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A $350,000 AI AD Using Only 1 Tool (2026)

2026-03-27 · case-study tutorial · Adil, a guest · recording, 27:08 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Video generation & shot direction (also: Assets, references & consistency, Prompting & AI assistants, Post-production & finishing, Studio work & business) · mode: Tutorial · tags: fiction, prompts shared, one creator's experience, giveaway

In this case study Adil makes a spy commercial for a perfume brand called Le Secret alone, using only Cinema Studio 2.5 on a Creator plan, and prices it against an agency. He works in five steps: characters, locations, keyframes from prompts Claude writes, video in multi-shot mode or from start and end frames, and the edit. Along the way he advises getting the location right before adding people, to save credits. The ad cost him 5,420 credits and six hours, while the agency he called says such a commercial costs around $300,000.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Cold open of the agency call; Adil sets out to make a brand commercial alone and price it

  • ★★★ Adil made the spy perfume commercial alone in under 24 hours on a single Higgsfield Creator plan. — 00:00:31

00:00:58 — The opening of the finished spy perfume commercial

00:02:21 — The promo code hidden in the video

00:02:44 — Step 1: characters in Cinema Studio 2.5 (Orlando and Maria)

  • ★★ Adil generates nearly everything for the commercial in Cinema Studio 2.5, in five steps: characters, locations, keyframing, video generation and editing. — 00:02:46
  • ★★ In Cinema Studio 2.5's Characters (Cast), Adil picks genre, budget, era and archetype, then identity, appearance, extra details and a typed outfit; for Orlando Salazar: action, a $100 million budget, the 2020s, Lover, a black tuxedo. — 00:02:46 · Cast
  • ★★ Adil calls Cast's ready-made character archetypes, which need no prompting, one of the coolest updates. — 00:03:15 · Cast
  • ★★★ Cast gives four character images for half a credit, while a single Nano Banana generation costs two credits. — 00:04:25 · Cast, Nano Banana
  • ★★ Adil says Nano Banana never gives character images of the quality Cast does. — 00:04:25 · Cast, Nano Banana
  • ★★ Each Cast character comes with a full character sheet, which Adil calls a game changer for character consistency and later uses as the character's reference. — 00:04:25 · Cast, character sheet

00:05:25 — Step 2: locations, and the concept of the Le Secret ad

  • ★★ For a location prompt in Cinema Studio 2.5, Adil gives the location's details (the staircases), then the lighting, then the most important part: the feeling the image should convey. — 00:05:47
  • ★★ Cinema Studio 2.5's Locations gives four location images for half a credit. — 00:06:16
  • ★★ Adil says luxury brands do not sell the product, they sell a feeling, so his perfume ad has to make the product feel desirable. — 00:06:16
  • ★★ Adil's concept for the commercial of the luxury perfume brand Le Secret: a man tries to steal a heavily guarded perfume bottle, with plot twists along the way. — 00:06:16

00:06:44 — Step 3: keyframing with prompts written by Claude

  • ★★★ Adil has Claude write long keyframe prompts: start with "give me a detail prompt to generate a keyframe. I want a…" and describe the image simply; he says this saves time and credits by avoiding bad generations. — 00:07:13 · Claude, keyframe
  • ★★ For a keyframe, Adil opens Scenes in Cinema Studio 2.5, selects the characters and the location he made, and drops in the prompt from Claude. — 00:07:41 · Claude, keyframe
  • ★★ The first scene's keyframe was not perfect on the first try (the hair) and cost Adil 16 credits. — 00:07:41 · keyframe

00:08:12 — Step 4: video generation of the ballroom conversation in multi-shot

  • ★★★ To continue a shot, Adil takes the last frame of the video and uses it as the start frame of the next video. — 00:08:16 · keyframe
  • ★★★ To generate a full scene, Adil uses Cinema Studio 2.5's multi-shot auto mode, which gives different angles to choose the best from; each run cost him 96 credits. — 00:08:47 · multi-shot prompt
  • ★★ In the same location, Adil does not generate new start frames: he takes an angle he likes from the multi-shot as the start of the next scene. — 00:09:37 · multi-shot prompt, keyframe
  • ★★ When he wants a specific camera angle, Adil creates a new keyframe in Scenes from both characters and the location with a simple prompt; this one cost half a credit. — 00:10:00 · keyframe

