Short-form video #

This page is for creators who make short vertical videos: clips of 15 to 60 seconds for platforms that show them in a feed. Short videos travel far without context, so each one must be true on its own, without the description. One clip, one idea, one source.

Contents #

1. The rules for a short clip
2. Eight clip ideas
3. Framing a desktop interface for a phone
4. A clip script to copy
5. Clipping from your long videos and streams

The rules for a short clip #

1. One idea. "Every edit is a draft" is a clip. "Everything about editing" is not.
2. True without the caption. Viewers may never see your description; the spoken words and on-screen text must carry the facts.
3. Disclose inside the clip if anyone paid or gave you something: on screen at the start, and in the caption (Disclosure and sponsorship ethics).
4. Name the version on screen when you show a feature of the 6.0.15 line.
5. Captions burned in or added, because most short videos are watched without sound (Captions and accessible video).
6. Link the help page in the caption or your profile.

Eight clip ideas #

Framing a desktop interface for a phone #

• Zoom the browser so one part of the screen fills a vertical frame: a form, a block, a button.
• Hide the left or right column with the tabs at the window edges when you need the space (Hiding and resizing the columns).
• Or use a narrow window: on a narrow screen the tabs and search move into the menu behind the button with three lines, which looks natural in a vertical clip.
• Leave room at the top and bottom for the platform's buttons and your captions.
• Never crop a screenshot so that it changes its meaning, for example hiding "draft" next to a button.

A clip script to copy #

CLIP - <idea>                     Length: <30> s     Version on screen: Exponential <version>
0-2 s    Hook text on screen: "<one short claim from the table>"
          (disclosure on screen here if needed)
2-20 s   The action, with a voice line and burned-in captions
20-25 s  The result on screen
25-30 s  Text: "Source: <help page title>"  +  "Link in caption"
CAPTION  <one sentence> Source: <link>. <disclosure>. #OpenSource

Clipping from your long videos and streams #

• Clip only parts that are true on their own; do not cut "it does not" down to "it does".
• Keep the disclosure: if the long video was sponsored, the clip is too.
• Check every frame for secrets again; a clip may show a frame the long edit hid behind a transition (Keeping secrets off screen).
• Label old clips when a later release changes the screen.

Related pages #

• Social posts for creators
• Titles, thumbnails and descriptions
• Demo script: five-minute overview
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.