A narrated video, start to finish

• A short script, 15 to 30 seconds when read aloud. The example below works.
• A voiceover of that script. Record it on your Mac with QuickTime Player > File > New Audio Recording, or ask the agent for a practice voiceover, which uses media credits.
• Four or five clips or images to cover the words.
• A music track you have the rights to use. Optional.

Every team says they move fast.
Then the handoffs start.
A brief here. Feedback there.
Three tools before anyone sees a cut.

Northwind puts it in one place.
Write, review, and ship from the same board.

Northwind. Ship the work, not the process.

Put the script in your task folder and the recording, clips and music in media/. Most steps work by hand or with an agent; the ones that need an agent include a prompt.

Open VideoDraft Editor with Open in Editor in ADE, or from Command Center. Choose File > New Project (Cmd + N). In Create project, set the name, format and Save Location.

If you are unsure, choose Widescreen 16:9, 1080p and 30 fps. The editor saves as you work. Still keep backups of the project and its media.

Choose File > Import Media… (Cmd + I), or drag files onto the Library on the left. Import the voiceover, the clips and the music.

Drag the voiceover onto an audio track at the very start. Its length is now the length of your video.

Tracks are layers. Video, images and titles go on video tracks; audio goes on audio tracks. A video clip with sound brings its audio along, and the two stay in sync when you trim or change speed.

1. 1Remove dead air, the quiet gaps with no speech. The editor marks them on the audio clip. By hand, right-click one and choose Remove Dead Air. To remove them all, ask the agent.
2. 2Ask the agent to remove filler words or a fumbled phrase.
3. 3When you ask, say how tight the cuts should be: tight, balanced or loose.

Remove the dead air from the voiceover and any filler words. Use balanced cuts, then tell me the new length.

Put the clips on a video track above the voiceover. Go line by line: each sentence gets a shot. Press Cmd + B to cut a clip at the playhead, and Opt + [ or Opt + ] to trim its start or end. See all editor shortcuts.

• A shot is too long: speed it up in the Inspector, or add a ramp so the speed changes across the clip.
• Two shots need to blend: add a transition from Transitions in the Library. It belongs to the second clip.
• Two shots should share the screen: ask the agent for a split screen or picture-in-picture.

Make captions from the voiceover, 4 words each, low in the frame, highlighting the word being spoken.

For the end title, add text from Text in the Library over the last few seconds and type your website or call to action. Style it in Inspector > Text.

1. 1Match the shots’ color in Inspector > Color, or ask the agent to match them to one shot.
2. 2Put the music on an audio track under the voice. Cmd + click the music clip to add volume keyframes, lower it while the voice speaks and raise it in the gaps.
3. 3Watch the whole thing once without touching anything.
4. 4Choose File > Export…, pick Video, H.264 and 1080p, and export.

An agent works in the same project with the same undo, so you can hand over the whole job or take over at any point.

Build a 16:9, 1080p, 30 fps video from script.txt and the media in this folder.
Put the voiceover on an audio track, remove dead air and filler words.
Cover each line of the script with one of the clips, cutting on the voice.
Make captions, 4 words each, low in the frame, with the spoken word highlighted.
Add [your website] as text for the last four seconds.
Match the shots’ color, put the music under the voice and lower it while the voice speaks.
Export H.264 1080p and show me the file.