Edit a customer testimonial with lower thirds and captions

A customer sends a phone video with the good answer buried in the middle. This recipe finds that answer from the transcript, cuts to it, and adds a name label, cutaway shots and captions. The customer's words stay as they said them.

Start from the transcript

1. Create a project, open Media and press Upload. Choose the customer's recording.
2. Open the Subtitles tab and press Generate subtitles. Transcription spends account credits and runs in the background.
3. Open the Content tab and read the transcript like a document. Long pauses start a new paragraph, and a gray chip such as 1.2s marks a pause longer than half a second. Click a timestamp to jump to that line in the video.
4. Pick the statements that carry the message. One clear sentence about the problem and one about the result usually beat a long answer.

Cut it down

1. Play to the start of a statement you want and press S. Move to its end and press S again.
2. Select the pieces you do not need and press Backspace. When the main track is the only video track, deleting a clip closes the gap. Captions after the cut slide left with the footage, and captions inside the deleted piece go with it.
3. Press the up and down arrow keys to jump between clip boundaries and listen to each join. A join that cuts a breath short sounds abrupt, so keep a little room around each statement.

Add a lower third

1. Press T and replace "Your text" with the customer's name. Press Enter and add their business or role on a second line.
2. Open Align in the right panel and choose left alignment. Open Size and make the text smaller than a headline.
3. Open Backdrop and turn it on, so the label reads over any background.
4. Drag the label in the preview to the lower left.
5. Open Trim and drag Trim end so the label stays up for a few seconds. Open Animate and choose an in and an out animation.

Cover the cuts and style the captions

Where a cut would show as a jump in the speaker's face, lay a cutaway over it.

1. Press Overlay on the left panel and choose footage of your product or workplace. It goes onto an overlay track above the main one.
2. Drag it along the timeline until it covers the jump.
3. Select the cutaway, open Volume and switch on Mute audio, so the customer's voice stays clean.

Style the captions in the Subtitles tab. Open Styles and try Block, which draws each caption on a dark plate, or Clean. In Options, turn on Highlight spoken word if you want the active word marked. Drag the captions on the video so they sit clear of the lower third.

Send it for approval, then export

On a cloud project, press Share in the top bar, add the customer's email or set General access to Anyone with the link, then press Copy link and send it to them. They can watch the cut but cannot edit it. If the project lives on your Mac, Cloud (Move to Cloud) moves it first.

Once they approve, open Export, choose Original · matches source and press Export video. The file appears under Exports in the Media tab. Open Details to write the Caption for the post.

Start a project

Open DepCut, upload a customer recording and start from the transcript.