AI video tools are well suited to short-video prototypes, advertising storyboards, tutorial intros, and social media assets. But if you enter only “generate a futuristic video,” the result will usually be unpredictable. A production-ready process begins with a script, breaks it into shots, generates keyframes, animates them with image-to-video, adds narration and captions, and finally edits everything together. This guide uses a 60-second video introducing a RAG knowledge base as its example.
Who This Workflow Is For
It suits content marketers, course creators, product-marketing teams, short-video teams, and independent developers. AI video still cannot fully replace filming for an on-camera presenter or a complex narrative. For concept demonstrations, establishing shots, and animated product explanations, however, it is highly efficient.
Step 1: Write a 60-Second Script
A short-video script needs short sentences, one idea at a time, and a strong pace. Consider this RAG example:
“A company may have thousands of documents, yet its employees still cannot find the answers they need. RAG searches your knowledge base first, then asks AI to answer from the retrieved material. It does not magically memorize internal policies. It finds the relevant passages and cites its sources. This works well for customer support, administration, product manuals, and training material. The key is not merely connecting a model, but organizing documents, applying permissions, and making every answer citable.”
That script can be divided into six to eight shots of five to eight seconds each.
Step 2: Build the Storyboard
Every storyboard entry should specify the subject and action. For example:
- A desk piled with documents as an employee searches for information.
- A knowledge-base search interface appears on screen.
- Document passages are highlighted and connected to an AI chat window.
- Source citations appear beside the AI’s answer.
- A team reviews a shared knowledge base in a meeting room.
- A simple closing flowchart appears: documents → retrieval → answer → citations.
Generate each shot separately. Do not ask one model to create the entire 60-second video in a single pass.
Step 3: Generate Keyframes First
Many AI video tools support image-to-video generation. Creating a keyframe before animating it is more stable than going directly from text to video. Use an image generator to produce one clear frame for each shot, then send it to Runway, Pika, Luma, Kling, Veo, or a similar tool to generate four to eight seconds of motion.
Avoid text and complex interfaces in the keyframe prompt. Add real screenshots or simple graphics in post-production instead. Video models struggle to generate readable interfaces and often produce gibberish.
Storyboard Table Template
| 镜头 | 时长 | 画面 | 动作 | 旁白 | 工具 |
|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 1 | 0-6s | 办公桌堆满文档 | 镜头缓慢推进 | 公司文档很多... | 图生视频 |
| 2 | 6-12s | 知识库搜索界面 | 高亮搜索词 | RAG 会先检索资料 | 录屏 + 动效 |
| 3 | 12-20s | 文档连接到 AI 对话框 | 线条连接 | 再基于资料回答 | AI 视频 |Editing Project Structure
video-project/
script.md
storyboard.md
assets/keyframes/
assets/video-clips/
assets/voiceover/
exports/vertical-9x16/
exports/horizontal-16x9/Your visual acceptance record should contain three screenshots: the storyboard table, the video tool’s clip-generation interface, and the editing timeline. The timeline is particularly useful because it shows readers how the AI clips, captions, and voice-over actually fit together.
Step 4: Generate the Video Clips
Image-to-video prompts should focus on motion: slow camera push in, documents floating gently, highlighted text connecting to chat bubble, team reviewing dashboard. Give each clip only one action; the more complicated the motion, the more likely the scene is to deform. Treat shots of people cautiously, because hands, faces, and walking remain frequent failure points.
Once generation finishes, choose the most stable clip rather than insisting that it match the exact image in your head. A realistic AI video workflow resembles selecting footage more than directing every detail precisely.
Step 5: Add Voice-Over, Captions, and Editing
You can use AI text-to-speech or record a person. Tutorial narration should be slightly brisk but remain clear; a 60-second script contains roughly 150–180 Chinese characters. Proofread every caption manually, especially abbreviations, product names, and numbers.
Arrange the clips to follow the script’s rhythm, then add restrained transitions, title cards, flowcharts, and source notes. AI video clips establish visual atmosphere; the script, captions, and graphic overlays carry the actual information.
Quality-Control Checklist
Check at least five things before export. First, verify every fact, especially product names, numbers, dates, and conclusions. Second, look for obvious visual deformation in hands, on-screen text, and intersecting objects. Third, ensure that shot timing matches the captions and gives viewers enough time to read. Fourth, confirm that the narration is clear and the music does not overpower it. Fifth, verify the rights to every reference image, music track, font, and asset.
For a branded account, also prepare versions for each platform. Douyin, WeChat Channels, and RED work better with vertical 9:16 video; Bilibili and websites work better at horizontal 16:9. Design the cover separately instead of grabbing a frame from the finished video. AI generation supplies footage, but platform adaptation still determines the final result.
Team Roles
A small team can divide the work among four roles: a script owner responsible for factual accuracy, a visual owner responsible for storyboards and keyframes, an editor responsible for pacing and captions, and a reviewer responsible for brand and compliance. Even with fewer people, preserve all four review perspectives. Otherwise, you can easily end up with impressive visuals but inaccurate information, caption errors, or unclear rights.
For an ongoing series, record each episode’s script, storyboard prompts, keyframes, final-video link, and performance data. Retrospectives can reveal which openings retain viewers, which shots fail most often during generation, and which narration pace fits the account. AI video delivers its full efficiency only after templates and lessons accumulate over time.
With a limited budget, you do not need the highest generation tier for every shot. The opening three seconds and major transitions justify several attempts; simple backgrounds, screen recordings, or animated stills can replace transitional footage. Spending on the moments that affect completion rate is better value than distributing the budget evenly across every shot.
Common Pitfalls
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| People and objects deform | The clip is too long or the action too complex | Keep each clip to 4–8 seconds with one camera action |
| On-screen text becomes gibberish | The video model is asked to generate UI text | Overlay a real screenshot or captions in post-production |
| Visual style changes between shots | Prompts vary too much between clips | Fix the palette, lighting, and camera language; change only the subject |
| The finished video drags | Narration was not divided by shot | Write the storyboard table before generating footage |
| Copyright risk appears after publication | A celebrity, brand, or unlicensed reference image was used | Use only owned or licensed assets, or purely generated elements |
Before exporting, check:
[ ] 竖版 9:16 和横版 16:9 分开导出
[ ] 字幕逐字校对
[ ] 片头 3 秒能说明主题
[ ] 所有 UI 字幕为后期叠加
[ ] 素材来源可追溯Alternatives
For a screen-recorded tutorial, Screen Studio, CapCut, or Jianying with AI captions will be faster. For a product advertisement, use Runway, Pika, or Kling for atmospheric shots and finish the piece in a conventional editor. To produce short videos at scale, turn the script, storyboard, voice-over, and captions into a templated pipeline.
Conclusion
The most reliable route to AI-generated video is not a one-sentence prompt. It is script → storyboard → keyframes → image-to-video → post-production. Treat the video model as a footage generator rather than a complete director, and creating a publishable short video becomes much easier.