Amazon announced a major update to its AI video tool, Nova Reel. You can now use it to generate videos up to two minutes in length. This puts Nova Reel in line with other big-name competitors like OpenAI and Google, all working to dominate the growing world of AI-generated video content.
Create longer videos with consistent quality
Launched in December 2024, Nova Reel marked Amazon’s first step into AI-generated video. The newest version, called Nova Reel 1.1, takes things further. According to AWS developer advocate Elizabeth Fuentes, it allows you to create “multi-shot” videos that keep a consistent look and feel throughout. This means the style across scenes won’t change, even though each video comprises six-second shots.
You can write a prompt of up to 4,000 characters to guide the system in generating your video. That’s a big improvement for people looking to add more detail or direction. The final output can be a full two minutes long, made from these shorter segments.
This upgrade gives creators like you more storytelling time and adds depth to short-form content. Whether you’re making product clips, educational explainers, or creative stories, Nova Reel gives you more flexibility with time and visual flow.
Gain more control with the Multishot Manual feature
Alongside the upgrade, Amazon introduced a new feature called Multishot Manual. This lets you pair an image with a prompt to gain better control over how each shot looks.
Here’s how it works: you give the model an image that’s 1280 x 720 in size and a short prompt (up to 512 characters). Nova Reel can generate a video with up to 20 shots based on that single image. This is helpful if you match your video closely to a specific visual theme or brand style.
The added control means you can fine-tune each part of the video more than before. It’s ideal if you’re working on marketing materials, mood pieces, or more precise visual content that needs to stay aligned with a brand image or concept.
Access is limited, and copyright concerns remain
At the moment, Nova Reel isn’t available for general public use. You’ll need special access through Amazon Web Services (AWS), particularly through its AI toolset called Bedrock. If you’re interested, you must request access directly from Amazon.
However, this powerful new tool isn’t without controversy. Like many AI video models, Nova Reel was trained on large datasets that likely include existing video content. Amazon hasn’t shared details about where its training data came from. This lack of clarity raises ethical concerns about whether the videos used were copyrighted and if the creators were asked for permission.
Some AI models have been known to accidentally “reproduce” parts of existing copyrighted videos. If that happens, the users—like you—could face legal action. In response, Amazon has promised to protect its AWS customers through its indemnification policy. This means Amazon says it will support you legally if you’re accused of copyright violations for using Nova Reel.
Even with those protections, the issue of copyright remains important. As more companies explore AI-generated video, the question of where training data comes from will continue to be debated. You should keep that in mind when using AI tools for content creation.
Nova Reel’s latest update marks another step forward in using AI to create longer, better, and more controlled video content. But as always, it’s wise to be aware of the risks behind the scenes.
