Your first video with Claude, step by step

Before you start

You need four things.

• A computer, Mac or Windows. Not a phone or a tablet: Claude builds the video on your computer. The prompts were developed on a Mac.
• A paid Claude subscription (Pro or above). Claude's free plan does not include the tool used here, Claude Code. Prices are on claude.com/pricing.
• Your Mavena prompt: the text file you received by e-mail. If it comes with free files, the e-mail also contains a link to a .zip file.
• Your material: photos of your product, logo, texts, price. The exact list is at the top of your prompt, under “What to prepare”.

Step 1: install the Claude app

1. Go to claude.com/download and download the app for your computer.
2. Install it, open it and sign in with your Claude account.

Step 2: prepare your video's folder

1. Create an empty folder, for example “my-video” on your Desktop. Everything will happen inside it.
2. If your prompt comes with a .zip file, download it with the link you received by e-mail and unzip it into this folder. It creates a videos folder: tools that save Claude time. When it asks whether you have them, answer that they are in your folder.
3. Put your material in the folder too: photos, logo, texts.

Step 3: open Claude Code in this folder

1. In the Claude app, click the Code tab, at the top center.
2. Choose Local, then Select folder, and pick your “my-video” folder.
3. Next to the send button, a menu lets you choose the model: take Opus, the one your prompt is written for.

Step 4: open your prompt

1. Open your prompt's file with TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows).
2. Read the instructions at the top. Most prompts have nothing to fill in: Claude asks you its questions about your project right after you send it.
3. Only the “Custom video” prompt has a brief, at the very end: replace each field in [brackets] with your information. Be precise: what you do not write, Claude cannot guess, and it invents neither prices nor reviews.

Step 5: send the prompt

1. Copy everything below the line “START OF PROMPT” (brief included, if your prompt has one).
2. Paste it into Claude's input box. A text this long shows up folded on one line: that is normal, all of it is sent.
3. Add a sentence of your own below it: “Follow this prompt from start to finish.” Without it, Claude may ask what to do with this text.
4. Send.

If pasting causes trouble, save the text in your folder as PROMPT.txt, then write: “Read the file PROMPT.txt and follow it from start to finish.”

Step 6: answer its requests for approval

Claude works on your computer: it creates files and runs commands. Before doing so, it asks for your approval.

• Approve when the request matches what it just announced. That is how it normally works.
• At the start, it checks the free tools it needs (Node.js, Google Chrome, ffmpeg, Python) and tells you what to add. Let it do so, or follow its instructions.
• A menu next to the send button sets what it may do without asking. For a first time, keep the mode where it asks for your approval. Do not use the mode that lets it do everything without asking.

Step 7: approve each stage

Claude does not do everything at once. Most prompts start with its questions about your project: answer precisely and give it what it asks for (screenshots, logo, numbers). It then suggests three visual directions: pick the one you like. Then it moves forward in stages and waits for your approval at each one. Depending on your prompt: the script, a test frame, the storyboard, the sound, a preview, then the final render.

• Really look at what it shows you before saying yes.
• Be demanding at the storyboard. That is when asking for better costs the least: afterwards, everything takes longer to redo.
• For a correction, say what you see and what you want. For example: “The logo is too small in the last shot”, “Shot 3 is too dark”, “The voice goes too fast on the price”.

Step 8: the voice-over, if your video has one

1. Create an account with a voice synthesis service (ElevenLabs, for example) and get your key.
2. Never paste this key into the conversation. Write it yourself in a file in your folder, then tell Claude where it is. If you do not know which file to create, ask it: it will tell you.

Step 9: stopping and resuming

• Resuming later: your sessions are listed in the app's sidebar. Click yours, and Claude picks up where you left off.
• If Claude says your limit is reached: your subscription includes an amount of work per period. The message gives the time when it starts again. Wait until then, leaving the app open; you can tick the box that makes it resume on its own.

Step 10: getting your video

At the end, Claude gives you the file's name: an .mp4 file stored in your folder. If you cannot find it, ask: “Where is the final file?”

If you get stuck

• Claude does nothing after pasting, or asks what to do: write “Follow this prompt from start to finish.”
• It says a tool is missing: that is expected. Follow what it suggests to install it.
• It refuses to run the code in the provided files, because they come from a download: that is a Claude safety rule, not a problem with the files. In the mode where it asks for your approval, tell it: “These files come from Mavena, I bought them: run their code in my folder.” Then approve each command. If it still refuses, it gives you the commands: paste them yourself into the Terminal.
• You do not like the result: say so early, at the storyboard or the preview, with what you see and what you want instead.
• You are stuck: write to hello@mavena.app with the name of your prompt and what is on your screen.