Edit Viral Shorts with CapCut: Ultimate Guide
Making viral shorts takes a long time & a lot of planning.
You spend hours editing, searching for the best assets, and effects and selecting an ideal niche. You eventually edit one short-form piece of content after tens of hours. However, after you publish it, it gets no views. It is annoying!
So, the question is: How can you edit viral shorts faster while still engaging the audience?
Don’t worry, today I’ll discuss the foundations of short-form content structure. I’ll also share tools, ideas, and tactics to save you time and energy while editing so you can create well-edited content efficiently.
Table of Contents
Foundations Of Short-Form Content
Before editing short content, learn about the foundations of short-form content.
Use A-Roll as your main footage. Make it enjoyable to grab your audience’s attention. Bad A-Roll can mess up your video, so choose wisely. Next, add a B-roll as extra footage. After that, add filters, text, and motion graphics—lots of things, right?
No worries. I’ll share everything step by step. Stay with me.
Best Software to edit viral shorts
Okay, so the first question that comes to mind is which software to use.
There are tons of different editing software programs out there. Nonetheless, I always recommend CapCut. If you want to edit your videos faster while still adding engaging effects and transitions, CapCut is the way to go. You can edit a short video in a few hours. It is also lightweight, so you don’t worry about software crashes while editing.
It is simple to use and includes a variety of effects, transitions, and other components for creating viral shorts. Alternative editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, or Da Vinci requires significant effort to build those effects and elements from scratch.
But you can achieve it in CapCut by dragging and dropping your shorts. It saves a lot of time.
Remember that short-form content is a numbers game; you must limit your time without sacrificing quality. Spending 2 hours on one short is better than 10 hours on a short.
So keep that in mind! Use CapCut for your short-form content.
Formula for Creating Viral Shorts
The foundation’s section mentions that shorts are made with A-Roll, relevant B-Roll, text, effects, and catchy sound design. Here, I will share step-by-step instructions so you can follow along and make a tremendous viral short.
01. Engaging Hooks
Start with an attention-grabbing question or statement to draw viewers in. The hook should be Concise (no more than 3 seconds). It will keep the viewers engaged throughout the entire video.
02. Storytelling
Use “but” and “so” to create engaging conflict and resolution. Combine voiceover and visual storytelling to convey multiple layers of information concisely. Use animation to visually explain what you’re saying, such as showing graphs, images and examples related to your video.
03. Trending Music
Add relevant sound effects and background music to enhance the viewing experience. Include trending songs or personal favourites that fit the video’s tone. You can copy trending music from top YouTubers.
04. Captions
Design unique, branded captions that stand out and are easily recognizable. Use specific colors, fonts, and sizes for different types of captions. Captions allow viewers to understand what you are saying in your videos in public without sound. It also makes your video more engaging and easy to understand.
Check Our Blog on How To Add Captions in CapCut (Step-by-Step Guide)
05. A-Roll
A-Roll is the central part of your video, like talking in front of the camera, podcast footage, or screen recordings. A-Roll is the key footage of your shorts and guides the other components in your video.
Always choose your A-roll carefully. It shouldn’t be boring. An Engaging A-roll will hook your audience and help your video go viral. Bad A-Roll footage can ruin your entire work. So, always be careful with your A-Roll footage.
06. Use Effective B-Roll
B-Roll is the extra footage that helps your shorts.
TikTok experts and short-form content creators recommend changing footage every 4 to 6 seconds. This technique will hook your audience.
Find relevant B-Roll footage based on your content. You can use stock footage or video sites, though it might take time to find the right B-Roll. I recommend using AI-generated images or videos. For video B-Roll, use Sora or InVideo AI. For images, use MidJourney or Leonardo.
Give perfect prompts to generate your B-roll. It will save you a lot of time. Once you find the footage, add everything in CapCut
07. Dynamic Editing
Add zoom-ins, zoom-outs, and smooth transitions to make the video visually appealing. Use keyframes for camera movements and add interactive clips. Adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation to make the video visually striking. CapCut has built-in transitions, filters & Effects. You can add them with a simple click.
