Create a cinematic video from a single photo in 5 minutes
Bring a static photo to life for social media using Runway's free starter credits.
- 1.Prepare a clear, well-lit photo. For vertical Reels, crop it to a 9:16 aspect ratio. Leave some free space around the person so the AI has room to move the camera.Runway ↗About this tool
- 2.Open runway.com, click Sign Up, and register with Google. Right after that, 125 free one-time credits will be added to your balance.
If the service is unavailable in your region, use an appropriate tool to bypass restrictions.
Runway ↗About this tool - 3.On the home page, select video creation. In the model picker, set Gen-4 Turbo (available on the free plan) or Gen-4.5. Select the 9:16 format and a 5-second video length to spend exactly 60 credits. Drag your photo into the image upload box.Runway ↗About this tool
- 4.Copy and paste the ready-made prompt, replacing the data in brackets with your own. Click the generate button.
Do not describe what is already in the photo. The AI sees the picture - it only needs to know what movement to perform.
Runway ↗About this toolPromptThe [man/woman] slowly turns their head from the [window/laptop] to the camera and gives a calm, warm smile. The camera gently pushes in. Soft natural daylight, realistic motion. No text, no logos.
What this prompt doesThe prompt describes the character's movement (turning the head and smiling) and a slow camera push-in. Replace [man/woman] with the person's gender, and [window/laptop] with the object they turn away from. - 5.Wait for processing (usually 1-3 minutes). Preview the result: first in full, then pay attention to the face and hands. If the facial movement looks unnatural, simplify the prompt, leaving only the smile and camera movement. Download the finished video in MP4 format.
On the free plan, a small service watermark is added to the video. For most social media, this is not critical.
Runway ↗About this tool
💰 What it costs to followprices as of 2026-11
- freeRunway Free planUpon registration, 125 one-time credits are given, which are not replenished. This is enough for about two 5-second videos (60 credits each). There will be a watermark on the output.
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