The Shocking Truth About Runway Gen 4.5

01 · ▶ on the show at 5:32

Grat the Cat

By Simon Baret

Chris opened his solo stretch with a fun one: a hip-hop music video by Simon Baret in which cats in chains and silk bandanas talk big from NY to LA, then dip when the dogs come out to play. Chris loved that the credits ran at the end, thanking collaborators and naming the tools, and urged anyone submitting work to do the same. He half wished he'd saved it for Andrew, a big hip-hop fan, but it felt like the perfect opener for a week heavy on music videos.

“That's the way to kick off the show, right?”Chris Branch · ▶ 8:39

02 · ▶ on the show at 10:02

Thailand Trip

Chris found this one on Vimeo, of all places, a platform where he rarely sees this kind of work. It's a music video by an Asian creator whose username was so long Chris promised to post the credit in the chat instead, made with Suno, Kling, Nano Banana and a bit of After Effects. It was still playing when Andrew dropped in from a co-working space in Bristol, which Chris immediately mistook for a train station.

SunoKlingNano BananaAdobe After Effects

03 · ▶ on the show at 16:24

Alternate Mars 1984

By Dave Clark

Runway Gen-4.5 finally got image to video in the week of the show, and Dave Clark, now running Promise Studio, did what he does with every new model: made a short piece to show it off, entirely in Runway image to video. The chat saw Blade Runner in the colour palette, and Andrew wondered how Dave finds the time. Chris's answer: whenever he can, including generating two films on a single transatlantic flight. Going cinematic, with a song and pure visuals, is how Dave and Rory post something watchable days after a launch.

“What I was thinking was how does he have time to do this? It's not just throwing stuff together.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 19:03

Runway Gen-4.5

04 · ▶ on the show at 20:40

Runway's in-house Gen-4.5 short film

By Runway

A sign of things to come: Runway's own team now makes short stories with its tools and posts them, the way Luma's in-house studio does. This one was made in Gen-4.5, with an ethereal soundtrack and plenty of Where the Wild Things Are references. Watched as a showcase, the hosts looked for physics and coherent characters, and liked what they saw. Andrew was struck by how far AI video has come in a year. Chris's verdict on the model: not yet up to Kling and Veo 3.1, but back in the top five.

“I don't quite think 4.5 is up to the Kling and Veo 3.1s yet. I think it's just in third or fourth place, but it's still got back into that category, top five again, maybe.”Chris Branch · ▶ 24:00

Runway Gen-4.5

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05 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 25:21

Grok Imagine API launch video

By xAI

Players that weren't even in AI video a year earlier now make 10-second clips that look, in Chris's words, pretty insane. Grok's promo for its newly available API runs through graphics, motion control and motion design. The hosts acknowledged Grok's recent trouble over what people had been generating with it, and urged viewers to use it wisely. Andrew was reminded of Sora's early demos, and Chris noted the split in launch videos: brag about the features, or go straight to storytelling that's classy rather than flashy.

Grok Imagine

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06 · ▶ on the show at 34:29

Crown (Official Music Video)

By EXO

The most viral piece of the week: the official video for Crown, the top track on K-pop group EXO's album, with hundreds of millions of YouTube views in a few weeks. Before playing it, Chris asked why the K-pop community accepts AI so readily, with barely any dislikes or negative comments. The theories: it's music rather than advertising, it's a real band singing a real song, and AI is simply replacing the VFX around them. Andrew got Backstreet Boys vibes, and both hosts expect hybrid production to boom this year.

“I'm telling you the hybrid type of production is going to be big this year.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 38:07

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07 · ▶ on the show at 40:59

Dear Upstairs Neighbors

By Connie He, Google DeepMind

Google DeepMind's first film made entirely with its own tools, many of them not yet public, directed by Connie He and premiering at Sundance. Chris showed a short clip ahead of the festival, hoping tools like these reach creators this year. Andrew, with his production hat on, said it could have been made before AI: the selling point is cost, which opens it up to everybody, but it still comes down to story. Connie had made the same point in a clip Chris had seen: they made roughly every tenth frame and let AI fill the gaps.

