Social Media Video
Sound-off, subtitle-first.
Read moreVideo · Delhi NCR & remote
One master, exported four ways, fails four ways.
A reel, a YouTube video and a fifteen-second ad are three different edits of the same footage — different pace, different opening, different length. They are not three exports of one timeline.
Short answer
Video editing turns raw footage into finished video for a specific platform. The decisive choices are format and pace rather than effects: what happens in the first second, whether it works with the sound off, and whether it was cut for the aspect ratio it will actually be watched in.
Cut per platform
Subtitles by default
Vertical where it belongs
Project files handed over
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01 The premise
The first second is the whole job.
Almost every business video I am sent opens the same way: a logo animation, a slow drone shot, or somebody introducing themselves. Each of those spends the only guaranteed moment of attention on information nobody asked for, and the viewer is gone before the point arrives.
The fix is unglamorous and it is mostly deletion. Start at the interesting part. Show the thing, name the problem, or say something specific — immediately. The logo can go at the end, where the people who stayed will see it and the people who left would not have cared anyway.
The second recurring fault is sound. A large share of social video is watched muted, which means on-screen text is not an accessibility addition, it is the primary channel. An edit that only makes sense with audio has failed for most of the people who will see it, and burned-in subtitles are the cheapest fix in video.
02 By platform
The same footage, four different edits.
What actually changes between platforms, beyond the crop.
| Destination | How the edit differs |
|---|---|
| Reels and Shorts | Vertical, fast, hook in the first second, subtitles throughout. Usually under thirty seconds and cut hard. |
| YouTube | Horizontal, slower, structured around retention. An opening that promises what the video delivers, then chapters and pacing. |
| Paid ads | Built to earn the skip in five seconds, with the message front-loaded and one clear action at the end. |
| Website and landing pages | Short, muted by default, autoplay-friendly, and it must not delay the page. Frequently better as a silent loop. |
| Corporate and internal | Longer, calmer, informative. Watched deliberately rather than stumbled upon, which changes the pacing entirely. |
03 Included
What is included in an edit.
The unglamorous parts that separate a finished video from a rough cut.
Included
- Audio cleanup. Levels balanced, background noise reduced, music sitting under speech rather than over it. Bad audio loses viewers faster than bad picture.
- Colour correction. Shots matched so a cut between two cameras does not jump. Grading beyond that where it suits the piece.
- Subtitles. Burned in for social, as a file for YouTube. Not optional, because most social video is watched muted.
- Titles and lower thirds. In your brand’s type and colour, consistently, so video looks like the rest of your material.
- Correct exports. Each platform’s aspect ratio and specification, exported natively rather than cropped from one file.
- Project files. Handed over. You should never be unable to change a phone number in a video because I hold the timeline.
Free video review
Watch your own video with the sound off.
If it stops making sense, most of your audience never understood it. Send me a video and I will tell you what happens in the first second and whether it survives being muted.
- Judged muted, as it is really watched
- You keep the findings either way
- Project files always handed over
- Same-day reply, all 7 days
Free review
Get a free quote
Four details, and a real reply today.
04 Scope
What I do and do not do.
Stated plainly so nobody books a meeting for the wrong thing.
- Editing and post
- Cutting, audio, colour, titles, subtitles, motion graphics and exports. This is the service.
- Working with what you have
- Phone footage, existing clips, screen recordings, stock. Frequently enough, and I will say when it is not.
- Motion graphics
- Animated titles, explainer sequences and data animation.
- Not a production house
- No crew, no studio, no shoot days. Where a project genuinely needs filming, I will say so and work with a videographer.
- Not long-form documentary
- Multi-day edits of feature length are a different discipline and a different commitment.
— Video
Related services.
These sit next to video editing and are usually bought with it. Same person doing the work in each case.
— Questions
video editing — your questions.
Straight answers, including the ones that cost me work. If yours is not here, ask it — I reply the same day.
The footage, yes; the edit, no. Reels are vertical, fast and hook in the first second. YouTube is horizontal, slower and built around retention. Re-exporting one timeline in two aspect ratios produces two compromised videos.
For social video, yes — a large share of viewing is muted, so on-screen text is the primary channel rather than an accessibility extra. They are burned in for social platforms and supplied as a file for YouTube, where they also help search.
No. I edit, grade, add motion graphics and finish. For footage I work with what you have, with stock, or alongside a videographer you or I bring in. Where a project genuinely needs a shoot rather than a clever edit, I will say so.
Usually, and it is more than adequate for social. Modern phone video is good; what usually needs fixing is audio, which is where phone footage genuinely struggles. A cheap external microphone at the shooting stage saves a great deal in post.
As long as it holds attention and no longer. Under thirty seconds for social, longer for YouTube where a viewer chose to watch, five to fifteen seconds for most ads. The right answer comes from retention data rather than from a rule.
Yes. Holding a client’s timeline hostage is a dependency, not a service. You get the exports you need and the editable project, so another editor can pick it up.
Free consultation · No obligation
Cut it for where it actually runs.
Send me your footage or a video you are already running. You will get an honest read on the opening, the pacing and whether it survives being watched muted.
- Cut per platform, never re-exported
- Subtitles included by default
- Project files always handed over
- Fixed price agreed before work starts
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