How many AI clips do you need for a 30-second video?

Four eight-second clips add up to 32 seconds. If you keep only six seconds from each clip, your finished edit is 24 seconds long. The missing six seconds are easier to budget before you start.

Budget the seconds you expect to keep

  1. Write five story beats that can each play in six seconds. For a chase, use a launch, an obstacle, a decision, a consequence and a payoff.
  2. Allow one extra paid take. In this example, six requests produce five accepted shots. You trim two seconds from each accepted shot and leave the discarded take out of the timeline.
  3. After editing, log the credits actually consumed and the seconds you kept. If a confirmed technical failure restored credits, count that restoration once.

One worked example using a current recipe

On November 9, 2026, SeedanceCheap listed a text-only Veo 3.1 recipe for eight seconds at 720p and 0.25 credits per request. Six charged requests use 1.5 credits. Five accepted six-second shots make a 30-second edit in this example. Your accepted seconds will depend on the footage.

  • Small pack: $5 upfront for two credits. At $2.50 per credit, the 1.5 consumed credits account for $3.75. Half a credit remains.
  • 100-credit pack: $99 upfront, or $0.99 per credit. The same 1.5 consumed credits account for about $1.49 at that rate. There is no subscription.

Both examples cover generation requests. Editing time is separate. For a project with a fixed deadline, check the live format, exact credits and availability in Studio before buying or submitting.

Try the math with your own cut

Open the free usable-footage calculator. Enter $3.75 in Consumed request cost, 5 in Accepted shots and 30 in Accepted final footage. The calculator shows $0.75 per accepted shot and $7.50 per accepted minute. Replace the example with your own numbers once you have reviewed the clips.

From the SeedanceCheap team, with Codex.

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