A professional-looking business video used to require a camera, a presenter, a teleprompter, a lighting kit, and a video editor. Synthesia removes every one of those requirements. This walkthrough gets you from zero to an exported MP4 in under 10 minutes.
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What You Need Before You Start
- A Synthesia account (free trial available — 3 minutes of video on the free plan, enough for this exercise)
- A 150-word script (we’ll give you one below)
- 10 minutes
No camera. No microphone. No video editing experience required.
The 7 Steps
Step 1 — Sign up for Synthesia
Go to Synthesia and create your free account. The free plan gives you enough video time to complete this exercise. Paid plans start at $29/month if you want to scale beyond the trial.
Step 2 — Click “Create Video” and choose a template
From the dashboard, click + New video. You can start from a blank canvas or pick a template. For your first video, click Blank — it’s faster to learn from a clean slate than to untangle someone else’s template structure.
Step 3 — Choose your avatar
You’ll see a grid of AI avatars. Scroll through the options — there are 125+ across different genders, ages, skin tones, and styles (formal business attire, casual, studio backdrop). Pick one that matches the tone of your content. For a business explainer, go formal. For a creator tutorial, go casual.
Click the avatar. It appears in the video preview on the left side of the editor.
Step 4 — Paste your script
In the text field on the right, paste your script. Here’s a 150-word example you can adapt:
“If you’re building a content business in 2026 and you’re still filming yourself on camera, you’re working ten times harder than you need to be. AI video tools have crossed a quality threshold where your audience can’t tell the difference — and most of them don’t care anyway. What they care about is whether the information is useful.
In this video, I’m going to show you the exact workflow I use to produce professional videos for clients, YouTube channels, and LinkedIn content — all without a single camera session. By the end, you’ll understand why some of the fastest-growing channels on the platform are completely faceless.
Let’s get into it. First, let’s talk about the tool that makes this possible.”
Keep scripts under 250 words per scene for natural pacing.
Step 5 — Select a voice
Below the script field, you’ll see a voice selector. Synthesia voices are tied to your avatar but you can swap them. Pick a voice that matches your avatar’s appearance and the content tone. Preview it by clicking the play icon. Adjust speaking pace if needed (there’s a slider — 90–100% is the natural sweet spot).
Step 6 — Hit Generate
Click Generate video in the top right. Synthesia processes your video in 2–5 minutes depending on length. You’ll get an email when it’s done, or you can watch the progress bar in the dashboard.
Step 7 — Preview and export MP4
Open your rendered video. Watch it end to end. If anything sounds unnatural — pacing issues, awkward pauses, mispronounced words — go back to the script and adjust (Synthesia uses phonetic pronunciation if a word is repeatedly mispronounced). When you’re satisfied, click Download and export as MP4. Standard HD (1080p) is fine for most platforms.
Common Pitfalls
Script too long for free credits. The free plan gives you 3 minutes of video time total across your account. A 250-word script at natural pace runs about 90 seconds — well within limits for a first project.
Avatar mismatch with brand. A fitness coach avatar in formal business wear looks wrong for a workout tutorial. Match the avatar’s style to your content category before you’re 500 scripts deep.
Monotone script. Synthesia reads what you write. If your script has no natural breaks, no emphasis, no contractions — it sounds flat. Write like you speak. Use sentence fragments. Use em dashes. Punch key words.
Skipping the preview. AI voices occasionally mispronounce industry terms or proper nouns. Always watch the full video before downloading.
What to Do Next
- Create a second version of the same video with a different avatar and compare
- Build a 3-scene Synthesia video (intro, content, CTA) for LinkedIn or YouTube
- Export your video and upload it as a Short (under 60 seconds) to test performance with zero organic following
- Explore Synthesia’s screen recording and PowerPoint integration for tutorial content
One video is an experiment. Ten videos is a data set. Get to ten.
Want to go deeper? Read our complete Synthesia review → covering avatar quality, enterprise features, pricing, and six months of real-world testing.
