Video styleFootage styleUpdated
AI Video Generator With Stock Footage and AI Images
The Mixed style: real licensed footage wherever your script names something real, and an AI image wherever it talks about an idea, with narration, captions and music.
Footage + AI · Natural pace · Music · Transitions
Opens ShortFast with the Mixed style selected. Create an account to generate.
Create a Mixed-style videoChannels already winning with Mixed-style videos
13M viewsWhat's The Most Expensive Thing Ever?
jack pockets · 355K subscribers
74.2M channel views · since Jan 2023
Independent YouTube channels, not affiliated with ShortFast. Subscriber and view counts from YouTube, September 2026.
Most scripts mix two kinds of lines. 'A bullet train pulls into Tokyo Station' can be filmed; 'punctuality is a habit a whole country practices' can't. The Mixed style handles both in one video: real stock footage where the line names something real, an AI image where it's an idea, so an idea doesn't end up under a vaguely related clip.
ShortFast writes the script from a topic or keeps yours word for word, picks one of 40+ voices, chooses footage or an AI image for each scene, burns in captions and adds music, in 9:16 for Shorts, TikTok and Reels or 16:9 for YouTube. A minute of video costs about 27 credits, close to all-footage and well under an art style.
How it works
Making a Mixed-style video
- 01
Describe the topic or paste a script
Start from an idea such as "Why Japan's trains are never late", or paste a script you already wrote and ShortFast keeps your words.
- 02
Footage or an AI image for each scene
The AI splits the script into scenes and chooses for each: licensed footage for real places, products, people and events, an AI image for abstract ideas.
- 03
Voice, captions and pacing
Pick one of 40+ narration voices. Captions are burned in, and the Mixed defaults (normal pace, background music and transitions) are already set. You can change any of them, or swap any scene.
- 04
Download, post or run a series
Download the video, auto-post it to TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, or turn the theme into an automated series that makes a new episode on a schedule.
How Mixed decides: footage for real things, AI images for ideas
There's no fixed ratio. The AI that splits your script into scenes chooses for each one by its content: licensed footage for realistic, action and nature scenes, and always for a scene about a named real place, building, company, product, person or event; an AI image for abstract or creative ideas. When a footage scene finds no clip that fits, it gets a generated still instead, at no charge.
So the script decides the mix. Name things and show them, a station, a train, a timetable, and you get footage. Explain mechanisms and feelings, why a habit compounds or what sleep debt does, and you get images made for that line. Five habits that quietly make you richer, one of the style's own examples, is likely to lean on images; why Japan's trains are never late, on footage.
AI images that look like photos need a label
The AI images in Mixed are made to pass as photos, so they sit next to real footage without a jump in look. That's the point of the style, and it's also why the platforms' rules on realistic AI content apply to them. YouTube requires disclosure of AI content that 'seems realistic', and TikTok requires a label on 'all AI-generated content that contains realistic images, audio, and video' (both checked 24 October 2026).
ShortFast sets no AI label when it posts, so turn on YouTube's 'AI use' setting and TikTok's AI-generated content label for Mixed videos with AI scenes. Scenes about a named real person or event always get footage; if one falls back to a generated still, replace it or keep the label on, since an AI image shouldn't stand in for something real.
When Mixed is the right pick, and when one look is better
Mixed suits channels that cover a bit of everything, money facts one day and life hacks the next, because it never forces stock footage onto an idea or an AI image onto a named real place. It costs about 27 credits a minute, close to all-footage Documentary at about 24.
Pick Documentary when every picture should be real, for news-adjacent, travel or company stories where an AI image would undercut trust. Pick an art style such as Stick Figures or Whiteboard when you want one recognizable look across a series, and AI Video Clips when every scene should move.
Run it as an automated series
Give ShortFast one theme and it makes a new Mixed-style video on a schedule, every day, twice a day or a few times a week. Each episode covers a new topic on the theme, and the video is emailed to you or posted to your accounts. Themes that work well in this style:
- A surprising money fact every day
- One life hack per video that saves time
Channel playbooks
Niches that suit this style
Facts
A playbook for running a faceless facts channel: formats that add editorial value, ready-to-use hooks, a full sample script, what to put on screen, and an honest look at RPM and YouTube's repetitive-content rules.
Open NicheFinance
A playbook for running a faceless finance channel: personal finance, investing and money explainers built from stock footage and narration. Formats, hooks, a sample script, RPM ranges and the monetization path.
Open NicheHealth
A playbook for a faceless health channel: fitness, sleep and nutrition explainers that stay inside accepted guidance, with formats, hooks, a sample script and realistic earning ranges.
OpenFAQ
Common questions
- How does Mixed choose between footage and an AI image?
- Per scene, by content, with no set ratio. Realistic, action and nature scenes get licensed footage, and so does any scene about a named real place, building, company, product, person or event. Abstract or creative ideas get an AI image.
- Do I need to label a Mixed video as AI?
- Usually, yes. Its AI images are made to look like photos, and YouTube and TikTok both ask for a label on realistic AI content. ShortFast doesn't set one when it posts, so turn it on yourself.
- How much does a Mixed video cost?
- About 27 credits a minute, so Starter's 2,000 monthly credits cover about 70 one-minute videos. All-footage Documentary is about 24, an art style about 37, and AI video about 370 for 50 seconds.
- Can I change what a scene shows?
- Yes. After the video is generated you can swap any scene's b-roll, including your own uploaded clip, and re-render. The script stays as written.
More styles
Other footage styles
Keep going
Related pages
Faceless Video Generator
Make a faceless video for Shorts, TikTok and Reels from a topic.
Learn moreToolStock Footage Video Generator
Licensed clips, how often to change shots, and stock versus AI.
Learn moreStyleDocumentary style
Real licensed footage in every scene.
Learn moreStyleAI Images style
Every scene an AI image, in one look picked for your topic.
Learn moreMake your first Mixed-style video
ShortFast writes the script, puts real footage or an AI image on every scene, adds the voice and captions, and can post it for you on a schedule.