Vertical Video Editing: A Beginner’s Guide to Better Reels, Shorts & TikToks

Recently, a lot of you have been asking for my tips and tricks for vertical video editing, so this article is completely dedicated to those of you who are just getting started with short-form content and want to know the best programs, tools, and methods for creating viral vertical videos.

Whether you’re making Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or TikToks, the basic principles of making good vertical vids are surprisingly consistent.

So, without delay, just like a well-crafted reel, let’s get to the good stuff!

Vertical Videos and Short Form Content

First, let’s clarify what I mean when I say “vertical video” and “short-form” content. Both terms are broad umbrella terms for video that’s designed to be viewed upright (vertical) on a phone, typically using a 9:16 aspect ratio. Most successful vertical videos are also only a minute or less in length (short-form).

The names of these types of video changes depending on the platform:

• Instagram calls them Reels
• YouTube calls them Shorts
• TikTok just calls them TikToks 
• X is just out there being a weirdo (per usual)

And, of course, some of us remember when Vine was the big thing. Shout-out to the originals who remember Vine’s Vines!

Even though the terminology changes from platform to platform, the basic principles of creating a good vertical video are pretty consistent across the board. 

If you already have ideas for vertical videos you’d like to make, let’s talk about some editing programs worth looking into.

The Basics of Vertical Video Editing

You don’t necessarily need a fancy editor to do good vertical video editing.

Some creators edit directly on their phones or use the editing tools built into the platform where they’re posting. That can be more than enough for certain types of content, and plenty of people rack up loads of views using this method.

For example, if you’re sitting in your car talking directly to your phone, cutting out pauses and mistakes, and adding a few subtitles, you probably don’t need a professional editing suite. Those kinds of videos can be edited entirely on your phone.

It takes a little practice to get them nice and tight, but there are plenty of tools available to help.

However, if you want to get deep into the weeds and start coming up with custom subtitles, transitions, sound effects, and whatever else, you’ll need a program that allows you to edit with multiple tracks. 

In the editing world, tracks are fields of media that we edit together to create one video. And, in good editing, these tracks are so well blended that the audience doesn’t notice the editing at all. Nothing sticks out, nothing gets outshined, and everything has a purpose. 

To demonstrate what a track is, here’s a snapshot of my tracks for one of Kirk Cameron’s latest reels. 

It has 6 tracks in its sequence: 

• 2 video tracks (the original episode clip and the b-roll)
• 3 audio tracks (Kirk’s vocal track, a music track, and some sound effects)
• 1 subtitle track

Which Type of Content Are you Making?

What editing programs you’ll need depends on what you want to make.

If you’re still wondering what to go with, find content similar to what you want to make, and try to identify how many tracks the content is using.

Tracks that might make up a video may include:

• Video
• B-roll
• Dialogue
• Sound Effects
• Music
• Subtites/Text
• Graphics
• Magical entities (a.k.a Adjustment Layers)

For reference, below are two reels. One from Jefferson Fisher and one from Kirk Cameron.

Jefferson usually uses 1-3 tracks (video + dialogue + subtitles) in each of his videos. However, Kirk’s videos typically use 5-7 tracks (video + b-roll + dialogue + text + sound effects + music + subtitles).

Both are well-made vertical videos that have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

If you’re looking to make a video with only 1-3 tracks, like Jefferson, your phone might work just fine. But if you need more than 3 tracks, like Kirk, then you’ll need editing software that’s a little more suited for handling multiple layers of media.

Which Editing Program Should You Use for Vertical Videos?

Once you’ve decided on the type of content you want to make, it’s time to choose your editing program. 

Below are my top recommendations. You might want to play around with each one and see which best serves your purposes before investing, but they’re all great resources when applied to the right content.

1. Your Phone

Your Phone’s built-in Photos app probably gives you basic editing tools for trimming and adjusting video.

If you’re editing on a Mac or iPhone, iMovie is your built-in option.

