How to open a short video with a hook in DepCut

Put the point of the video in the first moment it plays. A viewer deciding whether to keep watching has the opening to go on, so the opening has to show or say why the rest is worth their time. DepCut gives you several places to build it, and each takes a few clicks.

Choose what the opening does

Strong openings usually do one of three things:

• Show the result first, then go back to how you got there.
• Ask the question the video answers.
• State the promise in one plain line.

Pick one before you touch the timeline. Everything below supports that choice.

Cut to the payoff

Start at the first moment that matters and remove everything before it.

1. Play the clip and stop at the first useful word or the first interesting movement.
2. Select the clip on the timeline and leave the playhead where you stopped.
3. Click Split and drop the left side in the timeline toolbar.

When the main track is your only video track, the footage after the cut slides to the start, and the titles, captions and sound that followed it move with it. Anything that sat inside the removed stretch goes with it, so check your titles afterward. If the best moment is in the middle of the clip, split on both sides of it and drag that piece to the front. The setup can play after the hook.

Add a headline to the first frames

A title gives a viewer with the sound off a reason to stay.

1. Move the playhead to the start of the timeline and press T.
2. In the right panel, open the Text tab and replace "Your text" with a short line.
3. Open Animate, choose In, and try Pop or Typewriter.
4. Open Words, click one word, and give it a color or a Box so the eye lands there.

A new title runs for three seconds, which suits an opening. Drag it in the preview to position it. If the footage behind it is busy, turn on Backdrop so the words stay readable. Keep the line short enough to take in at a glance.

Let the first caption lead

Open Subtitles, pick the spoken language or leave Detect language, and click Generate subtitles. Transcription runs on a hosted service and spends credits from your account. Then open the Styles tab. Curiosity hook and Big & punchy draw the opening caption larger than the rest, so the first words of speech carry the most weight.

Write the hook again for the post

The Details tab holds the caption you will publish with the video. Make the first line the hook, add a few focused tags, and use Copy caption + tags when you post. Whatever the opening promises, the caption can promise in the same words. The post preview in the Exports list under Media shows a mock-up of how the caption and tags sit over the video in each app before you publish.

Try it

Open DepCut, add a video you already have, and rebuild its first moment with these steps.