Online stores have product photos but few videos. A freelancer on Contra, a US freelance site, charges from $650 for one short video made from product photos. AI company HeyGen lists photo to video at 3 cents a second at full price (768p); until November 30, 2026 it is half off, 1 to 1.8 cents a second.
What to build
A program that takes a list of products with their photos and makes two clips of 5 to 10 seconds per product: tall for Reels and square for the product page. The AI only moves the camera and the light. It never changes the product and never adds people.
The prompt
Open Claude Code, an AI coding tool, in an empty folder and paste this:
Build a Python tool that turns an online store's product photos into short videos. Input: a CSV (product, photo, description). For each product, make 2 clips of 5-10 seconds with the HeyGen Video API in image_to_video mode. The clip keeps the photo's shape, so crop it first: 9:16 for Reels, 1:1 for the product page. Ask only for camera movement and light: never change the product, never add people or reviews. Save the files in each product's folder with a cost report per run, and stop at a $5 limit. API keys go in .env, never in the chat. Test on your own photos, or on a store's products with the owner's permission. Show me the plan, the folders and a cost estimate first, then the code.
Rules
- No fake happy customers and no made-up reviews. The FTC has banned fake reviews and testimonials since October 2024, AI-made ones included.
- Watch every clip before it goes live: AI can bend the shape of a product.
- Start with a store you know, with the owner's permission. Test on your own photos first.
Running costs
- HeyGen photo to video: 3 cents a second at full price (768p). Until November 30, 2026: 1 to 1.8 cents a second.
- A 10-second clip at full price is 30 cents; two clips per product, 60 cents.
Market prices
- A US freelancer on Contra: from $650 per video.
- Cinemerce, a Shopify app: $39 a month for 5 videos.
- LuminaMotion, a Shopify app: from $150 a month.
- AI Product Video by Huzhop, a Shopify app: from $0.99 a month.
Prices are vendors' public prices on Nov 9, 2026. They are not income figures.
Sources: contra.com, help.heygen.com, developers.heygen.com, apps.shopify.com (Cinemerce, LuminaMotion, AI Product Video), ftc.gov (press release of Aug 14, 2024).
We are not affiliated with the companies mentioned.