“I'm trying to think with a production hat on, I'd look at that and I'd think, all right, can that be done before AI? Yes.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 42:26

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08 · ▶ on the show at 46:30

Freedom

By Richard Fel

Chris called this one of the most standout AI music videos he has ever seen, and it has reportedly already won a few awards. A soulful song about a thirst for freedom, set in a sun-soaked world that Eric in the chat summed up as golden hour sepia madness. Chris praised the colour palette, the tone, the cinematic visual storytelling and a realism that never became the focus. His one note, shared with Stu in the chat, was the compliment sandwich kind: trim the ending to make it tighter.

“Amazing colour palette. Amazing song to go with the colour palette.”Chris Branch · ▶ 51:33

09 · ▶ on the show at 53:11

Simon Meyer's first music video

By Simon Meyer

Simon Meyer is known as the ad guy, brilliant at spec ads and real ads, and this was his first music video: a melancholy song about a brother who walked away and a narrator who feels old at 23. Chris played it while hunting for another file and was amazed it was Simon's first real go at the form. He'd asked Simon onto the show, but Simon had just become a father and was busy launching his own agency.

10 · ▶ on the show at 56:43

Simon Meyer's agency launch clip

By Simon Meyer

As promised, Chris gave Simon a platform for the launch of his new agency, named Prompter as far as we could hear on the stream, with a 35-second clip. Nearly every one of Simon's videos has played on AI LIVE, so long-time viewers will recognise plenty of it, especially the Frankenstein one. Chris messaged him to say nobody deserved an agency launch more, the same thing he told Dave Clark when Promise launched.

“Nobody that we showed from last year deserves this launch of an agency more than you do.”Chris Branch · ▶ 57:40

11 · ▶ on the show at 57:59

Filipa Kinamoto's new piece

By Filipa Kinamoto

Filipa, whom Chris met at Adobe MAX in LA, answered his call in the WhatsApp group for new work and sent this over. It took a while to find, so Simon Meyer's videos filled the gap. Worth the wait: Chris loved the style and the editing. It prompted a question from the chat about how long a music video like this takes. Chris's answer: how long is a piece of string. A day for some, months for others, depending on your prompting experience and the platforms you use.

12 · ▶ on the show at 1:02:08

Wukong the King

By Wukong the King

A music video built around a recurring Monkey King character who started from a stone and now sits on the throne, and Chris wants to see more continuous characters like this. Mary in the chat asked why it was so catchy, and Chris had felt exactly the same the first time: why was it so good, and why didn't he know he needed it? He expects fictional bands and characters in the mould of Gorillaz to break through this year, and wanted to listen to the track again after the show.

“Why the hell was that video so good? And why did I not know I needed that?”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:04:14

13 · ▶ on the show at 1:07:10

Pixton

One of the most standout videos Chris has ever been sent: a farmer proudly explains how the humans at Pixton live under natural conditions, because nothing tastes better than meat from happy humans. AI LIVE first shared the original as a post weeks earlier, then took it down when the creator was approached about making it official. A charity came on board, it went through rounds of amendments, and this was the official version, a spec idea turned real campaign, much like Glenn's figures.

“A great story is just flipping something that you're traditionally used to, isn't it?”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:09:33

14 · ▶ on the show at 1:10:59

Uniqlo spec ad

The first of two spec ads using a similar camera-control workflow. This Uniqlo fashion piece has close-ups and camera moves that look brand ready, something Chris said wouldn't have been feasible even six months earlier. Motion control, camera control and post-production speed ramps make the transitions feel smoother than they are. Watch it in slow motion and you'd spot the AI, Chris said, but for social media and product videos it works, and a lot of this kind of work is coming through tools like Cinema Studio.

15 · ▶ on the show at 1:12:38

Christopher Walken spec ad

Same workflow, very different result: a spec ad with Christopher Walken that made Chris laugh so much he reached out to its creator at DDB. They agreed that the joy of AI is finally turning silly ideas into reality instead of just talking about them, and AI was the only way this one could have been made. Mary in the chat felt Weavy in the workflow. It also prompted a viewer question about whether spec ads are legally safe, which Chris answered at length.

