How long does this beginner tutorial take?

This tutorial takes about 9 minutes to complete. Take your time with each step — the goal is understanding, not speed.

Do I need any prior experience?

No prior experience is needed. This tutorial is designed for complete beginners.

Which tools do I need?

This tutorial uses runway, pika, sora.

Is this tutorial free?

Yes, all of our tutorials are completely free to access. No signup required.

Create Your First AI Video with Runway

Turn a text prompt or image into a short video clip using Runway Gen-3. Here is exactly how, with prompt tips that get better motion.

Sara Lindqvist

9 min readJuly 14, 2026

Set up your Runway account

Create a free account at runwayml.com. The free tier gives you credits to test Gen-3 and other tools, with a small watermark on exports.

Write a motion-focused prompt

Describe the camera movement and subject action, not just the scene. "Slow dolly-in over a futuristic city at night, neon reflections in puddles, light rain" produces richer motion than "futuristic city."

Generate and compare

Runway generates a few variations. Preview them and pick the clip with the most natural motion. Discard clips with warping or distortion.

Export for your platform

Choose the resolution and aspect ratio that match where the video will be published — 9:16 for Reels and Shorts, 16:9 for YouTube.

Frequently asked questions

Sara Lindqvist

Creative AI Instructor

Sara explores the intersection of AI and visual art. Her tutorials on AI image and video generation have been viewed millions of times.