How to Edit Videos with Claude

Original: https://feedmedia.notion.site/4041d073e26281f690a6f4ab2f5f1e93

By @chandlerintelligence | Watch the video this guide is from

Setup

Install Claude Code, then paste this:

Set me up to edit videos with you. Install Remotion, FFmpeg, Whisper (with word-level timestamps) and yt-dlp. Check each one runs.

For anything behind your head you need a person cutout. On a Mac it's built in: tell Claude to use Apple Vision person segmentation. On Windows or Linux, run pip install rembg.

1. Storyboard first

Before Claude edits anything, have it write a storyboard, so you both agree on what the video looks like first.

Before you touch the footage, write a storyboard as a table: one row per beat with the time, my exact words, what's on screen, and the tool. Don't render anything until I approve it.

2. Text behind your head

Cut me out with person segmentation. In Remotion, put the title "Text behind / your head" on two lines between the footage and my cutout, so my head covers part of the letters. Font: Geist Pixel Square, 150 px, #F4F4F2, centred at 20% and 27% of the frame height. Each line fades up over 12 frames (ease-out cubic, rising 2% of the frame), the second 4 frames after the first.

3. Captions

Transcribe my clip with Whisper, word-level timestamps. Caption it in Remotion: Helvetica Neue Bold, 64 px, white, soft shadow, centred at 61.5% of the frame height. Up to 3 words at a time. The word being spoken sits on a coral (#D97757) box with 8 px rounded corners; the others have no box. Each chunk cuts on exactly when its first word is spoken.

Make it better: don't put a coloured box behind every caption. Highlight only the word being spoken.

4. Tool labels

When I name a tool, its logo appears and the name slides out of it.

When I say a tool's name, show its logo (110 px, rounded corners) at 61.5% of the frame height. It fades up over 12 frames (ease-out cubic). Then it slides left while the name (bold white, 92 px tall) slides out from behind it to the right, over 12 frames, so logo and name end up centred together.

5. Repo cards

When I mention an open-source tool, show its GitHub repo card at the top of the frame: 85% of the frame width, fading up over 12 frames (ease-out cubic, rising 2% of the frame). Build the card to look like GitHub's dark theme: owner/name, Public badge, description, stars and forks.

6. Prompt bar

Draw a prompt bar as a vector graphic in Remotion: a dark rounded bar (#2B2B2B, fully rounded ends) with my prompt typing in, white Inter text, and a coral (#D97757) send button with an up arrow. Place it at 22.5% of the frame height, 92.6% of the frame wide. Make it a reusable component so every prompt in the video looks the same.

7. Colour change with a slider

Make a warm version of my clip with FFmpeg: colorchannelmixer=rr=1.17:gg=1.10:bb=1.03,eq=saturation=1.12. In Remotion, start on the warm version, then wipe it off with a thin white vertical line moving right to left over 30 frames (ease-in-out cubic).

8. Magazine cover

Turn this shot into a magazine cover with my person cutout: a thin gold frame, a cream serif masthead "CLAUDE" behind my head, cover lines in the top corners and a barcode on the left. The masthead goes behind me, everything else in front. Bring each element in on a stressed word.

9. Real screenshots

Fade up this screenshot of my editor timeline above my head: 90% of the frame wide, rounded corners, soft shadow, 12 frames (ease-out cubic).

Make it better: a real screenshot looks much better than a mocked-up editor. Use the real thing whenever you can.

10. Transitions

On the word "this", shrink my shot into a picture of itself, 3 levels deep, landing above my head. Hold, then push through it into the next shot.

Make it better: these zooms are a bit much. I'd go with a whip pan instead:

Whip-pan between these two shots. In the last 6 frames of the first shot, slide it left by 8% of the frame width while blurring it up to 50 px (ease-in). Cut. The next shot starts 8% to the right, fully blurred, and settles into place over 6 frames (ease-out cubic). It should feel like one fast camera move.

11. Moody grade

Grade my clip with FFmpeg: curves to pull the highlights down and lift the blacks, saturation down 15%, then a soft vignette.
Above my head, show a grading panel like Lightroom's (Tone Curve, Basic, Effects) and move each control as I say it, with the shot regrading live.

12. Wall of reels

Shrink my shot into the centre of a 3x3 grid and fill the other 8 tiles with these reels, popping in one per frame.

To grab the reels, use yt-dlp. It's free and downloads videos from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, pretty much anywhere.

Download these reels with yt-dlp: [paste links]

13. Pause and explain

The format of the whole video: the clip plays in a window, freezes on a click with the timecode holding, then shrinks to the side while I explain.

Play this clip in a window in the top left (54% of the frame wide). On a mouse-click sound, freeze it and stop the timecode in the corner. 10 frames later, shrink the window to the left side (24% wide, rounded corners) over 12 frames (ease-out cubic) while I talk. When I'm done, grow it back and let it play.

14. Jump cuts

Cut every pause longer than 0.22 s, never inside a word. Alternate normal and tight framing (1.15x) on every cut. No zooms or transitions.

© 2026 Chandler Intelligence. Free to use for your own videos. Do not repost this guide.