With iMovie, you can perform basic cuts, add music and titles, and export a perfectly respectable vertical video without spending a dime. You can also use the editing features built directly into platforms like Instagram and TikTok to add captions, music, stickers, and other elements.

If you’re filming on an upright smartphone, your built-in mobile editor might be the ticket. However, if you’re cutting reels from larger, long-form, or horizontal videos, built-in editors can be limited and clunky.

2. Canva

Not every vertical video needs to be a masterpiece with custom keyframing, subtitles, and sound effects.

If you’re looking to make something from stock footage, say, for a quick announcement, slideshow, or flash sale promo, Canva is the perfect choice. The platform supplies a mountain of stock footage, graphics, transitions, and royalty-free music, which can be thrown together in record time.

Canva is also a great option if you already have a short clip you want to use but need it resized for a certain platform or converted to an MP4.

Using Canva for making super-short videos like these is also a breeze. You simply:

1. Open a new project.
2. Select A Template
3. Upload/Plug In Your Video Clips or Pics
4. Add Some Flare (music, transitions, etc)
5. Export your video.

Canva also has a free video to MP4 converter, which can really come in handy. Here you can easily upload, edit, crop, or add AI voice-overs to your videos.

And, let me confess, Canva makes the graphics side of video creation so easy, I often—and by often, I mean nearly always—combine things I’ve created in Canva with what I’m piecing together in Premiere to optimize my workflow.

Yeah. I’m a baddie. 

3. Wondershare Filmora

You’ve probably heard me mention Wondershare Filmora and geek out about it in previous articles. That’s because it’s genuinely a great editing program for people who are just getting started.

It’s easy to use and comes with free elements, graphics, and royalty-free music. It also allows you to layer many more tracks than programs like iMovie and Canva.

Another major advantage is price.

Filmora offers both subscription plans and a perpetual license, depending on your needs, and is substantially cheaper than other paid options.

Filmora also offers a free version that you can use to experiment with the software before purchasing. Exported videos from the free version include a watermark, but it’s a good way to get your feet wet and see whether the program fits your needs.

Note: Subscribing to or purchasing Wondershare Filmora at the link above helps support my blog at no cost to you.

4. Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere is one of the most powerful choices on this list. It gives you precise control over video, audio, graphics, captions, effects, and much more.

For an indie creator who just wants to throw together a quick Reel or YouTube Short, that level of control might be overkill or even overwhelming. 

Going straight from no-editing experience to something like Premiere can feel like being tossed in the deep end with no floaties. But if you’re working with long-form content and want to turn one larger project into multiple pieces of short-form content, Premiere becomes incredibly useful.

Why I Love Adobe Premiere

As a professional editor, Adobe Premiere is my favorite way to edit vertical videos, largely because I’m usually bouncing back and forth between short-form (vertical) and long-form (horizontal) content.

I can take a podcast from one of my clients and turn it into five or six smaller videos with subtitles, B-roll, music, sound effects, and graphics, all within the same project. I can also save custom presets and make templates for future use, which saves me a buttload of time.

Premiere can be daunting to those new to editing, but Adobe has a ton of resources, tutorials, and even free online courses to help you scurry up the Premiere learning curve.

To learn more about these courses or to sign up for this year’s course, check out this article: 5 FREE Online Courses for Making Better Content

5. DaVinci Resolve

And if you don’t want to pay for Premiere but still want a more powerful professional editing program, DaVinci Resolve is another excellent option.

This is actually the program made by Blackmagic Design.

DaVinci Resolve has a free version that includes professional editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio tools. It’s powerful enough that many professional editors use it as their primary editing software.

There is definitely more of a learning curve than with something like Filmora, but if you’re willing to learn it, you can get an enormous amount of functionality without paying a monthly subscription.

Which Should You Choose?

Ultimately, the right editor for you depends on your personal needs as a creator.

My advice: do some research and have fun goofing around with each of these programs until you find the right tools and workflow that work for you and your content.

