Shot List — Make a Movie Shot by Shot

Plan a movie as a list of shots — a first frame, what happens and a length for each — then make them in a chain, play them back to back or join them into one video.

What the Shot list is

In the Video Studio, the third chip at the top of the page is Shot list (with a small NEW tag). Pick it and the usual form is replaced by a plan of your movie: one card per shot, with a timeline bar on top.

Each shot is a first picture plus a few words about what happens in it, and a length. The AI films the movement from that picture onward. Shot 1 starts from a picture you pick; every shot after it starts on the real last frame of the shot before, so the film runs on without a jump.

It is real video, not stop-motion. The picture only pins where a shot starts — the model films everything in between as moving video.

The top row: chips, engine and shape

The Shot list keeps its own row at the top: the three chips (From a description, From an image, Shot list), an Engine dropdown and a Shape dropdown for the aspect ratio. They apply to every shot in the list.

The engine list is every model that can start from a picture — the same list as From an image. If none of those is switched on, the Shot list chip is greyed out.

There is no Style picker here, on purpose: your first picture already fixes the look.

The timeline bar

The card at the top reads Your movie: 3 shots · 20 s (or whatever your plan adds up to). Under it, a bar lays the shots end to end, each block as wide as its length, with a time scale underneath.

Shots already made are solid. Shots still to make are faded and say · to make. Hover a block to see its time range and its words.

One card per shot

Every shot still to make has a card with its number and where it sits in the movie, like 0 – 5 s, and three parts side by side:

First frame. On Shot 1 this is a slot you fill: Upload a file, URL to paste a web address, or From gallery to pick one of your own generated images. On every later shot it says First frame · linked — "Taken from the end of Shot 1" — and there is nothing to pick. If you would rather start the next shot from a picture of your own, press Use my own picture instead.
What happens in this shot. Write the movement, not the contents: "the camera slowly walks up to the bakery door and a hand flips the sign to OPEN".
Last frame · optional. A slot like the first one, on the engines that can end a shot on a picture — see the section below.

The Length chips on each card only offer lengths the chosen engine really makes, such as 5 s and 10 s for Runway Gen-4. There is no 3-second shot on that engine; switch engines and any length it cannot make snaps to the nearest one it can. ＋ Add shot puts a new card at the end, and the small ✕ removes one.

Ending a shot on a picture

Every card has a Last frame slot. On Veo 3.1 and the Seedance engines (and a few others) it is open, marked Last frame · optional: fill it the same way as the first frame — Upload, URL or From gallery. Give a shot a last picture and it ends there, and the next shot starts on that same picture. Leave it empty and the engine decides where the shot lands.

On any other engine the slot is locked and tagged Not on this engine, and a note under the first card names the engines that can do it: "To end a shot on a picture, switch the engine above to …". You can also just write the ending into the words: "…and the shot ends on the OPEN sign". The next shot then picks up from exactly the frame the model landed on.

Making your first movie

Open the Video Studio and pick Shot list at the top.
Choose an Engine and a Shape. They hold for every shot.
Give Shot 1 its first frame — “Upload”, paste a URL, or pick one of your generated images.
Write what happens in the shot and pick its length. Press ＋ Add shot for the next one and do the same — it starts on Shot 1's last frame by itself.
Read the total on the button, then press “Make all shots”. That press spends the credits for the first shot at once, with no confirmation step.

The three ways to fill the first frame. A filled slot swaps them for Replace and a small ✕.

While the shots are being made

Make all does not send everything at once. It makes the shots one after another, because each shot starts on the last frame of the one before, and that frame only exists once the previous clip is finished. The line under the button tells you where it is: "Reading the last frame of Shot 1…", "Sending Shot 2…", "Making Shot 2. The next shot starts from its last frame."

Keep the page open until the last shot has started. The list is driven from your browser; close the tab and the shots not yet sent are simply not sent.

Stop after this shot sends no further shots. A shot already sent keeps being made and stays in your movie — stopping cancels nothing you have paid for. If a shot fails, the run stops there, tells you which shot and why, and the shots before it stay made.

A made shot gets its own card with the clip, its words and a tag: Made, Being made with a percentage, or Failed.

A movie is billed one shot at a time

Every shot is a whole video generation of its own, priced and charged exactly like any other clip. A six-shot movie costs six clips, and there is no discount for chaining. The total on Make all is the sum of those shots; each one is charged when it is sent.

If a shot fails, whether its credits come back depends on what went wrong — the rules are the same as for any clip, see Video Studio — Your Clips and Refused Clips. If your balance does not cover every shot in the list, the button stays off and says so: remove a shot or top up first.

Watch and download

The Watch and download card works on the finished shots. A shot still being made or one that failed is left out, and the card says how many.

Play whole movie plays the finished shots back to back in one player, the next one starting as the last one ends.
Download each shot saves every finished shot as its own file, numbered in order: shot-1.mp4, shot-2.mp4, and so on. Your browser may ask you to allow several downloads.
Download as one video (.mp4) joins the finished shots into one film, vyroai-movie.mp4. The joining happens in your browser, so it takes a moment on a long movie; the button shows how far it is, and Cancel stops it.

When the joined video is not what you expect

Joining needs a recent browser. If yours cannot do it, the button is greyed out and the card says: "This browser can't join the shots into one video. Download each shot instead, or use the latest Chrome or Edge."

If the browser can join the pictures but cannot write sound into the new file, you still get the film, without sound, and the card says so. The single shots keep their sound — download them one by one if you need it.

"Start new movie" empties the list, it deletes nothing

Once a shot is made, Start new movie appears on the timeline card. It clears the plan so the next shot begins a fresh film — the clips themselves stay in your Gallery, exactly where they were, and nothing you paid for is thrown away.

The reverse is also true: delete a clip in the Gallery and it simply disappears from the movie. The Shot list only ever points at your Gallery, so it can never show you a shot that no longer exists.

Where the movie is kept — and where it is not

Your movie is stored in your browser: the running order of the made shots, and the words and lengths of the shots still to make. No picture is stored there. So:

It survives a reload — mostly. Refresh the page, pick Shot list again, and the plan is still there. But a made shot can only show if the studio has loaded it: one Gallery page of finished clips (after a reload, your 12 newest) plus anything still being made. An older shot drops out of the movie without a word — it is still in your Gallery. The first frame you picked for Shot 1 is not kept either; pick it again.
It does not travel. It is not saved to your account, so another browser, another device or a private window starts with an empty plan. The clips are all still in your Gallery.

If your browser blocks or fills its storage, the plan quietly stops surviving reloads. No clip is ever lost that way.

Make the pictures first. Generate the opening picture of your movie in the Image Creator (a saved character keeps the same face across every shot), then come here and let the video model do the moving. To pin where a shot ends, pick an engine that takes a Last frame and give it a picture; on other engines, say it in the shot's words.

Where to next

Next in Video Studio: Saved Brands
New to the studio: Overview — The rest of the studio: models, lengths and prices.
After the shot renders: Your Clips & Refused Clips — The gallery, downloads, and what happens to your credits when a shot fails.
Need a starting picture: Overview — Where the picture for your first shot usually comes from.
If faces keep changing: Saved Characters — Keeping the same face across every shot of your movie.

Also linked from this page: How Credits Work — every shot is a separate clip, so a movie is billed shot by shot

4 of 5 in Video Studio · Last checked 19 September 2026 · Previous: Clips Left Unfinished