Runway
What it does well
- Animating a still image
- Fast short-video prototypes
- Editing tools (background, masking)
How I use it
- Short motion creatives from product stills for Reels/Shorts
- Video ad concept trials
- Tests turning a static campaign into video
An honest read
Limits
Clips are short and scene control is limited; keeping the same character consistent across two clips is still hard. I treat the output as raw material for an edit, not a finished ad. Render time and credit cost genuinely limit how many attempts you get, so I settle on what I want before writing the prompt.
When I switch to another tool
For templated, fast social video, Canva Magic Studio is enough. I handle voice-over and dubbing separately in ElevenLabs; producing it in the same tool as the video lowers the quality.