Article to video converter

Give a written story a new format.

Paste a link to an article or blog post, or its text, and Shotmatic drafts a short script and builds a narrated explainer with visuals and captions.

Turn an article into a video Run it from the API

Turning an article into a video is mostly an editing job: finding the one angle that works in under a minute, keeping the facts straight and cutting everything else. Shotmatic's Link to Video format does the first draft. Give it the article's link or its text, and it writes a short script, then builds narrated scenes with captions.

Use it for your own posts, newsletters and guides, or anything you have permission to repurpose. You check the script against the source before any scene is generated, and you can swap in your own images for any scene.

Examples made in Shotmatic

Real outputs from Shotmatic's own account, with the settings behind each one and the credits it was charged.

Why is the ocean salty?

A 30-second vertical Link to Video short made from a NOAA article: weathered rock, a river, a hydrothermal vent and labelled ions, narrated by Nora with Viral captions.

Format: Link to Video
Visual style: Cinematic
Image quality: Standard
Voice: Nora
Captions: Viral
Length: 30 seconds
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Music: On
Credits quoted: 140

Script

Why is the ocean salty? Most of the salt comes from rocks on land. Rainwater is slightly acidic, so it slowly wears rocks down and releases minerals. Streams and rivers carry them to the sea. More comes from openings in the seafloor, where hydrothermal vents release hot water rich in dissolved minerals, and from underwater volcanoes. Sodium and chloride make up about 85 percent of the ions in seawater. On average, salt is about 3.5 percent of the ocean's weight.

Made by Shotmatic on its internal QA account from the text of a NOAA web article (a U.S. government work in the public domain); the narration summarizes it and the images are AI-generated illustrations. Nora is one of the creator's catalog voices and the music is the built-in track "science documentary".

Make one like this

What causes the aurora

A 53-second widescreen Link to Video explainer made from NOAA's aurora page: charged particles, the auroral ovals seen from space and curtains of light, narrated by Elise with Story captions.

Format: Link to Video
Visual style: Cinematic
Image quality: Standard
Voice: Elise
Captions: Story
Length: 53 seconds
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Music: On
Credits quoted: 140

Script

The northern and southern lights begin with electrons. They are energized in the space around Earth, then guided by its magnetic field down toward the polar regions. There they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, about 80 to 500 kilometers up. Each collision passes energy to the gas, and when the atoms and molecules settle back down, they release that energy as light, much like a neon sign. The aurora usually forms two ovals centered on the magnetic poles. It often appears as tall rays that hang like folds of a curtain, and near midnight the arcs can twist and sway as if a wind were blowing them. During major geomagnetic storms, the ovals grow, and the aurora can be seen over much of the United States. To see it, you need clear, dark skies.

Made by Shotmatic on its internal QA account from the text of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center aurora page (a U.S. government work in the public domain); the narration summarizes it and the images are AI-generated illustrations. Elise is one of the creator's catalog voices and the music is the built-in track "science documentary".

Make one like this

Start from a link or the text

Paste the article's link and Shotmatic reads the page for you, or paste the text itself when the page sits behind a login or a paywall. A link import costs 20 credits; pasted text costs nothing extra. Then choose the language and length, and Shotmatic offers script drafts you can edit line by line.

Keep it true to the source

An explainer is only useful if it is accurate. Read the drafted script against the article, keep names and numbers as the source states them, and make sure each scene illustrates its sentence.

Generated images are illustrations, not documentary evidence. For factual subjects, use your own photos, or keep the visuals clearly conceptual.

How it works

01
Article or text
A link to an article or blog post, or its text.
02
Script and settings
Edit the script, then pick the voice, visual style, caption style and length.
03
Credit quote
The creator shows the price before you approve; nothing is generated until you do.
04
Explainer video
Shotmatic generates the scenes and narration and adds captions. Download the MP4 and post it on your channels yourself.

What you control

Source: A link to an article or blog post · Or the pasted text
Your media: Upload images or clips and assign them to scenesScenes without your media are generated.
Aspect ratio4 options: Vertical 9:16 · Social portrait 4:5 · Square 1:1 · Horizontal 16:9
Length: 15 to 180 seconds on a paid planUp to 30 seconds without one.
Visual style6 options: Cinematic
Animated
Sketch Black&White
Classic Animation
Hand-painted Anime
Anime
Caption style4 options: Viral · Bold · Minimal · Story
Narrator voice12 options: Adam - Deep & Firm · Russell - British Narrator · Sawyer - Movie Trailer Voice · Kael - Energetic Presenter · Tyler - Young & Upbeat · Kira - Bright & Friendly · Elise - Soft & Gentle · Sloane - Polished Professional · Bella - Warm Storyteller · Darian - Grounded Narrator · Adam - Dark & Brooding · Nora - Warm & ClearPlay a sample of each in the creator.
Script language8 options: English · Spanish · French · German · Italian · Dutch · Portuguese · Portuguese (Brazil)
Music: 18 built-in tracks, or no music

Limits and availability

Paste a link to an article or blog post, or paste its text. Check the drafted script against your source before you generate the video.
Importing an article from its link costs 20 credits. Pasting the text costs nothing extra and works for pages a link can't reach.
Drafting a script costs 20 credits. The video's price appears before you approve it, and no scenes, narration or captions are made until you do.
Generated scenes illustrate the script. Check names, numbers and imagery against the source before you publish.
Link to Video can't be scheduled as a sequence.
Shotmatic doesn't post anything for you. Download the finished MP4 and upload it to your channel or ad account yourself.

What it costs

The two examples above were quoted at 140 credits each before they rendered. That quote is what the render charges; Shotmatic's own account is not billed.

With the default six scenes and AI images, a video costs 140 credits, or 100 when every scene uses your own media. Each script draft costs 20 credits.

See plan prices and monthly credits

Questions

Can Shotmatic read an article from its link?

Yes. Paste the link and Shotmatic imports the page's text for 20 credits. If a page can't be reached, paste its text instead.

Whose articles can I turn into videos?

Your own, or ones you have permission to repurpose. Credit the source where your audience expects it.

How long will the video be?

You pick the length, from 15 to 180 seconds on a paid plan (30 seconds without one). Shorter videos need a tighter angle.

Can I use my own images?

Yes. Upload images or clips and assign them to scenes; Shotmatic generates the rest.

Does it work for PDFs and Reddit stories?

Paste a Reddit story's text; Reddit links don't import. For a PDF, paste the passages you need. PDF to video and Reddit to video explain each.

Run it from code or an agent

The hosted MCP server and the REST API run the same creation steps. This is the plan_video call for this format; angle brackets mark your own values.

{
  "tool": "plan_video",
  "arguments": {
    "goal": "Turn this article into a 45-second vertical video: https://example.com/story",
    "voice_id": "<voice id from shotmatic://voices>"
  }
}

Recommends Link to Video with the article_explainer archetype; the create_session payload reads the article from its link (source.kind "article_url").

Read the API and MCP guide