Cut an event recap from a pile of phone clips

An event leaves a camera roll full of clips in no particular order. A recap needs a shape: an opening wide shot, a run of details and people, and a clear last image. This workflow gets from the pile to that shape.

Sort before you edit

1. Create a project and open Media.
2. Drop all the files onto the Media panel. They wait there and the timeline stays empty. Upload places clips on the timeline straight away, which suits a small batch.
3. Hover over a card to play it. Click + on the ones worth keeping to add them to the timeline.

Keep clips from different phones and different hours in one project. The next steps make them look like one day.

Build the sequence

1. Open with a wide shot that shows where you are, then alternate close shots of people with shots of details.
2. Trim each clip to its best moment. Pause where the moment begins and click Split and drop the left side in the timeline toolbar, then pause where it ends and click Split and drop the right side.
3. Select a slow clip such as a walk-in, open Speed in the right panel and raise the Speed slider.
4. Select each clip, open Color and press Auto. Clips from different phones and different light then start from a similar look. Adjust Temperature where one clip runs warm or cool.

Pick one transition family and one effect

Press Esc to deselect, then click the round Add a transition button on a cut (it is hidden while a neighboring clip is selected), which opens the Transitions tab, and choose a tile. The tab groups the styles under headings. Whip and Push suit a fast, busy event. Fade suits a calm one, and Dip to black suits the final cut. Choose one family and use it throughout, because a different transition on every cut distracts from the footage.

Open Effects and look under Moving for Light leak or Film grain. Under Filters, look at Vintage and Dreamy. Drag one tile onto the timeline and it plays over its stretch of timeline, on top of the footage and everything laid over it. Keep it subtle, so the footage stays the subject.

Add a title and music

1. Press T at the start, open Text in the right panel (or double-click the title in the preview) and type the event name. Open Animate and choose an in animation.
2. In AI Gen, open Audio then Music. Pick a track from the Sample library or describe one and press Generate music. Generated music spends credits.
3. Select the music clip and open Fade out so it ends cleanly with the last image.

Cut on a beat where you can. The waveform on the music clip shows where the strong hits fall, so you can place splits and transitions there.

Share a review link, then export

On a cloud project, press Share in the top bar, add emails or set General access to Anyone with the link, then press Copy link and send it. Viewers can watch the cut but cannot edit it; invited people must sign in. If the project lives on your Mac, the Cloud button (Move to Cloud) copies it and its media to the cloud and removes it from the Mac.

When the cut is approved, open Export, choose Best · 1080p and press Export video. The finished file lands under Exports in the Media tab.

Your turn

Gather one event's clips, open DepCut and sort them into a recap.