Short answer: for most launch videos, animated is the default. It's the most flexible, and it's the best way to show a product or a new feature. Filmed is by far the best choice when the founder is the story, like a funding round. AI works best inside a video, replacing stock footage with scenes made for your brand, not as the whole video.
Which one fits your launch
First, "AI-made" can mean two things. A whole film generated with AI, usually to fake a filmed scenario you don't have the budget to shoot. We haven't made one of those. Or AI footage used inside a video, for scenes you can't film or stock that won't fit. We do that often.
In our experience, the choice usually comes down to this:
- Feature launch or product demo: animated.
- Funding round, or the company's story told by the founder: filmed, with motion on top.
- Scenes you can't film, or stock that won't match your brand: AI footage inside the video.
Animated: the most flexible
Animated is our default for feature launches and product demos. Most of the time you need to show what's new in the product and how a specific action works, and animation shows that more clearly than anything else.
It can also do almost any other type of video. A feature launch can still have a person in it, like the founder or the head of a team talking about what they built. If you're not sure, animated is rarely the wrong answer.
Filmed: when the founder is the story
Filmed usually means a talking head, and most of the time it's founder-led: the founder telling their story, their announcement, their funding round. It's not the only way to do it, but it's the best by far.
There's a middle way too. Gumloop's Series B video has the founder narrating without ever appearing on camera, with the team shown in photography. It still feels close and familiar.
Filming takes more time and a crew. More on that in our funding announcement video guide.
Where AI footage works
We use AI to replace stock, and to make it better than stock.
In Corti's launch video, the problem part of the story shows a doctor standing over a patient and a finance worker getting stressed. Later in the video, the same people come back happier. Corti's brand is pixelated, and you can't film a pixelated scene, so AI made those moments in their own style.
For a recent client, the plan was to use stock clips of the people who use their product. The clips looked bad together, with different warmth, light and feel in every shot. We made those scenes with AI instead: one tone, one look, on brand. They felt great.
Where AI and stock look cheap
When AI footage isn't doing a job like that, people feel it straight away. They know it's AI, and that makes the whole video feel cheaper.
Stock is the same. One stock clip running for 5 or 6 seconds, and people think "that's stock". It looks cheap because it's generic. It wasn't made for you.
Mixing filmed and animated
A founder on camera plus animation is a mix we make often, mostly for founder-led product and feature launches. A founder talking to camera for 90 seconds isn't enough on its own. At some point, motion comes in to show the product or carry a key line in type. We don't put AI footage or stock into founder-led videos.
It only feels messy when the balance is wrong. Show the founder for the first 10 seconds, then never again, and it feels like two videos stuck together. Keep coming back to them between the product moments, so they carry the story from start to finish.
The craft is in how the layers work together. Change how close you are on the founder as the motion comes and goes. Place the graphics around them, never over their face. That's design, production and creative direction working as one, and it's where a mixed video either feels premium or falls apart.
"Can't we just make the whole thing with AI?"
Founders ask us this. The honest answer: yes, it's possible. But look at your goal first.
If you just need something to fill an empty spot on your website, go ahead. Make it with AI.
If you want more than that, like better numbers, a stronger reputation, recognition on social media, more customers, more investors, great people wanting to join your team, then that video won't do the job. You can't attract better prospects than your competitors with a video that got half the effort, time and care theirs did. If you're not sure, make the AI version, then compare it to theirs.
Proof: Our Stacks launch video is motion only, no filming. "They captured a technical concept and were able to translate it into clear and delightful visuals." - Noah van Lienden, Founder's Associate, Stacks
Not sure which one fits your launch? Tell us the date and we'll tell you what we'd make.