If you open one up and it looks scary (been there, done that) hop to the next.

Even if your dream is to eventually make 6+ track videos like Kirk Cameron, you can always build a foundation with free, simple programs like iMovie or Canva and work your way up to the beastly programs like Premiere and Resolve (been there, done that too).

Once you’ve chosen your software, it’s time to move on to the basics of vertical video editing. These principles can be applied across different editing programs and across the platforms where you’ll be posting.

What Makes a Great Vertical Video?

If you’ve consumed a lot of vertical content, you’ve probably noticed that there are endless approaches to making it.

Some videos are highly polished productions with fancy graphics and complicated editing. Others are literally someone sitting in their car talking to their phone.

It might seem like these videos have nothing in common, but there are actually a few basic principles that can help make almost any vertical video more engaging.

1. The First Three Seconds

Before we talk about resolution, audio, captions, or fancy editing tricks, let’s talk about the thing that determines whether people will even stick around long enough to notice any of those things: your opening.

The first few seconds of a vertical video are incredibly important because your viewer is usually one swipe away from watching something else.

That doesn’t mean you need to scream at people or manufacture some ridiculous clickbait hook. It simply means you need to give your viewer a reason to keep watching.

You can accomplish the same thing with a visual, a question, a surprising statement, a funny moment, or by simply jumping straight into the most interesting part of your story.

The Biggest Mistake

The biggest mistake I see beginners make is spending the opening seconds introducing the video instead of actually making the video interesting.

Your viewer doesn’t need a formal welcome speech.

Give them the good stuff.

And remember, a hook isn’t supposed to trick someone into watching. It’s supposed to accurately communicate why the information, story, joke, or experience you’re about to share is worth their time.

2. Format

Of course, because we’re talking about vertical videos, we need to talk about format.

The standard starting point for most vertical social video is a 9:16 aspect ratio (which translates to 1080 × 1920 pixels when you’re working in Full HD).

Different platforms can have their own specifications and recommendations, so it’s always worth checking the current requirements before exporting. But 9:16 is the standard format you’ll encounter for full-screen vertical content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

Setting Up Your Project

When you’re starting a project in an editing program, set up your timeline for the format you actually intend to publish.

Many programs make this incredibly easy. Filmora and Canva, for example, let you select the type of content you’re creating and will automatically set up the appropriate canvas or timeline.

If you’re using Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, or another professional editor, you’ll want to make sure your sequence settings are correct (adjust these at the opening of your new project) before you get too far into the edit.

If you’re editing directly on your phone, this is often handled automatically for you.

3. Audio

Audio is one of the most powerful elements of any form of digital content. 

We can’t talk about video without talking about audio. Audio is one of the most powerful elements of any form of digital content. 

Whether you’re adding a catchy song that makes people want to keep watching, Foley that scratches some deeply satisfying itch in the viewer’s brain, or simply clear dialogue that doesn’t make people strain to understand you, good audio is essential.

A video can look absolutely gorgeous and still feel terrible if the audio is distracting.

Here are a few of my favorite places to find and improve audio:

• YouTube Audio Library: YouTube Studio includes a library of music and sound effects. Some tracks require attribution, while others don’t, so always check the individual licensing information. (You must qualify as a YouTube Partner to use this resource.)

• Envato Elements: A subscription-based library of music, sound effects, stock video, graphics, templates, and other creative assets.

• Adobe Podcast: A useful tool for cleaning up spoken audio, particularly when you’re working with less-than-perfect recordings.

• Your editing program’s audio tools: Don’t underestimate basic noise reduction, EQ, compression, and volume adjustments. You can often make a huge difference without buying anything extra.

One important warning: “royalty-free” does not automatically mean “free to use however you want.” Always check the license for the specific music or sound effect you’re using, especially if you’re creating sponsored or commercial content.

4. Frame Positioning

When I say “frame positioning,” I’m basically saying that the most interesting thing in your video needs to be visible and positioned in a way that’s easy for people to look at.

