Crafting UGC Videos: Balancing AI and Authentic StorytellingCrafting UGC Videos: Balancing AI and Authentic Storytelling
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Daniel Corrêa
• 1d
A client asked me to make this UGC video twice — once with the actual creators they sent me, once entirely with AI.
The interesting part wasn't the AI itself. It was deciding what NOT to use it for.
The brief was a confrontational "scroll-stopper" script for a thyroid supplement, targeting people who've already tried (and quit) a few of them. Two creators' clips were in the folder — and neither had actually recorded the script. One was an older holistic practitioner walking through the science. One was a younger creator telling a personal-transformation story.
For the first version, I built around the practitioner's original footage and adapted the angle. Same insight as the script — saturated category, frustrated buyers — but reframed from "scam call-out" to "what practitioners actually recommend." For a 35–55 skeptical audience, authority converts harder than aggression. Zero AI in that cut.
The AI version, which the client specifically asked to see the technical skill, I rebuilt from scratch with the younger creator's vibe in mind — because the original script was written to convert a TikTok-skeptical scroll, and that needs a younger, dynamic face delivering it:
→ A-roll: AI-generated, line by line, matching the script delivery → Voice: AI cloned → Two B-roll moments the script called for but weren't in the package — the table piled with competitor supplement bottles and the bathroom scene — also AI-generated → Product shots and supporting visuals: original assets, untouched
The decision tree for each shot — what's AI, what's original, what serves the audience better — that's where the actual craft lives now.
AI in UGC isn't a button. It's a judgment problem.
What's your line on AI in client work?
#VideoEditing #UGC #AIVideo #ContentCreation #CreativeStrategy #PerformanceMarketing
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