00:10:35 — The bathroom, the hologram watch, the vent and the dark hall with Adil's cameo

  • ★★ For each new scene Adil repeats one cycle with the characters already made: get the location, combine it with the characters, then animate. — 00:10:35
  • ★★ For a tense, dynamic scene with a lot of movement, action and timing, Adil runs several multi-shot generations to land the right moment instead of trying to get everything perfect in one go. — 00:11:30 · multi-shot prompt
  • ★★ For an over-the-shoulder angle, Adil attaches a screenshot of the last scene and images of the wall and floor textures so they stay consistent; he says such small details affect the result a lot. — 00:11:30
  • ★★ For a hologram coming out of a watch, Adil generates the hologram in Cinema Studio Image, then makes a top-down single shot with the watch as start frame and the hologram and watch as references. — 00:12:21 · keyframe
  • ★★ After generating a view from inside a ventilation shaft from a simple idea, Adil adds the vent back into the original scene so the shots connect visually. — 00:13:18
  • ★ The vent scene took Adil many iterations because he kept getting sloppy images. — 00:13:18
  • ★★ Adil says he will leave all the final prompts of the commercial in the first link of the description. — 00:14:32
  • ★★ For his cameo as the security guard, Adil makes a separate character sheet of himself bald and swaps it into the keyframe. — 00:15:29 · Adil, character sheet
  • ★ Adil generates the props of the dark hall scene (an ID card, a blowgun tube and a sleep dart) in Cinema Studio Images, one prompt each. — 00:16:06
  • ★★ For the dart scene Adil used manual multi-shot with a 5-second and a 7-second scene (12 seconds); several takes failed, some were good, it cost 192 credits, and he edited several together. — 00:16:29 · multi-shot prompt

00:17:05 — The secret room: zoom-ins, lasers by start and end frames, CCTV shots, Maria's gun and the final kiss

  • ★★ For a profile shot of a character entering a room, Adil generates an image of the room's wall alone and uses it as the start frame; one iteration cost 0.125 credits. — 00:17:05 · keyframe
  • ★★ For a zoom-in shot in Cinema Studio 2.5 video, Adil leaves the prompt empty and only selects the zoom-in camera movement. — 00:17:55
  • ★★★ To switch on laser beams in a room, Adil uses the image without lasers as the start frame and the image with lasers as the end frame; it took one iteration and 8 credits. — 00:19:09 · keyframe
  • ★★ For CCTV views of the laser room from several corner angles, Adil attaches the original room as a reference so the layout, the pedestal's position and the perfume's colour stay exactly the same, and adds the character afterwards. — 00:19:09
  • ★★★ To avoid wasting credits, Adil advises getting the location or the angle right first and only then adding the person. — 00:19:47
  • ★★ When a generated CCTV shot lacked tension and a cinematic effect, Adil says he might use DaVinci Resolve to add lens distortion and maybe scanlines for an action-movie feel. (hedged) — 00:20:27 · DaVinci Resolve
  • ★ Finding the storyline flat, Adil adds a plot twist: Maria returns and holds a gun to Orlando's head. — 00:21:27

00:24:12 — Step 5: editing the clips into the commercial

00:24:43 — The finished commercial played back

00:26:10 — The total cost and the agency's price

  • ★★★ The whole spy perfume commercial cost Adil 5,420 credits and six hours of his time. — 00:26:10
  • ★★★ a guest: An agency Adil called says a commercial like his would generally cost around $300,000. — 00:26:10
  • ★★ Adil says viewers have seen how much brands pay for such a commercial and how cheaply they can make it now. — 00:26:38

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: $350,000 AI spy perfume commercial · Cast · character sheet · Cinema Studio 2.5 · Claude · keyframe

Also: Creator plan · DaVinci Resolve · Maria Sokolova · multi-shot prompt · Nano Banana · Orlando Salazar

Only in the description or credits: Nano Banana Pro

Also centred on $350,000 AI spy perfume commercial: $350.000 AI Commercial - Full Prompts

Also centred on Cinema Studio 2.5: Cinema Studio 2.5: The Viral AI Film Studio Just Leveled Up · $350.000 AI Commercial - Full Prompts

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