Turn key art into a video ad

Set your key art in motion, cut the shots into one vertical ad on the video timeline with music and an end card, and render a file ready for the ad network. This is the path for user acquisition creatives: a batch of hooks from one piece of art.

What you'll make

A short 9:16 video ad, the shape Stories, Reels, Shorts and TikTok placements take: an animated opening shot from your key art, an end card with a call to action, and a music track, rendered as one MP4. Then the same cut with different opening shots, so you can test hooks against each other.

Before you start

• Key art cut to the placement's shape. If yours is landscape, extend it to 9:16 first with Reframe an image to a new aspect ratio, rather than cropping the subject out.
• Music for the ad, from your library or made with Create music.
• The end card text: the call to action, short enough to read twice in the time it is on screen.
• Video runs and the final render each cost Creative Units. See Creative Units.

Animate the key art

Each shot starts from the key art as its first frame. Create a video covers the tool, and Direct a video with presets covers camera moves.

1. Bring the key art onto the board.

2. Click View on it, then Turn into video. The side panel opens Create video with the art as the first frame.

3. Click the model name and choose a model, such as MiniMax H3, and set Aspect ratio to 9:16 to match the art. Describe one action and one camera move: what the character does, what the scene does, how the camera moves. Ask for no text, so the model does not invent lettering you then have to remove.

4. Click Create video. The shot lands on the board when the run finishes.

Cut the ad

The video timeline puts shots, images, text and audio on tracks and renders them as one file.

1. Click View on the shot and choose Open in video timeline. The editor opens with the shot on the first track.

2. Click the aspect ratio at the top of the editor and choose 9:16, so the canvas matches the placement.

3. Click Audio in the rail on the left and pick the music from your library. Trim it to the length of the cut so it does not run on past the end card.

4. Click Text in the timeline toolbar and write the call to action under Typography in the panel on the right. Drag the text clip to where the end card starts, and add the key art with Image underneath if the end card needs a still behind it. Keep text clear of the top and bottom of the frame, where the platform draws its own controls.

5. Click Forge. The cost shows on the button; the editor locks while the video renders.

6. The finished ad lands on the board. Open it and watch it through with the sound on and off.

Make a batch of hooks

The first seconds decide whether a viewer keeps watching, so test several openings against the same end card.

1. Make three to five opening shots from the key art, each with a different action or camera move: a reveal, a push in on the character, the moment before a hit. Run them side by side from the same art so they share the look.

2. For each hook, open a timeline from that shot and add the same music and end card. Each timeline renders its own file.

3. Name each rendered file after its hook so the results from the ad network map back to the shot.

The 9:16 gameplay hook and Organic ad hooks templates, and the Layer agent, can draft hook ideas and run the shots for you; see Write a brief for the agent.

Hand it off

Download the rendered MP4 from the viewer. For a placement with another shape, reframe the shots with Reframe video rather than cropping the finished ad, then cut that version on its own timeline. For an ad with a voice-over, Add subtitles to video transcribes the speech and burns in captions, so the ad still lands when it plays muted. Upload the files to your ad network's creative library as you would any video ad; check each network's length and file-size limits for the placement.

Scale it up

• Keep the character on-model across shots. Use a reference set of the character so every shot shows the same face and costume. See Keep a character on-model in a video.
• Batch it. Build a workflow that takes the key art and a list of motions, makes a shot per line and assembles each on a timeline with the shared music and end card. See Assemble a video on a timeline in a workflow and Generate videos in a workflow.
• Review before hand-off. Watch every cut to the end before it ships, and keep the approved ads in a project with the hook named on each. See Organize work into projects.

If something goes wrong

• The shot drifts away from the key art. The prompt asked for too much. Describe one action and one camera move, and keep the rest of the scene as it is.
• Letters or a logo appear in the shot. Add "no text" to the prompt and run it again; place the real text on the timeline instead.
• Forge stays disabled. The timeline is empty or still working out the cost. Check every clip has loaded, and that your balance covers the render.
• The music runs past the end card or stops early. Trim or extend the audio clip on the timeline to the length of the cut before you render.

Related

• Create a video
• Direct a video with presets
• Create music
• Assemble a video on a timeline in a workflow
• Build a playable ad with the agent