How to edit a video podcast
and turn it into clips
What a video podcast needs
An episode has two lives. There is the full episode, on YouTube or Spotify, and there are the short clips that bring new listeners to it. The full episode needs clean sound, no long silences and a picture that follows the conversation. The clips need one strong moment, a vertical frame and captions, because most people find them while scrolling with the sound off.
How podcasts are usually edited
By hand, it is long. You line up the cameras and the sound. You go through the whole conversation and switch the picture each time the speaker changes. You cut the false starts and the long pauses. Then, for the clips, you listen again, note the good moments, cut each one, reframe it to vertical and add captions. A one-hour episode can take a full day, clips included.
Editing a podcast in Montage
Send the episode and say what you want: “Cut the long silences and the false starts.” Montage builds the edit. Then ask: “Make five clips from the best moments.” Each clip comes back vertical, framed on the person speaking, with captions in your brand's fonts and colors.
You pick the clips that go out
The clips are a proposal, not a decision. Each one is a video of its own. Ask for any change: “Start it a sentence earlier.” “Make the third clip shorter.” Each request makes a new version, so you can always go back.
One episode, a week of posts
Five clips are five days of posts from one recording. Each clip is a door to the full episode: say the name of the show in the captions or on a last title, and people know where to find the rest. Post the full episode first, then one clip a day.
Vertical, framed on the speaker
A podcast is usually filmed wide, with two or three people at a table. A vertical clip cannot hold all of them. Montage frames each clip on the person speaking, and keeps both people in the frame when they talk together.
Captions people can read
Clips are mostly watched with the sound off. Captions turn a conversation into something people can follow while scrolling. Montage captions every word, in your fonts and colors, and you can make them bigger, change a word or highlight a key line by asking.
Tips for a podcast that cuts well
- Film close enough that faces fill most of the frame.
- Give each person their own microphone. Clean sound makes clean cuts.
- Ask for clips that make sense alone, without the question before them.
- Keep clips under a minute.
- Post the clips over several days rather than all at once.