“How fun it is that we can finally make our silly ideas a reality instead of just leaving them as silly ideas.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:13:36

16 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 1:16:14

Krea real-time image generation

By Krea

Krea, a name the show hadn't talked about in maybe a year and a half, came back with a new real-time image generation tool, shown here in one of its demo videos. Chris recommended it to any creative who likes working with AI in real time, or near real time. Phil in the chat uses Krea for image enhancement, which led into a round-up of upscalers, from Magnific to Leonardo, and of node-based workspaces like Weavy, Flora and ComfyUI.

Krea

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17 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 1:17:35

Lucy 2.0 real-time video model

By Decart

Staying platform agnostic, Chris followed Krea with Lucy 2.0, a real-time video model whose launch video promises to edit your reality live: turn yourself into any character, put any item in your hand, switch to a new outfit. Chris read the run of real-time launches as a sign of demand for creating live instead of waiting in long queues for video, and asked the chat which of these tools they had tried.

“Maybe it shows the demand for more real-time creation instead of waiting in long queues for your videos.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:18:27

Lucy 2.0

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18 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 1:23:00

Gemini in Chrome

By Google

Google's demo of the latest Gemini updates in Chrome, available only to US users at the time: a new side panel, recall of sites you've visited and chats you've had, Gmail and other Google apps from the panel, and Auto Browse for routine tasks like finding discount codes and filling your cart. Chris noted that Andrew had predicted AI built into our browsers, tied it to the Mac mini rush for desktop agents, and raised the privacy question of how much access we're willing to give.

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19 · ▶ on the show at 1:29:26

Ramadan ad with standout sound design (not AI)

Not an AI ad: a real commercial, which Chris believes was made for Ramadan, that he had noted down simply as amazing audio design. He showed it as a challenge, to see if anyone can get close to this with AI. Natural sounds cut to the beat, music underneath, and editing and pacing locked to the sound design. Glenn in the chat praised the art direction and design.

“Wow, that is as stunning as the first time I watched it, and I've watched it several times.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:30:51

20 · ▶ on the show at 1:31:57

Range Rover spec ad

Sent to Chris as a high-res 4K file, this Range Rover spec ad played before he'd tracked down the credits, which luckily the creator had put at the end. The chat called it Disney-like emotional storytelling with a great track and a strong emotional build, and the creator, part of the South African scene Chris keeps praising, was watching and thanked him for the showcase. Chris said seeing it in full quality made all the difference to the immersion.

“If that had been like a crushed file, then I felt like you'd have lost some of the immersion there.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:35:49

21 · ▶ on the show at 1:36:12

Goodbye

By Danny Ratcliff

The emotional peak of the show. Ava, a daughter who isn't quite human, prepares to leave Earth and records a goodbye to the parents who raised her for 28 years, in a hopeful future where machines helped end hunger and gave people purpose. Chris loved the twist away from AI doomsday stories and called it profound, and the chat called it moving. Danny was watching, said he'd focus on something shorter next for his sanity, and Chris invited him onto the podcast to break down his workflow.

“It's all about the way that we use the tools, it seems, guys, because the same tool for making slop can make incredible stuff like that.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:45:47

22 · ▶ on the show at 1:47:19

Runway Gen-4.5 music video

By Marco Isles

Chris has loved Marco's style since the early days of style references in Midjourney, and here Marco puts Runway Gen-4.5 image to video through its paces in a playful music video about the new model's release. One viewer summed it up: not entirely sure what's going on, but entirely sure they like it. For Chris it was a great showcase of the styles Gen-4.5 can handle, closing the loop on the show's headline story.

Runway Gen-4.5

23 · ▶ on the show at 1:57:01

Kelly Boesch music video

By Kelly Boesch

Theresa asked for more Kelly Boesch, so Chris closed the show with a recent one: a surreal track about the collective unconscious, Freud and a red book. Kelly writes her own lyrics, spends hundreds of hours in Suno crafting the songs, then builds the video around the music, with over a million monthly Spotify listeners and a new video every other day. Eric called her the Dave Clark of music videos, and Chris said nobody else has her style, and lyricists are rare.

“Nobody's quite as prolific as her.”Chris Branch · ▶ 2:01:41

Suno