Edit a short video in a phone app so it opens on the hook and keeps moving.
Mei Ling opened the raw clip for the hook of a new video and found more than a second of settling before the first word. Mei Ling cut out just that piece, and the opening felt much faster, though nothing else in the edit had changed.
Editing puts a lot of people off, but it is less complicated than it seems. In a short video, three cuts carry most of the work: where it starts, the pauses in the middle, and where it ends. A phone is enough. You won't need a computer or costly software.
Nearly every phone editing app will trim clips, arrange them in order, put text on screen and create captions for you. CapCut and InShot are two that many people use. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube also each come with a built-in editor. Features and prices in these apps keep changing, so settle on one app, get comfortable with the basics and keep using it for a while. Trying a different one each week slows you down.
For most videos, a separate editing app suits you better than a platform's own editor. In a separate app you can save the project and export a clean copy of the finished video. You can then post that copy to several platforms, as lesson 1.3 suggested. A built-in editor is fine for a quick fix, but anything you make there stays inside that one app. The steps below work the same way in any app.
Start by putting your takes in the order of your script. Then go to the first clip, which holds your hook (the opening line of the video), and trim its start so the video opens on your first word or first movement.
This trim matters more than any other edit. For every fraction of a second before the hook begins, the viewer is deciding whether to stay with nothing yet to base that decision on. Remove whatever comes before the hook, such as glancing at the phone, drawing a breath or a hand leaving the frame. Lesson 3.3 described the first frame you want: already moving and already saying the hook.
Work through the video one take at a time and take out any pause longer than a natural breath. Also take out repeated words, false starts, every "um" and "so", and any line you said twice. In most apps you do this by splitting the clip at the right point and deleting the section you don't want.
When you cut between two moments of the same talking shot, the picture shifts slightly. This shift is called a jump cut. People who watch short video are used to jump cuts and seldom notice them. If one looks too abrupt, lay a b-roll clip across the cut and let your voice carry on underneath. B-roll is supporting footage, such as shots of a process.
B-roll also helps when your face isn't telling the viewer anything new, for instance while you describe a process or go through a list of steps. At those points, switch to footage of the process itself. The picture keeps moving, and anyone watching with the sound off can still follow.
When the cuts are done, play the whole edit through again. At each moment, ask yourself whether a viewer would want to skip that part. If the answer is yes, cut it.
The end is the part people most often forget about. Once you have delivered the payoff and given the next step, stop the video. Leave out any long thank you, any summary of what you already said, and any slow fade while you smile into the camera.
Suppose your next step is "Save this for your next shopping trip". Make that line the last thing you say, put matching text on screen, and end the video a moment after it. Someone who watched to the end already has what they came for. A quick finish leaves them wanting more, while a slow one leaves them waiting for you to wrap up.
Most editing apps include music and sound clips, but not all of them are cleared for business use. Platforms often give business accounts a separate, smaller library of music licensed for commercial posts. This means a personal account may show popular songs that a business account is not allowed to use. A sound that plays fine in your editing app can also be muted or blocked once the video goes up on a platform. Music rules differ between platforms and change often, so check the current music and sound guidelines in the app you are posting to, especially if you post from a business account.
Your safest choices are:
music from the platform's commercial library music you hold a licence for no music, with a clear voice carrying the video
Don't take a popular song from somewhere else and add it to your edit. Farah, for example, decided to use music only from the platform's commercial library and keeps it quiet under the voice. Most of Farah's best videos have no music at all.
Once the edit is finished and the music is settled, export at the highest quality your app offers. Keep the project file saved, because you will reuse its settings, text style and structure for your next video.
For the activity, edit your takes from lesson 5.2 into one video that starts on the hook and has no pause longer than a breath.
Edit your takes into one video that opens on the hook, with no pause longer than a breath.
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