Short video is the most watched thing on the internet right now, and it is also the easiest to get wrong. The difference between a reel that reaches thousands of people and one that reaches nobody is usually not the camera or the location. It is the first second, the pacing, and whether the viewer can follow it with the sound off. This is what reels and shorts editing is really about, and it is a craft rather than a filter.
The first second is the whole game
Every platform decides how far to push your video based on whether the first viewers keep watching. If people swipe away in the first second, it stops being shown. That is the mechanism, and everything else follows from it.
So the opening cannot be a logo, a slow pan, or someone saying hello and introducing themselves. It has to start in the middle of something interesting. We usually cut the first five seconds of whatever you filmed, because the good part almost always starts later than people think.
Most people are watching on mute
A large share of views happen with the sound off, often in public or in bed. If your video only makes sense with audio, most of your audience gets nothing.
That is why captions are not an accessibility extra, they are the main script. We burn captions in, time them to the cut, and keep them large enough to read on a phone held at arm’s length.
What we do to your footage
Find the hook
We watch everything you sent and find the moment worth opening on, then build the edit backwards from there.
Cut the dead air
Pauses, ums, and the two seconds where nothing happens. Short video rewards density.
Captions and text
Styled to your brand, timed properly, readable on a small screen.
Sound and music
Trending audio where it fits, and clean levels so your voice is not fighting the track.
Correct sizes
Vertical, safe margins so nothing important sits under the interface buttons, exported for Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
You do not need a studio
Phone footage is fine. Genuinely. It often performs better than professionally shot video because it looks native to the platform rather than like an advert. What matters is light on your face, steady framing and clear audio. Film near a window, prop the phone up, and say the useful thing first.
If you want video produced from scratch instead of edited, that is UGC and CGI ads.
Common questions
How much footage should I send?
More than you think. Three or four minutes of raw material usually gives us enough to build one strong thirty second reel, because most of what gets filmed is unusable and that is completely normal.
How many reels can you edit a month?
It depends on the plan, but a steady rhythm beats a burst. Eight good reels spread through the month will do more for you than twenty posted in one week.
Can you edit from my old videos?
Yes. Most accounts have usable material sitting unused in the camera roll. Repurposing what you already filmed is the cheapest way to start.
Do you write the captions and the on-screen text?
Yes, both. The spoken script, the burned-in text and the post caption are all part of the job. See caption writing.
Send us your footage
Give us a few clips and we will show you what good editing does to them. Browse the full list of services or get in touch.