Learn How to Create Stunning AI-Generated Videos Using OpenAI's Sora

The world of AI-powered text-to-video services is buzzing, and OpenAI's Sora is making waves. With Sora, you can turn a simple description into a captivating video clip. You're not just limited to describing what you want; you can tweak the video's duration, speed, aspect ratio, and dive into a Storyboard feature to craft a full video sequence by detailing each action.

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Sora offers two tiers for video creation: priority and relaxed. Priority videos are generated ASAP, perfect for those last-minute needs, but they do use up your monthly credits. Relaxed videos, on the other hand, take their sweet time to appear, but they're kinder on your credit count.

ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers get a cool 1,000 credits a month and can whip up to 50 priority videos. Your creations are capped at 720p for up to 5 seconds or 480p for up to 10 seconds, and any downloads (be it MP4 or GIF) come with a discreet watermark.

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Meanwhile, ChatGPT Pro users are rolling in credits with 10,000 a month, enabling them to create up to 500 priority videos and an unlimited number of relaxed ones. They can go all out with 1080p resolution and videos up to 20 seconds long, and best of all, their downloads are watermark-free.

How to Use Sora to Generate Videos

What you'll need: Sora is exclusively available to paid ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers.

1. Check out Sora's website

Head over to the Sora website and log in with your OpenAI account. Before diving into your own creations, take a peek at what others have done. Click the Featured category at the top left to see some standout videos. Then, hop back to the home page and explore the Top and Recent categories. You can even filter the Top category by Day, Week, Month, or All time to see what's been trending.

2. View a video

When a video catches your eye, click it to play it in full. Curious about how it was made? Click View prompt or Edit prompt at the bottom to see the magic words that brought it to life. Checking out other videos and their prompts can give you ideas for your own. Feel free to borrow some phrases if they fit what you're envisioning.

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3. Prep your video

Ready to make your own video? Head to the All videos category under Library. Here, you'll pick your preset, aspect ratio, resolution, duration, and how many variations you want.

Click the Preset button at the bottom to choose from styles like Archival, Film Noir, Cardboard & Papercraft, Whimsical Stop Motion, or Balloon World. Next, select your Aspect ratio (16:9, 1:1, or 9:16), then set your resolution and duration. Decide on the number of variations you want - one, two, or four. Hover over the question mark icon to see how many credits your choices will cost.

4. Enter and submit your prompt

With your settings dialed in, type your video description into the prompt box. Be as detailed as you want. If you're stuck, ChatGPT can help generate a prompt for you. Just head to the ChatGPT website, ask for a prompt based on your video idea, and if you like what you see, copy and paste it back into Sora. When you're ready, hit the up arrow to submit.

5. View the video

Sora will then whip up one to four variations of your video. Hover over them to watch them play in real-time, or scrub your mouse across to see them in slow motion. Click on a video to view it in the lightbox.

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6. Revise the video

Once your video is playing in the lightbox, Sora gives you plenty of ways to tweak it. Click Edit prompt to refine your description, Edit story to adjust each action's description, Re-cut to trim or extend the video, Remix to add, remove, or replace elements, Blend to mix elements from another video, or Loop to make a section repeat endlessly.

7. View the revised video

After making your changes, Sora will generate new versions of your video. Go back to the All videos section in your library to check them out.

8. Review storyboarded videos

With a regular video, Sora does all the work based on your prompt. But with a storyboard, you can take the director's chair. Just like in filmmaking, you can describe and sequence each action, setting up to seven actions in your storyboard.

To get inspired, look at storyboards in other videos under the Feature, Top, or Recent categories. Click View story on a video you like to see how the prompts for each action were crafted.

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9. Set your storyboard's attributes

Back in your library, click the Storyboard button at the bottom. Choose your aspect ratio, resolution, duration, number of variations, and preset using the icons at the bottom.

10. Create the prompt for your first action

At the first action's caption card, type your description or add an existing video from your PC or Sora library. This is where you set the scene, introduce characters, and kick off the action. If you need help, ask ChatGPT to craft prompts for each action based on your vision, then paste the first one into Sora.

11. Set up additional actions

To add more actions, click anywhere on the timeline to create a new caption card. Type or paste your next prompt here, and keep going if you want more actions.

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12. Space the actions to create the video

Now, you'll want to space out your actions on the timeline to ensure smooth transitions. Too close, and your video might feel jumpy; too far apart, and Sora might fill in unwanted details. Experiment with the timing, keeping the total duration in mind. Drag and drop the cards to their perfect spots, then click Create to bring your video to life.

13. View your video

Back on the main screen, hover over your new video to watch it play. Scrub left and right to go back and forth. Click it to open in the lightbox, where you can further tweak it by revising prompts, re-cutting, remixing, blending, or looping.

14. Manage your videos

To manage any video, go to the All videos section in your library. Open the video you want to work with. From the top toolbar, you can favorite it, like it, give feedback, share it, download it, add it to a folder, or archive it.

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