Power outage safety videos for a utility co-op: three clips, $11

How do you make a power outage safety video for utility members?

Write three short scripts from the public guidance, one per risk, and have a single avatar read each one in a 20-second talking video. On Sume each clip is one call to the avatar talking-video route, with captions switched on so members can watch it muted on a phone. At the Standard tier, three clips cost about $11; at Plus, about $14.70. A cooperative, a municipal utility or a propane dealer can ship the set in an afternoon.

The source is Ready.gov's power outage page, which gives concrete numbers you can say out loud. A video that repeats those numbers exactly is more useful than one that paraphrases them into vague advice.

Which Ready.gov facts become the three clips?

Keep each clip to one hazard and one action. The page gives enough specific rules to fill three.

How do you generate one clip?

First create the presenter once with POST /v1/avatar-1.0/generate, which returns a handle you reuse. Then submit each script to POST /v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video. Sume accepts scripts that it estimates at 4 to 60 seconds, supports 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 3:4 and 4:3, and burns captions after generation when you set captions.enabled. Poll GET /v1/jobs/{id}/status until it reports completed, then read /result for the video. Landscape suits a member newsletter or website; switch to 9:16 for social stories.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: outage-generator-001" \
  -d '{
    "avatar_handle": "member_services",
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "quality": "standard",
    "script": "If the power goes out, run a generator only outdoors, at least twenty feet from windows, doors and attached garages. Never heat your home with a gas stove or oven. Keep a working carbon monoxide detector with battery backup on every level of your home.",
    "captions": { "enabled": true, "style": "slam", "language": "en" }
  }'

What does the set cost on Sume?

Avatar video is billed per second by tier. The rate card lists credits; the dollar column below converts at about 66 credits to the dollar, the ratio implied by the card's Timeline line (6.6 credits for $0.10). Creating the avatar is a one-time 63 credits, about $0.95. Video generation needs a paid plan; Pro is $40 a month with 4 concurrent jobs, so all three clips can run together.

What should you review before members see it?

Read the transcript against the Ready.gov line, number by number: 20 feet, four hours, 48 hours and 40 degrees are the facts that matter, and a script that drifts to 10 feet is a safety problem. Spell out digits you want spoken, such as twenty feet. Tell members the presenter is synthetic, and add your own outage line and the location of your warming centers as an on-screen card or in the description rather than asking the avatar to read a phone number you have not tested.

Standard is the fastest tier and reads fine for a safety bulletin. Spend on Plus when the clip leads a campaign page. Budget up to $0.20 more per clip for captions, the price of a standalone caption job, and check the live estimate before you submit.