08 Jul Cheatsheet for engaging iPhone videos
This guide covers intermediate-level editing techniques to transform basic talking head videos into dynamic, engaging content using CapCut. Starting with strategic recording tips (choosing interesting backgrounds and leaving space for graphics), it emphasizes aggressive trimming to eliminate all dead space, then shows how to add visual interest through alternating crop patterns and subtle zoom effects using keyframes. The guide culminates with adding animated stickers, graphics, and custom PNGs/GIFs to enhance viewer engagement, turning static shots into visually compelling content that holds attention throughout. These techniques represent the next level up from basic video creation, focusing on the polish and dynamism that separates amateur content from professional-looking short-form videos.
Recording
- Use CapCut’s camera
- Get in an interesting environment
- A room with a blank wall is worst case scenario
- Leave safe space for captions/stickers to be added later. Just don’t put yourself in the frame where these things will go.
Trimming
- Trim every last bit of silence off the beginning and end of every clip
- Pinch to zoom in on timeline in if it helps
- Split longer clips with pauses
- Trim the ends of each of the new clips
- Trim like crazy.
Alternating crops and zooms
- Alternate clips from standard crop to a slight crop in on every clip
- Or sentence, or key point, etc
- Use 2 keyframes and a slow zoom to take what was a static shot and add some movement
Stickers and Animations
- CapCut has hundreds of built-in stickers graphics, underlines, circles, etc
- They’re in Text > Stickers
- Add them, adjust their location, add In and Out animations. Bounce In, Spring In, and Slides are easy wins.
- Make sure to adjust your timing once it in so it hits nicely.
- Hack: PNGs and even transparent GIFs can be added from your camera roll and make for great stickers to spice things up.
I do a 30 day short-form video bootcamp hit the link in my bio to get on the waitlist.