As you well know, video editing is an essential part of social media and marketing. Editing can often be expensive, time-consuming and quite complicated for those who haven’t had much practise. For many creatives, outsourcing video editors is the most effective way to manage your workload. Well now there might be a better way… Sequel by Runway is an all-new edit suite (we’ll refer to it as Runway from now on). Online, well-priced, and the first of its kind to include machine-learning! 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with machine learning, it is a developmental technology within artificial intelligence. Machine learning algorithms find patterns and trends within data processes, and develop rules on how to perform tasks based on these data findings. RunwayML is a machine learning platform designed to recognise any data processes within video editing, and in turn better its own understanding and capabilities. Runway is unique in this respect, which gives it an edge of similar online editing softwares available. 

To use Runway, simply sign up using a google account or personal email address, you will notice there are a variety of prices available depending on your needs (packages shown in image). We have gone with the free option but even the most pricey option is pretty reasonable. If you intend to edit 4k footage, you will need to pay for your subscription. We would consider everyone trying out the free package to begin with, to get a feel for Runway as its composition page differs from many other edit suites, and if you’re considering paying for it, you want to know at least how to use it… What we particularly like about Runway is its tutorial videos, every aspect of its capabilities have run-through videos provided.

To start an edit, click ‘New Project’ in the top right corner and your browser should redirect you to Runway’s composition page, for those unfamiliar with editing software, this one is pretty straightforward. Upload your assets on the left-hand side and use drag and drop into the sequence in the centre, this is where your edits take shape! You can choose your aspect ratio (format) in the top right corner, screen dimensions and background colour for the workspace. Screen dimensions are very important for any novices out there, as this determines what kind of device/platform your videos can be played on. Again, we would recommend anyone unsure on what to do next should watch the tutorials.

We were impressed by the speed of Runway’s processing, considering it is a web-based service, many like it can often take much longer to complete tasks. On the flip-side, we didn’t see a great deal of obvious machine learning when we tried out Runway, but there is a ‘Help’ section where all of this is explained. We think it will definitely work well with the green screen technology, which we highly suggest you watch the tutorial for if you’re thinking of trying it out. This may be a service that just keeps getting better and better, and who knows… RunwayML might troubleshoot its way to the top of the editing chain. 

For now, we will be sticking with Premiere Pro, but who knows… if Runway really does have AI, and its features are seriously benefited by it, then we may have a decision to make in the future. 

Runway, you are indeed a very intriguing service, and we’re quietly impressed. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼/5.