Full 30-Second Commercial Production from Stills to 4K Master
Goal of this Tutorial:
Step-by-step masterclass on creating a photorealistic automotive/product commercial using Midjourney, Runway Gen-3, ElevenLabs, and Topaz Video AI.
Prerequisites
- •Midjourney
- •Runway Gen-3
- •ElevenLabs
- •DaVinci Resolve (Free or Studio)
Required Tool Stack
1. Writing for the 15/30 Second Clock
Commercial pacing requires rigid time budgeting. Break your 30 seconds into three 10-second acts: The Hook, The Solution/Product Motion, and The Payoff/Call to Action. Each act should contain 2-3 shots maximum to allow viewer comprehension.
Write a concise 15-second broadcast commercial treatment for [brand_or_product] that opens with [tension_hook], pivots through [visual_transition], and delivers a memorable [brand_payoff]. Structure the output as a 4-column table: [Timecode 00:00 - 00:15 | Visual Shot Direction | Voiceover / Dialogue | Sound Design & Foley Beats].
2. Generating Cinematic Product Stills with Controlled Lighting
Use Midjourney v6.1 to render the hero product. Emphasize materials like titanium, carbon fiber, or blown glass with raking studio rim light. Use `--ar 16:9 --style raw` for a neutral baseline.
A sculptural product photograph of [product], suspended in [environment], soft directional [lighting_style] light, restrained [color_palette] color palette, editorial composition, tactile materials, 35mm film grain, 8k resolution, shot on Hasselblad H6D-100c.
Midjourney
3. Directing the Camera with Motion Brush Masks
In Runway, use the Motion Brush to isolate the background for camera tracking while leaving the product reflection sharp. Set horizontal pan speed to +3 and vertical pan to 0.
Low-angle Russian arm camera tracking [vehicle] accelerating along a [road_type] during [time_of_day]. Atmospheric [weather_condition], dynamic tire spray, anamorphic lens flare, shallow depth of field, 35mm film stock grain, cinematic lighting, 24fps motion cadence, photorealistic vehicle reflections.
Runway
4. Neural 4K Finishing and Grain Emulation
AI video generation models typically output at 720p or 1080p with slight temporal compression. Run your final selected takes through Topaz Video AI using the Proteus Fine Tune model to upscale to 3840x2160 ProRes. Import into DaVinci Resolve and overlay a 35mm 4K film grain plate set to Overlay blend mode at 40% opacity.
Topaz Video AI
Common Production Mistakes to Avoid
- ✗Skipping upscaling and exporting raw 720p AI video directly to clients.
- ✗Using voiceovers without natural breath pauses or room acoustic modeling.