Showcase: making a launch video, without and with an agent

The first half is called "Without Second Studio". A search for free b-roll. A storyboard doc that says "open on the city, then the logo". A timeline with 112 tracks. An export at 4% with 3 hours 52 minutes left, and a note from the boss: make the logo bigger.

The second half is "With Second Studio". An agent connected over MCP ticks off a checklist: read the product page, wrote the script, built the scenes, voice, captions, music. Then a dark card: "Let agents make the video", with a brief typed into it, a progress bar, and done in 52 seconds total. It ends on the wordmark and "Get an API key".

A small pixel robot mascot walks through both halves.

How we made it

1. Every screen is a mock UI built in HTML: the doc, the timeline, the export dialog, the agent checklist. No screenshots of real apps, so nothing to license and nothing that goes stale.
2. A running clock in the corner speeds up through the first half and nearly stops in the second. That one detail tells the story.
3. The mascot is a small sprite that moves between the cards.
4. Music and clicks, no voice.

How your agent can make one

The public route is a steps scene for each half and a recording of your real product for the "with" part. Record your own app on the mobile viewport:

POST /v1/recordings
{
  "url": "https://your-product.example/new",
  "viewport": "mobile",
  "steps": [
    { "type": "hold", "seconds": 1 },
    { "type": "type", "selector": "#brief", "text": "Make a 30 second launch video" },
    { "type": "click", "selector": "button[type=submit]" },
    { "type": "wait_for", "selector": ".done" }
  ]
}

Add the recording to your brand kit, then:

POST /v1/explainers
{
  "brandId": "<your brand kit>",
  "aspect": "16:9",
  "captions": true,
  "brief": "40 second before and after. First half: steps of the old way, b-roll, storyboard, timeline, a slow export. Second half: our product doing it in one brief, using the recording. End on a call to action."
}

What it costs

That is $1.70 on the $10 starter pack.

Get started if you want your agent making these.

product ui before and after launch video mascot no footage