Podcast shorts are powerful tools for capturing your audience’s attention and repurposing your content across social media platforms. These quick snippets and highlights from your podcast videos can draw people in, giving them a taste of what your podcast is like and encouraging them to subscribe to full episodes. They are particularly effective on popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, making them a must-have in your content strategy.

This guide will go over how to use OpusClip to edit podcast shorts like a pro. With its features for adding captions, cutting clips for various platforms and lengths, and even adding B-roll, OpusClip is the secret to creating engaging podcast shorts.

Let's get into it.

Step 1: Upload Your Video to OpusClip

Sign in to OpusClip and add the video you want to use. You can upload a video file or use a link for platforms like YouTube, Zoom, and Rumble.

‍Step 2: Select Captions Style

Once your video is uploaded, you can start the editing process. 

The first step is to pick your caption style. Choose from OpusClip’s premade caption templates, designed after popular creators' styles and best practices that enhance engagement.

You can also create custom caption templates that can be saved for future use, ensuring that your videos always have a consistent caption style.

Step 3: Choose Your Genre of Video

OpusClip uses AI to edit your video based on genre, since different genres have different techniques and considerations. 

Since we are creating a podcast short in this example, select "Podcast" from the drop-down menu for best results.

Step 4: Set Your Clip Length

OpusClip provides a selection of clip lengths to choose from that are optimized for different platforms. We recommend selecting “Auto (0m-3m) for most use cases. 

The Auto setting helps optimize your clip depending on the content for platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube shorts, where videos are generally less than 3 minutes long. 

You can select other lengths like <30s or 60s-90s if you have specific time requirements.

Step 5: Add Keywords (optional)

This optional step allows you to filter by keywords, directing the AI to locate and suggest clips that use those keywords. This feature ensures you get relevant video clips focused on the topic you want to cover.

If you don’t have specific keywords you’re targeting, click "Get Clips in 1 Click" to generate them automatically. 

It may take several minutes for your clips to generate.

Step 6: Review and Edit Your Clips

The program will generate several clips that you can choose from. Find the best ones for your goals and edit them as needed. The AI does a fantastic job, but you can make tweaks to improve the clips to meet your needs. 

Luckily, the Opus Editor makes it super easy to precisely edit your clips using either the captions or the video. 

Once you’ve chosen the clip you want to work from, click "Edit Clip" to open the Opus Clip editor.

Add or Remove Sections

To add clips from the longer video, you can hit “Add a Section from Transcript” and find the part you want to add. Highlight what you want to add and click “+Add.” 

To remove clips from the video, select the text you want to remove and click “Remove caption & video.” This removes that section and leaves the rest, editing precisely within seconds. If you later decide to add that text back in, you can easily add it back in using the +Add button.

Change the Layout

The Opus Editor automatically splits your video into clips using preset layouts. For example, the Fill layout will fill the screen at optimal times when one speaker is talking. Alternatively, the Split layout uses a split screen to stack the two speakers on screen and show them talking and reacting at the same time. 

The preset layouts can show up to four speakers at once. 

Adjust the Framing

If the speaker(s) in your video are out of frame or you want to change the clip’s zoom level, you can easily fix this in the Opus Editor. 

Double-click on the frame you want to adjust, resize or move the framing box to the desired area, and hit Apply. This ensures the speaker is always in view.

Modify the Template and Captions

On the right side of the editor, you’ll see several options to modify your clip further, including adjusting the style, aspect ratio, and positioning of the captions. 

To customize captions, go to the caption settings. You can change the font, color, size, and position. You can also add animations and make text bold or uppercase for emphasis.

Once you’ve selected your desired template and caption style, you can save your creation as a preset template, so it will be just one click for future videos.

If there are any typos or grammar mistakes in the video captions, you can easily edit them in the editor.

Generate AI B-roll

Adding interesting and relevant B-roll to your Podcast short can help break up the talking and keep the audience engaged. The good news is that you don’t have to create your own B-roll from scratch. Instead, use OpusClip’s AI-generated B-roll feature or access our library of stock B-roll. 

The AI B-roll is generated automatically based on keywords within your video, or you can choose a stock B-roll manually. It automatically inserts the B-roll in relevant places throughout the clip to enhance your video.

If the B-roll needs adjustments, you can edit the AI B-roll prompt until you get what you need. 

Step 7: Finalize and Export Your Clip

Once you’re happy with your edits, click "Save Changes" and then "Download" to export your clip. You can also download it as an XML file for further editing in Adobe Premiere. 

It may take several minutes to finalize and download your clip.

Key Takeaways: How to Edit Podcast Shorts Like a Pro

Editing your podcast shorts with Opus Clip is straightforward and significantly enhances your video content. By following these steps, you can easily add captions, customize layouts, and generate engaging clips for various platforms.