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Examples and Tutorials

Elevating Trailers with Automated Narration

⁠

Introduction

Narration is the heartbeat of trailers, injecting excitement and intrigue into every frame ▶️

With

VideoDB⁠

OpenAI,⁠

and

ElevenLabs⁠

, adding narration to trailers becomes a creative process.

This tutorial will guide you through the simple process of seamlessly integrating narration into trailers using these powerful tools.

Here’s an example of weaving a thrilling storyline from a reel of unrelated, but valuable cinematic shots:

⁠

Setup

📦 Installing packages

%pip install openai

%pip install videodb

🔑 API Keys

Before proceeding, ensure access to

VideoDB⁠

OpenAI⁠

, and

ElevenLabs⁠

API key. If not, sign up for API access on the respective platforms.

Get your API key from

VideoDB Console⁠

. ( Free for first 50 uploads, No credit card required ) 🎉

import os

os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = ""

os.environ["ELEVEN_LABS_API_KEY"] = ""

os.environ["VIDEO_DB_API_KEY"] = ""

🎙️ ElevenLab's Voice ID

You will also need ElevenLab's VoiceID of a Voice that you want to use.

For this demo, we will be using

Sam Elliot’s Voice⁠

. ElevenLabs has a large variety of voices to choose from (browse them

here⁠

). Once finalized, copy the Voice ID from ElevenLabs and link it here.

voiceover_artist_id = "VOICEOVER_ARTIST_ID"

⁠

Tutorial Walkthrough

📋 Step 1: Connect to VideoDB

Make sure you have the API key in the environment.

from videodb import connect

# Connect to VideoDB using your API key

conn = connect()

🎬 Step 2: Upload the Trailer

Upload the trailer video to VideoDB for further processing. This creates the base video asset that we shall use later in this tutorial.

video = conn.upload(url='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQmGwmc-XUY')

🔍 Step 3: Analyze Scenes and Generate Scene Descriptions

Start by analyzing the scenes within the trailer using VideoDB's scene indexing capabilities. This will provide context for generating the narration script.

video.index_scenes()

Let's view the description of first scene from the video

scenes = video.get_scenes()

print(f"{scenes[0]['start']} - {scenes[0]['end']}")

print(scenes[0]["response"])

Output:

0 - 0.7090416666666666

The image captures a fiery blaze, a dynamic dance of flames in vivid shades of orange, gold, and red. Light flickers intensely, radiance expanding, contracting with the fire's rhythm. No specific source is visible; the fire dominates entirely, filling the frame with energetic movement. The luminosity suggests a fierce heat, powerful enough to demand respect and caution. Each tongue of flame is seemingly alive, almost writhing against a darker, indistinct background. This could be a natural fire or a controlled blaze—there’s no context to indicate its origin. Amidst the searing heat, the flames create a mesmeric, albeit destructive, spectacle.

🔊 Step 4: Generate Narration Script with LLM

Here, we use OpenAI’s GPT to build context around the scene descriptions above, and generate a fitting narration script for the visuals.

# Generate narration script with ChatGPT

import openai

client = openai.OpenAI()

script_prompt = "Craft a dynamic narration script for this trailer, incorporating scene descriptions to enhance storytelling. Ensure that the narration aligns seamlessly with the timestamps provided in the scene index. Don't include any annotations in output script"

full_prompt = script_prompt + "\n\n"

for scene in scenes:

full_prompt += f"- {scene}\n"

openai_res = client.chat.completions.create(

model="gpt-3.5-turbo",

messages=[{"role": "system", "content": full_prompt}],

)

voiceover_script = openai_res.choices[0].message.content

# If you have ElevenLab's paid plan remove the :2500 limit on

# voiceover script.

# voiceover_script = voiceover_script[:2500]

You can refine the narration script prompt to ensure synchronization with timestamps in the scene index, optimizing the storytelling experience.

🎙️ Step 5: Generate Narration Audio with elevenlabs.io

Note: for this step, you will need a specific voice ID that fits perfectly with the vibe of your trailer. In our example, we have used this voice that resembles the vocal quality and style that of Sam Elliott. You can find a voice suitable for your trailer in the

ElevenLabs Voice Library.⁠

⁠

import requests

# Call ElevenLabs API to generate voiceover

url = f"https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/text-to-speech/{voiceover_artist_id}"

headers = {

"xi-api-key": os.environ.get("ELEVEN_LABS_API_KEY"),

"Content-Type": "application/json"

}

payload = {

"model_id": "eleven_monolingual_v1",

"text": voiceover_script,