How do I make a Halloween party invitation video with RSVP?

To make a Halloween party invitation video, generate a poster image with ideogram/ideogram-v4.5, use it as the first frame of a 6-second gemini-omni-flash-1.1 clip, and burn the date, place and RSVP in as caption cues. On Sume that is $0.075 for a medium-quality image, $0.75 for the clip and $0.20 for the captions: $1.025. Rates were read on 2026-10-07.

The details of an invitation have to be right, so none of them go into a prompt. Halloween 2026 is Saturday, October 31: send the invitation at least a week before, and put the exact date and time in the caption cues, where they are plain strings you wrote.

Step 1: a poster with room for text

Ask for the picture and leave the lettering to captions. A prompt such as 'A moonlit porch with carved pumpkins and paper bats, deep purple sky, empty dark area at the bottom third' gives you a poster with a clean place for the details. Medium quality is $0.075 per image on Sume, high is $0.275 and low is $0.0375.

Make a vertical 9:16 image if the video will go in stories and chats. Look at the picture before you animate it: the clip starts from this exact frame, so a flaw in the poster is in every frame of the clip.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/images \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: invite-poster-1" \
  -d '{
    "model": "ideogram/ideogram-v4.5",
    "prompt": "A moonlit porch with carved pumpkins and paper bats, deep purple sky, empty dark area in the bottom third, no text",
    "quality": "medium",
    "resolution": "1K",
    "aspect_ratio": "9:16"
  }'

Step 2: animate the poster

Send the image URL in frame_images with frame_type: first_frame, and ask for small movement: candle flicker, bats drifting, a slow push-in. A 6-second 720p Omni clip is $0.75. Turn generate_audio off if you will add your own sound, and keep it on if you want the model's room tone.

Six seconds is a good length: long enough to read the details in the caption, short enough to loop. The 3 to 10 second range of the model means you can change it. A longer clip costs $0.125 per second more.

Step 3: the details as cues

POST /v1/video-captions takes cues with text, start and end, and burns authored text without speech-to-text. Use it, because the clip has no speech and a speech caption job on silence fails with caption_no_speech. Put three cues in the six seconds: the title 'Halloween Party' at 0 to 2, the date and time 'Sat Oct 31, 7 pm' at 2 to 4, and 'RSVP by Oct 24' at 4 to 6.

Put the address and the phone number in the message that carries the video, not only in the video: a number that people must dial belongs in text they can copy. Check the cues on a phone, and keep them clear of the lower 15% of the frame where platform buttons sit.

Sending it

Most invitations go out in a chat or a story, where a short vertical file is the right shape. Export the finished clip and check its file size and length against the app you will send it in. A 6-second clip at 720p is small, which helps on a slow connection.

Add the details as plain text in the message too: date, time, address and the RSVP route. The video is the invitation to look, and the text is what people copy and search for later.

If a guest list includes children, say so in the text and check the poster for anything that could frighten the youngest. Because the poster comes from a prompt, you can ask for a friendlier version (smiling pumpkins, no skulls) for a family party, and run the same three steps.

Cost, and a cheaper route

• A changed RSVP date means a new caption job at $0.20, with no new poster or clip.
• A different party (a second night) is a new caption pass on the same clip.
• Send the video to a small group first and check that it plays on their phones.