Runway First and Last Frame: Product Animation Guide

First and last frame animation is the workhorse of AI product video. You give the model where the shot starts, a bottle on its side, a closed box, a shoe in profile, and where it must end, the bottle upright with the label to camera, the box open, the shoe in three-quarter view. The model fills in the motion between them. Because both ends are fixed, the result fits straight into an edit: the end frame can match your packshot, your logo card or the next clip. This guide explains which Runway tools can do it, how to prepare the two stills so the in-between holds together, and what to write in the prompt.

Which Runway tools take an end frame

Runway's interface changes quickly, so check these against the current product before you plan a shoot around them.

• Gen-4 and Gen-4.5 image to video. Runway's documentation says the input image "acts as the first frame". There is no end-frame input in these modes, so the clip ends wherever the motion takes it.
• Keyframes (Animate Frames app). The notice on Runway's Gen-4 article lists "Keyframes – Animate Frames app" as the current place for keyframe work. Open Apps and search for it; that is where start and end frames belong in the current product.
• The Runway API. The image-to-video endpoint accepts image inputs with a role of "first", "last" or "reference", where "last" is an end frame. Which models accept a last frame depends on the model, so check the API reference before you build on it.
• Older models. Earlier Gen-3 Alpha workflows offered first and last frame slots. They may still appear in some interfaces, but they are an older generation.

If you can only use a first frame, there is still a good method: animate from the start frame towards a motion that ends cleanly, then hold or cut on the final frame. The preparation below helps either way.

Preparing the two stills

The model can only interpolate between frames that plausibly belong to one shot. Most failures come from stills that disagree with each other.

1. Same product, same details. Generate or photograph both frames of the identical item. Label text, cap colour and proportions must match, or the product will morph between them.
2. Same lighting and background. Keep the light direction, colour temperature and backdrop identical. A change of light reads as a cut, not a move.
3. Same ratio and framing logic. Both frames at the output ratio, with the product at a similar scale unless the shot is meant to zoom.
4. A move that is physically possible. Rotate 45 to 90 degrees, open a lid, slide into frame, rise from a plinth. Asking for a full transformation between unrelated poses gives a smear.
5. Clean edges. Fix artefacts in both stills first. Runway warns that blurry or distorted areas are intensified once the image moves.

A practical way to make matched stills: shoot or render the start frame, then create the end frame by editing that same image (rotate the product, open the box) rather than generating a fresh one. Any image tool with reference-based editing works; in Runway you can use its image tools with the start frame as reference.

Shots that work well

Keep each clip to one move. A product that rotates, opens and changes colour in five seconds will do none of them cleanly. Build sequences from several clips, using the last frame of one as the first frame of the next, which also keeps the product consistent across the edit.

Writing the prompt

With both frames fixed, the prompt only has to describe the path between them. Runway's prompting guides apply: describe motion, use plain positive phrasing, refer to the product in general terms ("the bottle", "the product") and avoid restating what the frames already show.

• Name the motion and its pace: "the bottle rotates slowly clockwise and settles facing the camera".
• Name the camera, even when it does not move: "locked-off camera".
• Add only the scene motion you want: "a faint reflection slides across the glass".
• Leave out style words. The frames already carry the look; extra adjectives invite drift.

When you only have a first frame, describe the move so it ends cleanly: "rotates a quarter turn and stops, facing the camera". Generate at the shortest duration that fits the move; Gen-4.5 lets you choose anything from 2 to 10 seconds, which helps for short product beats.

Fixing common problems

• The label melts mid-move. Reduce the rotation angle, slow the motion and make sure the label is sharp and identical in both frames.
• A cross-fade instead of motion. The two frames are too different for the model to connect. Bring them closer: smaller angle change, same scale, same light.
• The product changes shape. Use a plain background and keep the product large in frame; small products give the model fewer pixels to hold.
• Unwanted camera drift. Add "locked-off camera" and remove words like "cinematic" or "dynamic".
• The end frame does not match exactly. If your tool treats the end frame as guidance, cut on the last good frame and dissolve into the real packshot in the edit.

For a wider look at image-to-video settings and models in Runway, see the Gen-4 image to video guide.

Try it

The perfume bottle rotates slowly clockwise on the stone plinth and settles with its label facing the camera. A soft highlight glides across the glass. Locked-off camera, smooth and calm.

Use it with a start frame of the bottle at a three-quarter angle and an end frame of the same bottle facing the camera, same light and backdrop. If the glass distorts, reduce the turn to a smaller angle and shorten the clip.