10 Claude Prompts to Edit Videos

1 · Safe setup

Create folders: raw, proxies, transcripts, frames, cuts, and exports. Move my original files into raw. Never modify, move, or delete anything in raw. Write every output to a new file with a version number. Add these rules to CLAUDE.md.

2 · Inspect

Use ffprobe on every file in raw. Report duration, resolution, frame rate, codecs, and audio channels. Flag anything that could cause problems when joining clips, such as mixed or variable frame rates.

3 · Transcribe

Transcribe each clip with word-level timestamps into the transcripts folder. List names, brands, and technical terms you are unsure about so I can correct them.

4 · Cut list

Read the transcripts. Mark sections to remove: filler words, false starts, repeated takes (keep the best full take), and long pauses. Do not remove anything that changes meaning. Write a table with start, end, text, and reason to cuts/cutlist.md. Wait for my approval.

5 · Silences

Detect silences with FFmpeg’s silencedetect filter. Propose cuts for pauses longer than [seconds], with a little padding so words are not clipped. Test on the first two minutes and show me before applying it everywhere.

6 · Assemble

Apply the approved cut list to the original files with frame-accurate cuts by re-encoding. Write the result to exports/edit_v1.mp4. Keep audio in sync and report the final duration.

7 · Check cuts

Extract a frame just before and just after every cut into frames. Review them and list any jarring jump cuts, black or frozen frames, or awkward expressions, with timestamps.

8 · Captions

Create captions from the corrected transcript as an SRT file, at most two lines and 42 characters per line. Then burn them into a copy of the video in our caption style, inside the platform safe zone.

9 · Audio

Measure the loudness of the edit. Normalize the voice to about -16 LUFS for online video, reduce background noise lightly, and keep music under the voice. Write a new file and report the before and after levels.

10 · Short clips

From the transcript, find the five strongest standalone moments between 20 and 60 seconds. For each, give start and end times and the opening line. After my approval, export each as a 9:16 clip with captions to exports/clips.