Episode 261

The Art and Frustration of AI Video

What if pro-level video creation didn't require a film crew, expensive equipment, or weeks of production time? Imagine literally describing what you want and having it appear on screen. 

We're living through a moment where AI video generation has gone from science fiction to "just about usable" reality. The technology is still rough around the edges (and yes, you might find yourself shouting at your computer.) But we're witnessing the evolution of something new. 

Joining us in this episode is Ellis Pratt, Director at Cherryleaf, a UK-based technical writing and training services company, and host of the Cherryleaf Podcast. He’s been actively testing Google's VEO 3 and figuring out how to make AI-generated video actually work for real-world business applications. 

He talks us through his creative process of combining VEO 3 with tools like Camtasia and Audiate and gives us an honest look at what it's really like to work with this technology.  

Learning points from the episode include: 

  • 00:00 - 02:27 Introduction to  Ellis Pratt 
  • 02:27 - 03:09 Ellis’ favorite exhibit at the British Museum 
  • 03:09 - 04:13 Ellis’ biggest tip for using images and videos in their work
  • 04:13 - 05:49 How technical writing is changing with video content  
  • 05:49 - 08:48 Why Ellis started exploring AI-generated videos 
  • 08:48 - 12:24 Why VEO 3 beats other AI video tools 
  • 12:24 - 16:18 The process from prompts to final video 
  • 16:18 - 18:02 How Camtasia solves VEO 3’s limitations  
  • 18:02 - 23:02 The French New Wave Video example 
  • 23:02 - 25:09 Ellis’ advice for starting out with AI video 
  • 25:09 - 29:34 The e-learning video example  
  • 29:34 - 31:08 Final advice for working with VEO 3 
  • 31:08 - 35:42 Speed round questions  
  • 35:42 - 36:54 Ellis’ final take on AI video 
  • 36:54 - 37:57 Outro 

Important links and mentions: 

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About the Podcast

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The Visual Lounge
Discussions about the power of visuals and videos and how to make them even better.

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About your host

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Matthew Pierce

Matthew Pierce, Learning & Video Ambassador from TechSmith Corporation, has created videos for learning and marketing for over a decade. He is the lead behind TechSmith Academy, a free platform teaching video and image creation for business, which has been used by tens of thousands of users. He is the host of The Visual Lounge Podcast from TechSmith, which streams live on Youtube and LinkedIn weekly. Matthew is a regular speaker at multiple learning and development-focused conferences and is a regular contributor to various training publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn.