Pacing
Cliplength is the pacing lever. Social clips run 0.8 to 3 seconds each with a visual change at least every 3 seconds, vlogs 2 to 6, tutorials 5 to 15 (cut at step boundaries), cinematic 4 to 8 with varied lengths. Shorten clips as the video builds, then hold the final shot about twice as long. The first clip is the hook: no fade-in, no logo, the payoff visible or promised within 3 seconds. A 20 to 35 second total is the highest-completion band on social.
Cutting to music: seconds per beat is 60 divided by BPM. Cut every 2 or 4 beats, every beat only at the climax. For 120 BPM music that means 1 or 2 second clips.
Text placement and size
On vertical video keep every text element inside x 8 to 92%, y 13.5 to 83% (platform UI covers the rest). Captions sit at y 60 to 75%. Sizes at 1080x1920: titles 135 to 190px, lower thirds 70 to 80px, captions 90 to 105px. Always add a stroke (black, width 4 to 8), a shadow, or a background box. Titles are 6 words or fewer, 2 lines maximum. Pair one display font (Oswald, Anton, Bebas Neue) with one body font (Inter, Roboto).before
inside the safe area
Color looks
Apply one look to every clip in the video:
With faces in frame stay inside saturation 0.7 to 1.3, hue within 8 degrees, temperature 4500 to 12000K. To match two clips shot differently: fix brightness first, then temperature, then saturation.
Photos need motion
A static photo in a video reads as a mistake. Give every image clip a gentle Ken Burns move:"transform": { "position": { "x": "50%", "y": "50%" }, "scale": [{ "time": "0%", "value": 1, "easing": "easeInOutSine" }, { "time": "100%", "value": 1.12 }] }.
Pacing and transitions have their own longer treatment on Transitions, and levels on Audio.