# UGC video ad, end to end > Cast an actor, write a spoken script, shoot the take and the b-roll, caption it, and cut one finished vertical ad. Source: https://advibly.com/docs/use-cases/ugc-video-ad A UGC ad is a talking take intercut with product b-roll, captioned, under thirty seconds. Advibly builds it from six calls, and the order matters: captions go on the **finished cut**, not on the pieces. ## Open a project [#open-a-project] ``` advibly_create_project { brand_id, name: "Hydrating serum UGC ad", context: "Grouping the talking take, product b-roll, and final cut of the requested UGC video ad into one project." } → project_id ``` Every call below carries this `project_id`. Without it the user's library shows six loose files instead of one ad. Free. ## Cast the actor [#cast-the-actor] ``` advibly_list_actors { gender: "Female", age_range: "30-40", style: "Casual", context: "Finding a suitable talking-head actor to deliver the requested UGC script for the brand's target audience." } → actor_id, image_url, preview_url ``` Stock actors speak in their own cloned voice, and the user's custom actors speak with the voice assigned when they were created. Either way there is no voice argument at generation time. Show the user the `image_url` and `preview_url` before shooting. Recasting after the take is a second charge. ## Write the script [#write-the-script] The highest-leverage step on this page. Everything downstream renders whatever you write here. One talking clip is a hook. A finished ad is five beats, and each has a job: | Beat | Its job | | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | 1. Hook | Earn the next two seconds. Open on the problem, not the product. | | 2. Problem | Make it specific enough to be recognised. | | 3. Product | What it is and why it fixes that. | | 4. Proof | A number, a result, a before and after. | | 5. Call to action | One instruction. | Under thirty seconds, that is twenty to forty spoken words: > "I stopped buying serums after the third one pilled under my makeup. This > one doesn't. Three weeks, no flaking, and my foundation still sits flat. > Link's in the bio." Three rules decide whether it reads as a person or as an ad: * **One idea per clip.** Three claims is three clips, which is what the five-beat structure is for. * **Read it aloud before rendering.** Anything you stumble over reads as copy; anything you can say naturally reads as a person. * **Write spoken words only.** Bracketed emotion tags such as `[excited]` are read aloud literally by the talking-actor engine. Show the script to the user before you render it. This is the cheapest moment to change the ad. ## Shoot the take [#shoot-the-take] ``` advibly_generate_talking_video { brand_id, project_id, actor_id, actor_source: "stock", script: "...", resolution: "720p", context: "Rendering the talking-actor take that delivers the approved UGC script for the brand's vertical video ad." } ``` Cost scales with the **final audio length**, not the resolution, so a script trimmed by a third costs a third less. Lipsync usually runs past the tool's ten-second wait, so expect `status: pending` and a `generation_id`. The default take animates the actor's portrait. To place them in a kitchen or a bathroom instead, generate that still first with `advibly_generate_image`, passing the actor's `image_url` in `reference_image_urls` and describing the scene. Keep the face front-facing, large, unobstructed, and the mouth closed. Then pass that image's URL as `start_frame_url`. Pass `actor_source: "custom"` with an id from the `custom` entries of `advibly_list_actors`. A custom actor created without a voice is rejected rather than given a default one. ## Shoot the b-roll [#shoot-the-b-roll] Two or three product cutaways, four to six seconds each, in the same aspect ratio as the take. ``` advibly_generate_video { brand_id, project_id, product_id, // store brands: becomes the opening frame prompt: "Slow push-in on the bottle as a hand lifts it off the marble counter, morning light, shallow depth of field.", aspect_ratio: "9:16", duration: 5, context: "Rendering a product cutaway to intercut with the talking take in the requested UGC video ad." } ``` Describe **motion**, not the product, when you give a start frame. The frame already establishes what the thing looks like; the prompt's job is camera and action. On a store brand `product_id` supplies the opening frame for free. Otherwise pass a still you generated as `start_image_url`. ## Cut it together [#cut-it-together] ``` advibly_render_composition { brand_id, project_id, scenes: [ { source: talkingGenerationId, trim_end_seconds: 6 }, { source: brollGenerationId, volume: 0.2 }, { source: talkingGenerationId, trim_start_seconds: 6 } ], music: musicGenerationId?, context: "Assembling the approved take and product cutaways into the finished vertical UGC ad for the brand." } ``` Flat 0.4 credits per render, roughly one to three minutes. The result is saved as a new video generation **and** as an editable composition; hand the user the `edit_url` that comes back so they can fine-tune it in the visual editor. * `trim_start_seconds` / `trim_end_seconds` are how you cut away to b-roll and back without re-rendering the take. * `volume: 0.2` tucks a cutaway's own audio under the narration. * Leave `music_volume` unset. The renderer already ducks the bed while anyone is speaking, and setting a low value here double-dips into silence. * For a plain sequence of hard cuts with no audio or text work, `advibly_stitch_videos` does the same merge for free. ## Caption the finished cut [#caption-the-finished-cut] ``` advibly_add_subtitles { brand_id, project_id, video: finalGenerationId, preset: "glide", context: "Burning animated captions into the finished UGC ad so it reads correctly with sound off on social feeds." } ``` Subtitles are billed per started minute, minimum one minute. Captioning the take and the b-roll separately pays that minimum twice and still leaves the cut uncaptioned, so caption **once, at the end**. Dynamic presets (`glide`, `fusion`, `backdrop`, `whisper` and the rest) are 0.4 credits/min and animated; basic presets (`simple`, `corpo`, `beans` …) are 0.2 and static. For a social ad, a dynamic preset usually wins. The [style sheet](https://cdn-public.advibly.com/website-assets/subtitle-captions/style-sheet.webp) shows every one of them - look at it, or show it to the user, before choosing. If the brand or product name gets misheard, pass `vocabulary`: ``` vocabulary: [{ word: "Advibly", replaces: ["ad vibe lee", "advibley"] }] ``` ## Set the cover [#set-the-cover] ``` advibly_update_project { project_id, cover_generation_id: subtitledGenerationId, context: "Setting the captioned final cut as the project cover so the finished ad is what the user sees in their library." } ``` The ad is done when the library shows the captioned cut, not shot two. ## Next [#next] * Publish it: [Schedule a week of posts](/use-cases/schedule-a-campaign). * Have an agent run the whole recipe: the `ugc-ads` [skill](/agents/skills).