If something important is happening on screen, you generally want it somewhere your audience can easily see it.

This becomes especially important when you’re turning horizontal footage into vertical content.

If you’re cutting a video from a larger piece of content, you need to make sure the vertical crop follows the person who is talking or whatever is most interesting in the frame. Otherwise, your audience may end up staring at an empty portion of the screen while the important action is happening somewhere they can’t see.

Many editing programs now have automatic reframing tools (a.k.a. auto reframe). These use AI or motion tracking to identify the primary subject and adjust the crop as that subject moves.

I use these tools occasionally when I’m in a pinch, but most of the time, I prefer to reframe footage by hand. Manual reframing lets me create intentional movement.

That’s where keyframing comes in.

Keyframing allows you to change things like position, scale, and rotation over time. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for storytelling and especially for comedy.

An Example of Keyframing

For the past year and a half, I’ve been doing a lot of comedy editing for shows like The Kirk Cameron Show, where we take long-form podcast content and turn it into bite-sized shorts using keyframing, audio, and AI-generated imagery to keep viewers engaged.

Our host, Kirk, is often physically expressive when speaking. He also speaks with an interesting cadence that does well with sudden zooms and cuts. 

Combined with creative keyframing, we’re able to emphasise comedic or unexpected moments from his podcast episodes. Here’s an example, pulled from his show. Notice how the camera seems to jut in and out or pan to his hands during certain key moments. That’s custom keyframing at work:

So whether you’re simply making sure someone’s face stays in frame or you’re using movement to create a joke, learning how to reframe and keyframe your footage is a really useful editing skill.

And yes, I’m absolutely planning a future article about editing for comedy because I have a LOT to say about that. Stay tuned! And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss any important upcoming posts!:

5. Music

Music can completely change the feeling of a video.

The right song can make a funny moment funnier, make a dramatic moment more emotional, or give an otherwise ordinary montage a sense of momentum. 

Most platforms offer clips of popular music tracks you can add onto your vertical videos. But don’t use music just because you can.

Sometimes silence or a well-placed sound effect is much more effective.

And when you do use music underneath dialogue, make sure it isn’t competing with the person speaking. Your audience should never have to work to understand what someone is saying because the background track is too loud.

Currently, Envato Elements is my favorite place to get royalty-free music. But Canva and YouTube’s audio library have great options too.

Vocal Ducking

Adobe Premiere has AI-powered tools that allow you to do what we call vocal ducking. This means Premiere evaluates the music against any speakers present and automatically ducks the music down underneath the voices so you can clearly hear the person speaking.

However, these tools can sometimes be a little clunky and require you to sit for half an hour adjusting your settings so the music doesn’t randomly spike up when the person pauses to take a breath. 

My own personal workaround, which usually works 10 times better and faster than vocal ducking, is using a built-in preset in Premiere called “Locked in the Trunk.”

I know, funny name, but you’ll see why.

I’m actually breaking the rules by using this setting the way that I am, but… you know, I done said it… I’m a baddie.

My Favorite Premiere Trick

Adobe Premiere has an Essential Sound panel that allows you to assign your audio as different types, giving you access to different tools for each specific audio type.

Ideally, this panel allows you to enhance your vocal audio, duck your background music, and adjust your sound effects so everything blends nicely.

However, for the reasons mentioned above, I like to do it this way:

1. In the Essential Sound Panel, assign your background music as Dialogue rather than Music, SFX, or Ambience. 
   
2. Scroll down to the presets and select “Locked in the Trunk.” As the name suggests, this makes the audio sound like it’s being played somewhere small, dry, and slightly farther away, as though it’s coming from inside an old trunk. Get it? It’s Locked in the Trunk.
   
3. Adjust the volume of the audio track from -6 to -16 or so, depending on what sounds good to you. You want the music to be easy listening on both your desktop speakers and in a headset, but it should sit somewhat behind the sound of the main speaker.

