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Cinema began with a galloping horse.

In 1878, Muybridge's motion study turned a running horse into the first moving images. In 2026, HappyHorse-1.0 — Alibaba's arena-topping AI video model — generates them from a sentence. This free course teaches you to direct it: prompts, camera, sound, lip-sync, and the API.

8 lessons · ~68 min total · Updated July 2026

Plates 01–04 · after "Sallie Gardner at a Gallop", 1878 · redrawn

The model

HappyHorse-1.0 at a glance

Parameters
~15B
Resolution
Native 1080p
Clip length
3–15 seconds
Aspect ratios
5 formats
Audio
Same-pass generation
Lip-sync
6 languages

Debuted #1 on the Artificial Analysis Video Arena in April 2026. Full story and sources in Lesson 1.

The course

Eight lessons, zero to API

View the full syllabus
Lesson 01Beginner7 min

What is HappyHorse-1.0?

The model that appeared from nowhere, topped the video arena in a week, and turned out to be Alibaba — what HappyHorse-1.0 is, what it can do, and what is still unverified.

Lesson 02Beginner8 min

Getting started: where to run HappyHorse-1.0

Every place you can generate with HappyHorse-1.0 today — official apps, API platforms, and aggregators — plus a first-generation walkthrough and the settings that matter.

Lesson 03Beginner10 min

Text-to-video prompting: the 8-part formula

The prompt structure HappyHorse-1.0 responds to — subject, action, scene, camera, lighting, style, mood, format — with worked examples and the failure modes to avoid.

Lesson 04Intermediate9 min

Image-to-video: animating stills with control

How to use HappyHorse-1.0 image-to-video: choosing source images that animate well, writing motion-only prompts, and the reference-to-video mode for character consistency.

Lesson 05Intermediate8 min

Audio and lip-sync: directing sound and speech

HappyHorse-1.0 generates audio and video in one pass. How to prompt dialogue with accurate lip-sync in six languages, control music and sound effects, and avoid the classic audio mistakes.

Lesson 06Intermediate9 min

Camera language: shot types, movement, and format

A working film-school vocabulary for HappyHorse-1.0 — shot sizes, camera movements, lens language, and how to choose aspect ratios per platform.

Lesson 07Advanced10 min

The API: models, pricing, and cost math

Calling HappyHorse-1.0 programmatically — the three model endpoints, official per-second pricing with real per-clip math, and how third-party platforms compare.

Lesson 08Beginner7 min

HappyHorse-1.0 vs Seedance 2.0: an honest comparison

Alibaba vs ByteDance at the top of the video arena — where each model actually wins, what the leaderboards do and don't tell you, and a decision guide per use case.

The prompt library

Prompts that follow the formula

Browse all prompts
Neon alley walk16:9 · 8s · 1080p

A woman in a translucent raincoat walks through a narrow Tokyo alley at night, steam rising from vents, slow tracking shot from behind, neon signs reflecting in puddles, anamorphic widescreen with shallow depth of field, contemplative and electric, rain patter and distant city hum

The fisherman’s line16:9 · 6s · 1080p

A weathered fisherman mending a net looks into the camera and says "The sea gives, and the sea takes," handheld close-up, overcast harbor light, documentary realism, somber and dignified, gulls and rope creak in the background

Rooftop cat, Ghibli morning16:9 · 8s · 1080p

A ginger cat leaps between terracotta rooftop ledges at dawn, low-angle tracking shot following the jump, soft pink morning light with drifting clouds, Studio Ghibli-style hand-drawn animation, playful and free, light orchestral flute score with distant town bells

FAQ

Questions, answered

Saddle up.

Eight lessons from first clip to API calls. The next model will be different; the craft transfers.

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