways to buy are the same ones set out on our product photography pricing page, and the video work is quoted the same way.
Can you match the look of our existing product photography?
Yes, and that is the normal case. The format is built from your reference frames, so the camera move, the lighting and the set are chosen to sit next to the stills you already have rather than replace them.
What formats and aspect ratios do you deliver?
Nine by sixteen for short-form placements, four by five for feed, and sixteen by nine for a product page. A clip is graded once and cut to each frame rather than regenerated, so the product reads the same in all three.
Is the product in the clip the real product, or is it generated?
The clip is generated from photographs of your real product, with the geometry, material and color locked in the prompt and checked afterwards. Any text, logo or callout is drawn as a design layer on top, never generated.

Send Us Four SKUs. Get Four Clips Back.

Pick four that break differently: something printed, something with hardware, something color-critical, something you have never managed to shoot well. We run the locked prompts, show you the QC pass frame by frame, and tell you what the full range takes in weeks.

No performance figure is promised on this page. We quote throughput and turnaround only.

What happens after you book
  • Day 0A twenty minute call. Bring four SKUs and whatever you have already shot of them.
  • Day 1We build the multi-angle reference sheet for each one. That is the slow part, and it is done once per SKU.
  • Day 3First clips, in the format you picked, generated against those sheets rather than against a photograph.
  • Day 5–7QC frame by frame against the sheet. You get the color figures alongside the clips, not instead of them.
  • Week 2The format is locked and it repeats per SKU. A pod ships 100 or more finished creatives a month from there.