A 16:9 video made in Wyrlo AI, 4:23 How ships climb a hill of water

Script

Pasted in; a paragraph added later and voiced on its own

Voice

ElevenLabs, Brad, Value quality

Planned

Smart edit: the AI editor, in two parts, as for any narration over four minutes

Scenes

38: 1 AI video, 10 stock videos, 25 animated graphics, 2 AI images

Models

A Grok Imagine Video clip at 720p, Nano Banana 2 Lite images, free stock footage, graphics designed by Claude Haiku 5.5

Graphics

25, Clean look, Whiteboard palette

Credits

3,128, about $3.13 on any plan, retakes included

Finish

The long-form render, Karaoke captions, music the AI picked (Curious documentary)

Edits

None on the scenes: planned, filled and rendered by the app. Nothing edited outside the app

1. 0:00AI videoEvery year, more than thirteen thousand ships cross from one ocean
2. 0:04Stock videoto another by climbing a hill of water.
3. 0:06Animated graphicThey do it in about eight hours, through a channel only eighty kilometres long.
4. 0:11Animated graphicWithout it, the same trip around the tip of South America would take two weeks and more than twelve thousand extra kilometres.
5. 0:20Animated graphicThe trouble is that the middle of Panama is not flat.
6. 0:24Stock videoGatun Lake, the heart of the route, sits twenty-six metres above the sea. So
7. 0:29Animated graphicthe canal does not cut through the land. It lifts ships over it.
8. 0:33Animated graphicThe tool that does the lifting is called a lock.
9. 0:35Animated graphicA lock is a concrete chamber with watertight gates at each end, where the water level can be raised or lowered to move a ship between two different heights.
10. 0:44Animated graphicHere is how one lift works. First, a ship sails into the lowest chamber, and the gates close behind it.
11. 0:51Animated graphicSecond, valves open and water from the chamber above flows down through tunnels in the walls. No pumps are used. Gravity does all of it.
12. 1:01Animated graphicThird, the water rises, and the ship rises with it, about eight and a half metres in roughly ten minutes.
13. 1:09Stock videoFourth, the gates ahead open, and the ship moves into the next chamber to do it again.
14. 1:15Animated graphicThree steps up on the Atlantic side, and the ship floats into the lake.
15. 1:21Stock videoSmall electric locomotives, called mules, run on rails along the walls.
16. 1:26Animated graphicThey do not pull the ship forward. They keep it centred, because in the original locks a large ship has only about sixty centimetres to spare on each side.
17. 1:38Animated graphicEach crossing drains roughly two hundred million litres of fresh water from the lake into the sea.
18. 1:45Stock videoThat is the hidden price of the canal, and it depends entirely on rain.
19. 1:51AI imageThe route took decades to build. In eighteen eighty-one, a French company began digging a sea-level canal.
20. 1:58AI imageDisease and landslides killed more than twenty thousand workers, and the project collapsed in eighteen eighty-nine.
21. 2:06Animated graphicIn nineteen hundred and four, the United States took over and switched to locks.
22. 2:11Animated graphicThe canal opened in nineteen fourteen. In nineteen ninety-nine, control passed to Panama. And in twenty sixteen,
23. 2:18Stock videoa third, wider set of locks opened for ships that were too big for the old ones.
24. 2:25Animated graphicThose new locks changed the numbers. The old chambers fit ships carrying about five thousand containers. The new ones fit ships carrying up to fourteen thousand.
25. 2:35Animated graphicThey also recycle water. Beside each new chamber sit three basins that catch about sixty percent of the water and use it again on the next lift.
26. 2:45Stock videoSo which route does a shipping company choose? If the ship fits, the canal saves fuel, crew time and about two weeks at sea, even after
27. 2:54Animated graphica toll that can pass one million dollars for the largest ships.
28. 2:59Animated graphicIf the lake runs low, as it did in the drought of twenty twenty-three, the canal limits how many ships can cross each day and how deeply they can sit in the water.
29. 3:10Animated graphicThen some companies wait in line for days, and others turn south and take the long way around.
30. 3:16Animated graphicThat drought showed how fragile the system is. Gatun Lake fell to its lowest level in decades.
31. 3:23Animated graphicDaily crossings dropped from about thirty-six to as few as twenty-two. Prices for shipping rose around the world.
32. 3:30Stock videoA canal built of steel and concrete turned out to depend on clouds.
33. 3:35Animated graphicThe water problem is not new. When the canal opened, engineers built Gatun Dam to flood a whole valley, creating what was then the largest artificial lake in the world.
34. 3:46Animated graphicTowns, farms and a railway disappeared beneath it.
35. 3:51Stock videoToday the same lake also supplies drinking water to about half of Panama's people.
36. 3:56Animated graphicEvery lift a ship takes is water that cannot go to a city tap, so in dry years the canal authority has to choose between ships and people, and people come first.
37. 4:07Animated graphicEngineers are now planning a new reservoir to keep the lake full in dry years. Because the most important part of the Panama Canal is not its gates, its mules or its chambers.
38. 4:19Stock videoIt is the water that lifts every ship, one chamber at a time.