Here’s a screenshot of my Essential Sound panel on this reel from The Kirk Cameron Show:

Not only does this provide a natural ducking effect, but it also turns the music into something lo-fi, like what you’d hear playing in the background at a coffee shop.

It stays present and sets the tone without competing with the person speaking.

6. Subtitles

Subtitles are incredibly useful for vertical content because people don’t always watch videos with the sound on. They can also make a great visual hook if your content is being cut from something with static imagery (like a podcast). 

Vertical Video Editing Subtitle Tips

• If you do use animated captions, make sure they’re still readable. Fancy typography isn’t helpful if nobody can figure out what the sentence says.
  
• Pay attention to where you put your captions. As pictured in the following diagram, social media interfaces can cover portions of the screen with buttons, descriptions, usernames, and other elements, so don’t shove important text into the very bottom corner of your video.

How To Add Subtitles and Text

If you’re editing on something like Premiere, you can generate subtitles in their own track, right inside your project. You can also customize those subtitles to be whatever size, font, and whatever else you’d like them to be.

Platforms like Instagram and TikTok also offer the option to add subtitles before you post. However, correcting misspelled subtitles within these native editors can be clunky at times.

If you want to experiment with fancy texts without having to learn Premiere or After Effects, Opus Clip offers a free subtitle editor, though the extent to which you can edit these subtitles is limited unless you upgrade to a paid version.

My Beef With Opus Clip

While Opus offers other AI tools for pulling and editing reels, I am not a fan of Opus for reel selection.

And not just because it’s my job to make reels from long-form videos.

I wish, with all my heart, that I could leave it up to AI to pick my viral verticals. It would save me so much time. Sadly, in my experience, and according to other producers, Opus falls short of being able to identify clips that will actually be interesting to the audience.

Fingers crossed they refine this feature in the future. Until then, hand-picked reels are best.

7. Titles and On-Screen Text

A good title or text hook can help establish what a video is about immediately, but a bad one can totally waste those first 3 seconds I mentioned earlier. 

Prioritize a good visual hook over a clean title, and if you do use a title or on-screen text, let it draw attention to the hook, not the objective of the video.

Let’s say we have a waterproof jewelry store we’re trying to promote with a YouTube short or Instagram reel. A terrible use of a title (and your first 3 seconds) would be big bold text that reads, 

3 Reasons Why I Buy Waterproof Jewelry

Nope. Don’t do that. 

Right off the bat, everyone knows you’re selling something. And besides that, everyone knows why you should buy waterproof jewelry. 

Because it’s waterproof. 

It’s literally in the name.

Instead, try your hand at creating what I call clickable curiosity. 

8. Clickable Curiosity

Essentially, clickable curiosity is a visual or hook that lightly confuses or creates a feeling of being in on a scandalous secret. It has the power of clickbait, but it actually delivers on what it promises.

It takes a little practice to figure out how to create this effect, but once you get the hang of it, it revolutionizes how you think about creating content.

Let’s go back to our example so you can see what I mean.

“Do We Hate Chick-a-Doo?”

Imagine a different ad for the same jewelry store, but it starts with a nano influencer—some cute, free-spirited, surfer chick-a-doo—sitting on the patio of a ritzy beachside restaurant in a little black dress and dainty gold pieces.

She’s holding a wine glass filled with crystal-clear sea water. At the bottom of the glass sits a bed of tiny shells and perfect white sand.

In the first three seconds, Chick-a-doo gives the camera a wicked grin, drops a helpless baby crab into the glass, gives the glass a light swirl, and takes a drink; her voice comes in over the word-by-word flashing title:  

How I Fool Everyone Into Thinking I’m Filthy Rich

Within the first three seconds of the reel, the audience has been razzled, dazzled, a little grossed out, and potentially enraged.

And that, my friend, is clickable curiosity.

But, of course, we don’t want to leave people hanging.

