Community theater show promo video: poster, 8-second clip, dates

A community theater can make a 12-second vertical promo for about $1.43 on Sume: turn the poster into an 8-second reveal clip, hold the poster for 4 seconds, add a generated music bed, and burn the show dates and box-office line on as typed text. The arithmetic is below, and the live prices are at GET /v1/videos/models and GET /v1/catalog.

The reason to do it this way is text. Video models redraw lettering, so a date generated inside a clip can be wrong on frame 40. Here the poster is only the first frame, and every date, price and URL goes on as overlay cues that you type yourself.

What does a theater promo need, and what does each piece cost?

Wan 3.0 accepts a first_frame image, 2-30 second durations, 9:16 and 720p, and is billed at $0.1250 per second at 720p (catalog, read 2026-10-12). Music is a flat $0.125 per audio. A Timeline render is $0.10 per output minute rounded up, and a caption job is $0.20 for videos up to 60 seconds (Sume docs, read 2026-10-12).

The poster itself is an image job; its price depends on the image model and quality you pick, so it is left out of the total. Reuse the poster you already printed if you have one.

How do I make the poster reveal clip?

Send the poster as the first frame and describe only motion: the curtains, the light, the camera push. Do not ask the model to write the title. The sample below submits the clip with an Idempotency-Key so a retry does not bill twice. Swap in your own poster URL (it must be a public HTTPS image).

import asyncio, os, httpx

async def main():
    body = {
        "model": "wan-3.0",
        "prompt": "Slow push in on the theatre poster as red stage curtains part behind it, warm spotlight, dust in the air",
        "frame_images": [{"type": "image_url", "frame_type": "first_frame",
            "image_url": {"url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/YOUR_POSTER.png"}}],
        "duration": 8, "resolution": "720p", "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    }
    headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}",
               "Idempotency-Key": "spring-play-teaser-001"}
    async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=60) as c:
        r = await c.post("https://api.sume.com/v1/videos", json=body, headers=headers)
        print(r.status_code, r.json())

asyncio.run(main())

How do I add the music, the poster hold and the dates?

Generate a 30-second instrumental with the music router, for example "warm chamber-orchestra overture, 96 BPM, brass swell at the end, instrumental, no vocals". Music 1.0 has no duration parameter, so the length goes in the prompt, and you read the audio artifact from the job result.

Then call POST /v1/timeline-1.0/render with that audio as the spine (audio.duration_seconds: 12) and two video slots: the clip from start 0 for 8 seconds, then the poster still from start 8 for 4 seconds with a fade transition. Stills are static holds, so do not expect motion on the poster. Set soundtrack or fade_out_seconds if you want the music to end cleanly.

Last, send the finished MP4 to POST /v1/video-captions with cues, for example "Spring Play: April 3-5" at 2-7 seconds and "Tickets at the box office" at 8-12 seconds. Because the clip has no speech, cues are the path; sending speech-to-captions on a silent clip fails with caption_no_speech.

When is this the wrong approach?

A 12-second clip is a teaser, not a show reel, and it will not show your actual cast.

• If you want your real actors on screen, shoot phone clips and use the trim, timeline and caption routes instead of generating video.
• Do not put a performer's likeness or a copyrighted character into the prompt without the rights; check your license for the play itself.
• Music from the router is generated for the spot. If the production uses licensed show music in the promo, that is a separate rights question.
• Each re-render of the timeline or captions bills again, so lock the dates before you burn them in.