Bringing Photos to Life

Veo 3, available through Google’s Gemini app, demonstrates that a simple snapshot doesn't have to stay frozen. I fed a few dated photos into the tool and watched them unfold into short 720p video clips complete with movement, ambient music, and sound effects. The result felt like a photo album given a cinematic makeover.

Playful, surprising results

Some transformations were delightfully whimsical: a sleepy cat was reimagined as a rock ’n’ roll frontman, and a staged toy scene became an action-packed face-off between Optimus Prime and Donatello. Not every clip was flawless—prompts occasionally misfired and some visuals misaligned—but the speed and creative unpredictability made the process addictive.

Limits, quirks and creative workflow

There’s a daily cap of three video generations, which keeps the tool from being exhaustive but encourages selective experimentation. Within that limit, Veo 3 feels both fast and accessible: a quick way to prototype short, attention-grabbing content without a full production setup.

Where Veo 3 is heading

Google recently introduced Veo 3 Fast on Vertex AI, bringing image-to-video generation into a more scalable environment. That move hints at broader use cases: animating static assets for ads, turning product photos into demo clips, or embedding short films into social content workflows. Platforms such as Canva have already started integrating Veo 3, giving creators easier access inside familiar editors.

Real-world impact and economics

Veo 3 is already being used commercially. Filmmaker PJ Accetturo, for example, leveraged the tool to build an AI-powered ad studio and produced a viral parody commercial that reached over 18 million views during the NBA Finals. The efficiency—projects that might cost thousands to shoot can be approximated for a fraction of the price—has businesses and creatives rethinking proof-of-concept and short-form production.

New storytelling format

Turning stills into short, sound-bound narratives is more than a neat trick: it’s creating a new format for storytelling. As tools like Veo 3 lower the technical barrier and push toward fuller sensory generation, creators will likely rethink how images, motion and sound work together to tell compact stories.