Runway

Prompt and direct Runway (Gen-4.5, Aleph) — the control-grade generative video tool for camera moves, character consistency, and edit-grade shots. Use when someone wants "a specific camera move," "the same character across multiple shots," "to edit/restyle existing footage," "a branded product/ad shot," "film-style previz," "image to video with Runway" (animate a still), or names Runway / Gen-4 / Gen-4.5 / Aleph / Act-Two / Motion Brush / References. Runway generates clips; a human assembles/edits; audio comes from ai-voiceover; WoopSocial schedules/publishes. Below the ai-video router, sibling to veo-3 (all-round + native audio), kling (native 4K/multi-shot/motion), and luma (cinematic HDR/mood). Consented performances only (Act-Two); AI disclosure mandatory.

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

1. brand-profile — look, audience, non-negotiables.
2. 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.