Transcript

Every year, more than thirteen thousand ships cross from one ocean to another by climbing a hill of water. They do it in about eight hours, through a channel only eighty kilometres long. Without it, the same trip around the tip of South America would take two weeks and more than twelve thousand extra kilometres. The trouble is that the middle of Panama is not flat. Gatun Lake, the heart of the route, sits twenty-six metres above the sea. So the canal does not cut through the land. It lifts ships over it. The tool that does the lifting is called a lock. A lock is a concrete chamber with watertight gates at each end, where the water level can be raised or lowered to move a ship between two different heights. Here is how one lift works. First, a ship sails into the lowest chamber, and the gates close behind it. Second, valves open and water from the chamber above flows down through tunnels in the walls. No pumps are used. Gravity does all of it. Third, the water rises, and the ship rises with it, about eight and a half metres in roughly ten minutes. Fourth, the gates ahead open, and the ship moves into the next chamber to do it again. Three steps up on the Atlantic side, and the ship floats into the lake. Small electric locomotives, called mules, run on rails along the walls. They do not pull the ship forward. They keep it centred, because in the original locks a large ship has only about sixty centimetres to spare on each side. Each crossing drains roughly two hundred million litres of fresh water from the lake into the sea. That is the hidden price of the canal, and it depends entirely on rain. The route took decades to build. In eighteen eighty-one, a French company began digging a sea-level canal. Disease and landslides killed more than twenty thousand workers, and the project collapsed in eighteen eighty-nine. In nineteen hundred and four, the United States took over and switched to locks. The canal opened in nineteen fourteen. In nineteen ninety-nine, control passed to Panama. And in twenty sixteen, a third, wider set of locks opened for ships that were too big for the old ones. Those new locks changed the numbers. The old chambers fit ships carrying about five thousand containers. The new ones fit ships carrying up to fourteen thousand. They also recycle water. Beside each new chamber sit three basins that catch about sixty percent of the water and use it again on the next lift. So which route does a shipping company choose? If the ship fits, the canal saves fuel, crew time and about two weeks at sea, even after a toll that can pass one million dollars for the largest ships. If the lake runs low, as it did in the drought of twenty twenty-three, the canal limits how many ships can cross each day and how deeply they can sit in the water. Then some companies wait in line for days, and others turn south and take the long way around. That drought showed how fragile the system is. Gatun Lake fell to its lowest level in decades. Daily crossings dropped from about thirty-six to as few as twenty-two. Prices for shipping rose around the world. A canal built of steel and concrete turned out to depend on clouds. The water problem is not new. When the canal opened, engineers built Gatun Dam to flood a whole valley, creating what was then the largest artificial lake in the world. Towns, farms and a railway disappeared beneath it. Today the same lake also supplies drinking water to about half of Panama's people. Every lift a ship takes is water that cannot go to a city tap, so in dry years the canal authority has to choose between ships and people, and people come first. Engineers are now planning a new reservoir to keep the lake full in dry years. Because the most important part of the Panama Canal is not its gates, its mules or its chambers. It is the water that lifts every ship, one chamber at a time.

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