That would be clickbait. 

And we can’t leave Mr. Crab in the wine glass.

That would be rage bait. 

Neither of those are good, so we must continue the story. And our audience has to continue watching as well, because they’re trying to figure out whether or not they hate Chick-a-doo.

Falling for Chick-a-Doo

Our 60-second reel then rapidly follows self-filmed Chick-a-doo through her day.

A catchy beach bop plays in the background. She’s surfing, picking up beach litter, showering, slipping into her little black dress, and dining with her rich friends and family, all while wearing her gorgeous waterproof jewelry. 

In a voice-over, clever Chick-a-doo explains how she spent only a fraction of the cost on jewelry that looks and lasts like pure gold.

It’s also environmentally friendly, since significantly less gold is mined to make gold-bonded jewelry than pure gold pieces. Better yet, it’s less likely to end up in a landfill (like most fast-fashion jewelry).

We end the video with Chick-a-doo on the beach at sunset. She’s barefoot on the beach, still in her dinner dress, releasing Mr. Crab back into the ocean.

She wasn’t torturing Mr. Crab.

It was a rescue mission.

The video ends with a discount code for free shipping (because the best things in life are free).

In under a minute, we’ve not only figured out Chick-a-doo’s secret, but we’ve fallen in love with her. 

Say it with me: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, CHICK-A-DOO!

Variants of Clickable Curiosity

On a smaller scale, if you’re simply pulling Reels from, say, a podcast and want to create clickable curiosity, a great title paired with an interesting frame from your video can do the trick.

Here’s an example of a frame we selected for a video simply titled, “I can’t watch. 🫣”

In the description of the video, we added the scripture Ephesians 6:1-3. This reel quickly rocketed to a quarter of a million views.

9. Thumbnails

Depending on the platform, your thumbnail may be more or less important, but you should still think about how your video appears when someone encounters it outside the normal scrolling experience.

A strong thumbnail should communicate the subject quickly without becoming a wall of tiny text. And you don’t have to make a custom thumbnail to get a lot of clicks. 

As previously stated, the right frame with the right subtitles, right facial expression from your subject, and an intriguing title can be enough to go viral.

10. Copywriting for Vertical Videos

This is one of the most overlooked parts of short-form content.

Short-form content works best when you respect the viewer’s time and invite them to give their two cents on the issue at hand. So, don’t be afraid to throw down a mic-drop moment, add an emoji, or write as though you’re an objective third party, sharing a secret with the viewer or asking for their advice.

Too many people think they need to write a blog post in their description.

Nope. Not so. Don’t listen to ’em.

Here are some examples of things I’ve put in copy in the past. Some of these make great title copy too:

• Is this AI?
• Girl! That’s WAYYY too much! 👀
• ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
• I’m not sure about this. What are your thoughts?
• I can’t watch. 🫣
• Is Jordan B. Peterson a REAL Christian?
• What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Featured Content Creator

One of the biggest problems we see with short-form content is content theft and low-effort reaction content. So, for this article’s featured content creator, I want to highlight a veteran in the YouTube world: Jacksfilms.

Reaction Videos or Content Theft?

Reaction content itself isn’t inherently bad. In fact, transforming someone else’s content into something new through commentary, criticism, humor, or education is a legitimate form of content creation.

The important distinction is whether you’re actually creating something new or simply republishing someone else’s work.

Jacksfilms has made this issue a recurring part of his content. He often turns the topic into comedy while encouraging creators to think more critically about how they create.

Here’s a great video to get you up to date on making reaction content that doesn’t steal other people’s work in the process:

Have Questions?

And there you have it! Those are my basic tips for making better vertical videos.

If there’s something more specific you’d like to know, or if there’s another area of digital media production you’d like me to cover, feel free to reach out through my Facebook page and send me your questions or topic requests.

I love helping other creators find the tools and advice they need to succeed, so don’t be a stranger.

Catch you on the flippity flop,

Kolbie