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Runway Gen4

A frontier video generation model developed by Runway: creates cinematic videos with consistent characters and objects.

TL;DR

Top choice for creating professional-quality videos with consistent subjects and movie-like camera work. Perfect when visual consistency matters most.

Strengths for marketers

  • Character consistency: Maintains the same person, product, or mascot across different scenes and lighting conditions.

  • Product consistency: Place any product in multiple environments while keeping it visually identical.

  • Cinematic quality: Professional camera movements and scene control that rivals traditional filmmaking.

Ideal use cases

Scenarios where you have a specific visual you want to animate consistently:

  • Product videos: Show a product in various lifestyle settings with perfect consistency.

  • Campaign variations: Generate multiple scenarios with the same products for performance testing.

  • Mascot animation: Create consistent spokespersons or mascots across multiple video assets.

Weaknesses

  • Requires a starting image (can't generate from text alone)

  • Struggles with overly complex multi-element scenes

  • Occasional visual glitches or hallucinations

  • More expensive than simpler animation models

How to use effectively

Gen-4 thrives on simplicity and focus. Start simple and build up gradually:

  1. Basic motion: "The subject turns slowly"

  2. Add camera: "The subject turns slowly as camera circles around"

  3. Add environment: "The subject turns slowly as camera circles, dust swirling"

  4. Add style: "The subject turns slowly as camera circles, dust swirling, cinematic"

Pro tips:

  • Focus only on motion - let the image handle the visuals

  • Use "the subject" or "the product" instead of specific names

  • Say what should happen, never what shouldn't

  • Add one new element at a time when iterating

Example prompts

  • "The subject turns slowly toward the camera and smiles"

  • "The product rotates gently while the camera circles around it"

  • "She raises her hand and waves at the camera"

  • "The camera slowly pulls back to reveal the full scene"

  • "The person on the left walks forward. The person on the right waves."

Model parameters

Inputs accepted

  • Text + 1 Reference Image (starting frame)

Output characteristics

  • Default Resolution: 1080p

  • Duration options: 5s or 10s

  • Available Aspect Ratios: 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 3:4, 4:3

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