How to Make a Firm Video in 30 Minutes

Earlier this week, Twitter was going crazy about the new Claude Opus 5.5 model being really good at generating animated motion videos. One tweet said all they typed was “create a modern, slick, punchy video for [insert company name].” We’re probably all tired of "show but don't tell" AI hype at this point, so my first thought was: surely it’s not that easy.

So I opened Claude and typed: “Create a modern, slick, punchy video for Ataroke, my RIA. Include audio. Use my logo and colors.” That’s it. It was a pure experiment. I expected something semi-decent looking but not something I’d actually use. (Like all things AI right now.)

17 minutes later, this is what came out.

It’s 32 seconds, built for LinkedIn and Reels, with an original soundtrack. No editor, no stock footage. I didn’t provide any feedback or edits. It simply scanned my website, pulled my wording, and built the video.

Then my friend tried it

Next I made one for my friend and podcast co-host Colin Page’s firm, Oakleigh Wealth, which works with retirees. I asked for a calmer pace and gave it his website. It came back widescreen, covering who they serve, what they advise on, a three-step “what to expect,” the flat fee and an intro-call ending, all opening on the Blue Ridge photo from his homepage.

He liked it enough to try it himself. Here’s his exact prompt:

Create an animated video for Oakleigh that is modern, slick, and punchy, but easy to follow. It should explain our process and approach using our colors and logo and imagery. The point is to be a 60-second video that prospects could view to understand who we are, what we do and what to expect. Use our homepage oakleighwealth.com plus our oakleighwealth.com/services and oakleighwealth.com/investment-approach for context, but you don’t need to include everything (e.g. don’t include information about Altruist or details that don’t help the core objectives we’re communicating). Add audio.

He loved it. The original had an AI voice that was actually extremely good. He then recorded a voiceover himself using Voice Memo on his MacBook (any voice recorder will work). That video is now on his homepage: watch it at oakleighwealth.com.

How it actually works

Claude isn’t using an AI video generator. It writes code.

1. It reads your website for your services, process, colors, fonts and logo.

2. It writes a script and a scene-by-scene storyboard.

3. It builds each scene as an animation in code and draws every frame. That’s 1,800 frames for a 60-second video.

4. It composes the soundtrack from scratch in code: chords, melody, drums. Nothing is licensed, so there’s nothing to clear. Ask for a voiceover and it adds narration too.

5. It renders an MP4, pulls still frames from the finished file and checks its own work (overlapping text, readability, audio levels) before it hands it over.

Why that matters for you as an advisor: every word on screen is real text, spelled right, that you can read and change before it goes anywhere. No garbled AI lettering, no invented faces, no mangled logo. It’s clean motion graphics, which is what a firm explainer should look like anyway.

And because it’s code, revisions are one sentence. My friend said the first soundtrack was “too elevator music-y” and wanted his Blue Ridge imagery in it. Version two came back with an upbeat acoustic track and the mountains running through the whole video.

How long it takes

The first Ataroke draft took 17 minutes. The longer 60-second Oakleigh video took closer to half an hour per round, all of it rendering. You submit the prompt, it does the rest.

I texted Colin at around 8:30 am. By 9:32 am the video on his homepage above was live on his website.

Which model to use

Use Claude Opus 5.5. This is the “breakthrough model” that is so good at this. This is a long job with dozens of steps: research, script, code, render, review, fix.

What to watch for

• Still review it for compliance. While it will pull from your source documents, it could combine points into a wording that may not be exactly what you want. For example, I continued to experiment and in another video it said “A financial plan is a guess” (it’s not wrong, but not the message I wanted to send.) I meant to say “A projection is a guess,” so still watch every second and run it through your normal review.

• Speed it up with your own files. Attach your logo and brand colors to your prompt so it doesn’t have to hunt for them on your website. Some sites block it from grabbing a logo anyway.

Your prompt

Here’s Colin’s prompt turned into a template:

Create an animated video for [FIRM NAME] that is [modern, slick and punchy / calm and easy to follow]. It should explain our process and approach using our colors, logo and imagery. The point is a [60]-second video that prospects can watch to understand who we are, what we do and what to expect. Use [homepage URL], [services URL] and [process or investment approach URL] for context. You don’t need to include everything: leave out [custodian details, etc.] and anything that doesn’t serve those goals. Add audio: [background music / a voiceover / both]. Make it [vertical 9:16 for social / widescreen 16:9 for our website].

What makes it work: the vibe, the length, the goal, the pages to pull from, and what to leave out. Be that specific and the first draft will be really good.

How to do it, step by step

1. Open Claude and pick Opus 5.5 from the model menu. I use the desktop app. You do NOT need to use Claude Code for this.

2. Gather three things: your website URLs, your logo as a PNG (transparent background if you have one), and your brand colors if you know them.

3. Paste the prompt from above and attach the logo.

4. Let it work. Plan on 15 to 30 minutes. It may ask a question or two, like which background color to lead with.

5. Watch the draft with the sound on. Give feedback like you would to a designer: this line, that pace, the music.

6. Ask for other cuts. A vertical version for LinkedIn and Reels, a widescreen version for your website.

7. Send it through compliance, then post it.

I started this thinking “surely it’s not that easy.” It was. Most advisors I know have a “someday” video on their list. Someday is now about 20 minutes and a sentence. Try it out and I’d love to see and hear about what you made.