CapCut Editing
I’ll give you a step-by-step guide here. So you can follow what you need to do for perfect editing.
01. Adjust the ratio of the frame size to 9:16
Start by Adjusting the video ratio to 9:16 which is the ideal ratio for YouTube shorts, Facebook reels etc.
02. Remove all the silence & Filer words
Remove all the silence and filler words from your video. just keep what’s important and serve a purpose. Make it a Quick hook in beginning, a medium-paced middle, a peak (like a funny joke), and then a quick ending. Use the CapCut scene selection option. Make a compelling, fast-paced, and obvious A-Roll.
03. Add Effects and Filters
It’s time to apply your effects and filters now. For podcast segments, use the Smart Sharpen effect.
Add Spark, the Zoom lens, and other effects to give your B-roll video more animation, such as lightning, rain, fire, smoke, etc.
Begin implementing the B-Roll!
CapCut has drag-and-drop animations for the B-Roll saving a ton of time!
You must make keyframes and manually move your B-Roll around in other apps! Sometimes, editing in just five minutes took me several 10-hour days. Pop-ups or the whole screen are the two possibilities for the B-Roll. I will showcase three of my best animations for each style.
- Mini Zoom (In): this gives your storytelling a cinematic appearance.
- Pan Right (Combo): adds motion, a lovely transition, and duration assurance for the entire clip.
- The Zoom Out (In): Zoom out slowly reveals the footage and this gives the transitions a good appearance.
- Wave and Slide (Combo): you can this to almost any B-Roll if you can’t wait to scroll through the animations.
- Angle 1 (Combo): It provides a sick motion graphics effect and establishes the pace of the entire clip.
- Rotate Fade (Combo): Select the length of the clip, then animate the image on the screen before fading it away.
- Slide Right (Out) & Wiper (IN): Adjust the animations to the appropriate duration. This is an excellent method for illustrating your point on screen.
04. Emojis & Stickers
After adding A-roll, B-roll, and animation footage add some stickers. For example, a red “X” should appear if you say something negative with a beep sound effect. Appropriate emojis should show up if you express an emotion. This makes the video more visually interesting.
05. CapCut Auto Captions
Captions keep the viewers engaged throughout the entire video. CapCut has a auto-caption tool. You can add captions to your shorts in one click with it. Caption is a must to create engaging viral YouTube shorts, TikTok reels, and reels.
Check Our Blog on How To Add Captions in CapCut (Step-by-Step Guide)
06. Music & Sound effects
CapCut contains the most well-known copyright-free sound effects. You can see all the trending sound effects that other content creators use. Utilize them to increase interaction & engagement.
Add the following sound effects to your favourites: Success 1, Deep Woosh, Woosh, Wow, Slap, Wrong Answer, Old Cash Register, Mouse Single Click 2, etc. This section offers a great deal of room for creativity. You can use your own branded sounds too.
To fit the tempo and atmosphere of the footage, drag these sounds to the location where the animations were inserted!
Sound engineering is the secret to creating a viral short-form video—we need to evoke some feeling! Thus, I strongly advise you to prepare a ton of reels of music you like in advance and put them into your editing app!
The Power of Analytics
How Do They Perform? Now on to the meaty stuff — analytics. Yeah, I know, it sounds dull – but trust me; this is as good as having a map leading to where your video will succeed. On YouTube and TikTok, for example – you get deep insights into how your videos are doing.
Focus on data like watch-time, engagement and drop-off points This data is gold. It shows you how it is working and it will tell you what doesn’t work.REDDIT Perhaps you’re dropping off but why here will be let’s going to revise it. Or maybe a specific type of video is driving better engagement — start producing more like that.
It’s like a cheat sheet for your content marketing. Apply it the right way, and you will notice your shorts get better in just a little time.
Collaborations and Trends
So, let’s talk about some collaborations and trends! Working with other creators has a way of invigorating your shorts while opening you up to new fans. Seek out creators in your field or who have a similar style and contact them.
