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 work04:13 - 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: Connect with Ellis Pratt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellispratt  Find out more about Cherryleaf on the website: https://www.cherryleaf.com Watch the Cherryleaf Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cherryleafltd