Use case · AI talking head ad
A talking-head ad is the highest-trust ad format and the most tedious to film. We ran the two-step path from a single still to a lip-synced clip and timed it.
socialAF research pipeline·Generated June 1, 2026
What we ran
Driving one character still to a lip-synced ad read returned a finished clip in about 40 seconds for 5 credits, using the same saved character as our image set.
We generated a direct-to-camera presenter still, then drove it to a lip-synced clip. The job routed to the lip-sync pipeline, cost 5 credits, and completed in roughly 40 seconds from a single still. The speaker is the same character as every other frame in our set.
How to reproduce·generate_image for a direct-to-camera presenter still, then apply the talking-head-ad preset with that image to drive a lip-synced clip.
01
Start with a direct-to-camera frame of your saved character: friendly expression, eye contact, a soft key light. We generated this at 2 credits.
The still is the anchor for the lip-sync, so frame it chest-up the way a talking-head ad sits on screen.
02
Feed the still and a short script into the talking-head path. In our run the job routed to the lip-sync pipeline, cost 5 credits, and finished in about 40 seconds, returning an mp4.
That is the whole production: no camera, no studio, no second take.
03
Lip-sync is strongest on a clean, front-facing still. A sharp profile or heavy occlusion around the mouth makes the sync harder, so pick a frame with the mouth clearly visible.
Keep scripts conversational and short. A natural ad read of one or two sentences sits better than a dense paragraph.
04
Because the speaker is a saved character, every talking-head ad you make uses the same recognizable face. You are building a spokesperson, not renting a stranger per clip.
The same character also appears in your stills and product shots, so the ad and the rest of the funnel match.
FAQ
Our lip-sync job completed in about 40 seconds from a single still.
The presenter still was 2 credits and the lip-sync was 5 credits in our run.
A clean, front-facing, chest-up frame with the mouth clearly visible. Sharp profiles make sync harder.
Yes. The clip is driven by your saved character, so every talking-head ad uses the same face.
No. It animates a character you own from your own script and reference, rather than impersonating a real person, which is the line a deepfake crosses.
Keep scripts to one or two conversational sentences per clip for the cleanest sync. Stitch several clips together for a longer ad.
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