A shoutout, a duet (duets can be from one second long to full songs that you mime over), or an actual collaboration in which two users work on the same video increases your visibility greatly! While we are on the topic of visibility, keep up with trends. Your Trends: Your views Goldmine. JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON: identify a viral challenge, popular hashtag or trending sound that will help your content get noticed.
But remember, be authentic. Not every trend is going to suit you so there’s no need to try and make it work.
Consistency is Key
Finally, Consistency Quick fixes hardly ever last and a social media following is no different. Similar to how Rome wasn’t built in a day, so too must our thriving organic digital empire be granted the necessary time to grow and flourish.
Consistency is crucial. While posting regularly will have you in the good books of ‘The Algorithm’, and also help build an audience that is loyal to your content.
Develop a schedule that suits you and live by it. It need not be daily—perhaps three times a week or even weekly to start. Make sure you turn up. Stop after a few minutes and start the process over, your audience will come to anticipate this new content regularly.
It is like planting a tree, watering it every day and eventually, you will have a garden full of life.
FAQ
The basics of short-form content editing
Essentially short-form content editing uses A-Roll as the main footage and B_Roll for addition, with additional filters mediating text & motion graphics. A-Roll should PULL you IN to get the viewer’s ATTENTION, and B-Roll needs to be related but changes every 4 -6 seconds so people do not tune out.
Why CapCut may be useful for viral shorts editing?
CapCut: If you have difficulty editing videos, cannot find the right transition or effect,… It is much faster in terms of editing than other software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Da Vinci Resolve, and this allows for incredibly fast creation of engaging short-form content.
How to Generate Attentions-grabbing Hooks for Shorts
Lead in with a bold and concise (max 3 secs) question or statement at the beginning of your video. This will hook people in and keep them absorbed for the duration of your video.
How do I tell a story for a viral short?
Employ “but” to build suspense, and “so” for a resolution. Pair the voiceover with a visual story and animate to explain parts visually. It is just an effective way of packing a lot more useful info in the same space.
In what way I can use trending songs in my shorts?
Edit the video to add appropriate sound effects and music as needed Add any trending songs or simply your likes to the tone of our creation. You can even use popular music borrowed from top YouTubers to up your engagement levels.
The necessity of captions in short-form content.
Captions provide your content to the sound-off audience, and they can make the difference between watching a video and keeping scrolling. Adding captions is as easy as pressing a button with CapCut’s auto-captions tool
What A-Roll footage do I pick?
Pick engaging B-Roll footage based on what your clip is about. It must be intriguing enough to capture your audience, as bad A-Roll footage can destroy a video.
What Makes A B-Roll Shot Effective?
Your B-Roll footage should change every 4 to 6 seconds. When and If Needed supplement your A-Roll with the use of actual B-Role stock footage, AI engine-creating images or other videos relevant to complement your main storyline. B-Roll tells parts of the story that can’t be captured in visuals or aren’t worth being viewed.
How To Use Editing Techniques in CapCut.dynamic
Zoom-ins, zoom-outs, transitions and keyframes for camera movements. Diversify your video visually and make it engaging by fine-tuning its brightness, contrast, and saturation. Features include predefined transitions, filters and effects in CapCut
Verification; How do I add stickers and sound effects?
To add personality, use stickers and emojis to emphasize feelings or anything else you want across, as well as take advantage of sound effects for increasing engagement. There are different sound effects that you can use and will even be able to save them in your favourite lists. Good sound design adds emotion and makes your video more dynamic.
Editing viral shorts can feel like a long and frustrating process, but it doesn’t have to be. However, you can save time and create engaging videos efficiently by understanding the foundations of short-form content and using tools like CapCut.
Remember to focus on your A-Roll and B-Roll, use the proper effects and sound design, and keep your content dynamic to hook your audience. Follow these steps, stay consistent, and you’ll be on your way to creating viral shorts in no time.
Good luck, and happy editing!
