Video Gen — moving images from still ideas

What it is

Video generation models extend image generation into the temporal dimension — they synthesise coherent motion across frames, not just a single frozen moment. The results are still imperfect, but useful: concept visualization, reference footage, short-form social content, and creative experiments that used to require a camera and crew.

Why now

Sora's 2024 debut made the category feel real. What followed — Runway Gen-3, Kling, Luma — showed that cinematic video generation was a genuine near-term product category, not a research demo. The constraint has shifted from 'can it move?' to 'can it move consistently?'