AI video or traditional shoot?
By Syntax Motion, Vienna. Updated: 19 September 2026
Hiring an agency for an AI video pays off when the video has to work as advertising or as a brand film. For tests, internal presentations and rough ideas, a tool such as Runway, Kling or Google Flow is often enough. A traditional shoot is still the right choice when real people are at the centre. Hybrid combines both.
The four options at a glance
There are four ways to get a video with AI in it: do it yourself with a tool, hire an AI video agency, shoot it traditionally or go hybrid. They differ less in the tools than in who does the work and who is accountable for the result. The table compares all four.
| Yourself with a tool | AI agency (Syntax Motion) | Traditional shoot | Hybrid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | subscription from 15 US dollars a month (Runway Standard, as of 19.09.2026) plus your own time | social spot from 1,000 €, base film from 3,500 €, see Pricing | 30-second online spot usually 4,000 to 15,000 € net (sources) | depends on the shoot |
| Time | first clips in minutes, a finished spot depends heavily on practice | on request | usually 4 to 10 weeks | depends on the shoot |
| Quality | single shots are often good, a consistent look across many scenes is hard | consistent look, post-production, edit and sound | real people and places, elaborate motifs are expensive | real people plus worlds from AI |
| Control | complete, but every attempt uses up credits | approval of styleframes and rough cut | high on set, changes afterwards are expensive | shoot is fixed, AI scenes stay editable |
| Rights | check the provider's terms and plan yourself | usage right for the agreed purpose on payment, terms section 5 | clear rights for talent, music and locations | both |
| Your effort | high: prompting, selecting, editing, sound, music | briefing and four approvals | organisation and presence on the shoot day | shoot day and approvals |
What a tool really costs
A tool costs a monthly subscription plus your time, and the time is usually the bigger item. The subscription pays for computing power, not for results. Every attempt uses up credits, including the ones you throw away.
- Runway: According to its pricing page, the Standard plan costs 15 US dollars a month or 12 US dollars billed annually. It includes 625 credits, which Runway says covers 52 seconds with the Gen-4.5 model. Pro costs 35 US dollars (28 billed annually) for 2,250 credits. As of 19.09.2026.
- Google Flow: Flow is part of the Google AI plans and runs on a monthly credit allowance. Plans and credits are listed on Google's overview page.
- Kling: Kling sells its own subscriptions with credits. Current plans are listed by the provider.
Keep in mind: 52 seconds of generation are not 52 seconds of finished film. In practice a usable shot takes several attempts. Editing, music, voice-over and colour grading come on top.
When a tool is enough
A tool is enough when the video has to be quick, is short and does not represent your brand in public. Then your own effort stays manageable and small mistakes cost little. Typical cases:
- Ideas and moods for a briefing or an internal presentation.
- Single clips for organic social media posts.
- Testing whether a visual idea works at all.
- You or someone on the team has the time and enjoys learning the tool.
Starting this way is a good idea. A clip you made yourself is also a useful briefing: in the first call it shows quickly what you have in mind.
When to hire an agency for an AI video
Hiring an agency pays off when the video represents your brand and runs as paid media. Then a consistent look, exact product details and clean sound matter. That is exactly the work a tool does not do for you.
- Commercials and campaigns: several scenes that feel like one piece.
- Brand films: a story over 60 seconds or more. See brand films.
- Products with labels: logos and packaging often have to be corrected by hand.
- Many formats: variants for channels, languages and cut lengths.
- Rights and labelling: someone has to take care of them before the spot runs.
AI video or real footage: when to shoot
You should shoot traditionally when specific real people have to appear. That applies to your team, your management or customers talking about their own experience. Long dialogue with exact lip sync is also more reliable when filmed.
AI is stronger where a shoot would be expensive or impossible: macro, outer space, underwater, fantasy worlds, products in motion. It also lets you regenerate single scenes later without a reshoot. Our films on the homepage show what that looks like, all of them spec work made without a client brief.
Hybrid: combining both
Hybrid means the people are filmed, while worlds, effects and transitions come from AI. It fits when a film needs to be credible and elaborate at the same time. A typical example is a recruiting video with the real team and AI scenes for vision and values. Both forms, live action with AI and AI post-production, are set out with cost and limits under hybrid video production.
What to look for in an agency
Make sure an agency shows you styleframes before production and tells you openly what AI cannot do in your case. Ask about approvals, revision rounds, rights and labelling. For a sense of what production costs, see what a commercial costs.
Sources
- Runway: Pricing, retrieved 19.09.2026.
- Google: Google AI plans, retrieved 19.09.2026.
- Kling AI: Membership Plans, retrieved 19.09.2026.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to have an AI video made?
At Syntax Motion a short social spot starts at 1,000 € net and a base film for your website and YouTube at 3,500 € net. The price depends on length, number of scenes, level of realism and variants. Doing it yourself with a tool means a subscription, for example from 15 US dollars a month with Runway, plus your own working time.
Which AI is best for making videos?
There is no single best AI. The models each have strengths in motion, realism or control, and they change from month to month. For moving images we work with Seedance, Veo, Kling and Google Flow, for stills with Seedream, Nano Banana, GPT Image and Seed 1.0. Which tool a scene gets is decided by the subject.
Can you tell that a video was made with AI?
For products, settings and moods, often not anymore. With people in close-up, hands, text and long dialogue, errors are more noticeable. That is where a professional production puts most of its post-production work.
Can I use an AI video for advertising?
That depends on the tool's terms of use and on third-party rights, for example to brands, music or people. Deceptively realistic content can require labelling under Article 50 of the EU AI Act. Platforms such as YouTube, Meta and TikTok also have their own rules.
Terms like styleframe, rough cut and lipsync are explained in the glossary.
Read on: AI commercial examples • What a commercial costs • About us
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