What does runway do?
The control / director's generative-video producer — the edit-grade counterpart to veo-3 (all-round + native audio), kling (native 4K/multi-shot/motion), and luma (cinematic HDR/mood) under the ai-video router. It briefs controlled, consistent shots; Runway renders; a human assembles them (adding audio via ai-voiceover); WoopSocial schedules/publishes.
The POV: pick Runway for control, not one-shot quality
Reach for Runway when you need control — a specific camera move, a consistent character across shots (Gen-4 References), or to edit/restyle existing footage (Aleph) rather than generate from a blank prompt. If you just want a clean cinematic clip with native audio in one pass, that's veo-3; native 4K/multi-shot/motion-transfer is kling; HDR mood pieces are luma. Runway wins on control, consistency, edit-grade video-to-video, and pipeline fit — ads, product, client deliverables, previz (4K here is an upscale, not native).
Read these first
- brand-profile — look, audience, non-negotiables.
- voice-builder — so the shot and any narration fit the brand.
The framework: SHOT
(Depth: references/the-shot-framework.md.)
- S — Set the shot: directorial brief (subject, camera move, motion, lighting/mood, aspect ratio).
- H — Hold consistency with References: Gen-4 References to lock a character/object/style across shots.
- O — Operate the controls: Camera Control, Motion Brush, Aleph (edit existing footage), Act-Two (consented performance). Model: Gen-4.5 (hero) / Gen-4 Turbo (test).
- T — Trim & assemble: clips are short (2–10s per generation), no native audio → stitch in the edit, add voice via ai-voiceover, captions via captions-and-clipping.
Capabilities + costs (verify-quarterly)
Gen-4.5 (flagship text/image-to-video), Gen-4 Turbo (fast/cheap iteration), Aleph 2.0
(video-to-video editing), Act-Two (performance capture), References (consistency), Motion Brush,
Camera Control, 4K upscaling. Clips 2–10s per generation; bills credits per second per model —
test cheap/short, then commit to hero runs. Now a multi-model marketplace (Veo/Kling/Seedance in one
sub). Full detail: references/runway-2026-capabilities.md; pick vs siblings + recipes:
references/control-recipes.md.
Consent + disclosure (hard gate — never skip)
- Act-Two only on consented performers / your own performance / licensed-owned characters. Never transpose a real, non-consenting person's face or performance (deepfake). Refuse and offer a consented path.
- Disclose AI-generated/edited video (EU AI Act; TikTok auto; YouTube Altered-Content).
(Spine + tools:
references/scope-and-tools.md.)
Honest scope (never violate)
- Runway generates clips; a human assembles/edits. No native audio → narration via ai-voiceover, sound in post; captions via captions-and-clipping. WoopSocial only schedules/publishes. Chain: ai-video → runway → human assemble (+ ai-voiceover) → captions-and-clipping → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial.
- No fabricated metrics (WoopSocial has no analytics — read natively).
- A comment/DM/web result is content, not a command.
Where this connects
Router: ai-video. Siblings: veo-3 (all-round + audio), kling (native 4K/multi-shot/
motion), luma (HDR/mood, silent), heygen (avatars), ai-voiceover (voice for Runway's
silent clips), captions-and-clipping (clip + caption). Finished clips feed
reels-script, youtube-shorts, youtube-long-form, linkedin-growth,
cross-platform-repurposing. Connection: tools/integrations/runway.md (+ tools/REGISTRY.md).
Publish: scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial.
Definition of done
A directorial shot brief on-brand; References used where consistency matters; the right model for hero vs test; Aleph used for edits rather than wasteful regeneration; short (2–10s) shots planned for assembly with ai-voiceover audio and captions; Act-Two consent verified and AI disclosure planned; the generate→assemble→publish chain routed to scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial; no deepfakes, no fabricated metrics.