Short-form videos are something of a “high-bandwidth” medium for storytelling. Combining text and video with fast-paced edits, you can deliver impactful messages that people relate to instantly.
That said, creating these simple videos can be a challenge. You’ll always have to trim a video and condense your message. Otherwise, people will get bored of your content and swipe up.
So trimming videos for brevity is a crucial skill. Thankfully, you have many tools at your disposal, including AI-powered video trimmers that can do most of the work.
What Exactly Is a Video Trimmer?
A video trimmer is a tool or app that can cut videos to the desired length. A video trimmer can help you cut and trim longer videos into any desired length.
With most video trimmer apps, you must decide where to cut the video. This means, deciding the start and end points, then cutting out everything else that falls outside it.
So if it’s a longer 20-minute video, you’ll have to pick the part you want for a 15-90-second short-form video clip. Drag the start and end points to cover this section, then cut out everything else.
Why Use A Video Trimmer for Short-form Video Content?
Trimming a video is essential for posting your content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. These platforms have strict limits on the clip length so you can’t upload longer videos.
But that’s not the main reason you’d want to use a video trimmer. You also want to trim videos to:
- Keep The Audience Engaged: Nobody wants to watch long and boring videos anymore. So by trimming down your videos, you can highlight the best parts and make sure people watch your videos to the end.
- Highlight The Best Moments: With TikTok-style platforms, you have a short window to make an impression. A video trimmer helps you highlight your content and only includes the best moments.
- Improve Clarity and Drive Conversions: By trimming out the distractions, you can focus on your message or CTA. Depending on your needs, this can improve views, clicks or sales.
- Adapt for Different Platforms and Demographics: You can use a video trimmer to optimise for different situations**.** For instance, you can trim videos shorter and focus on the CTA. Alternatively, you can trim them to be more descriptive and highlight your message.
Using an AI-Powered Video Trimmer for Content Creation
As you can tell, a video trimmer is crucial for social media. That said, you’ll have to spend a lot of time trimming a video.
When trimming videos manually, you’ll have to skim through the content. Then, find the sections you want to cut and the ones you want to leave out. Things get even more complicated when you have to create several video clips.
This is why an AI-powered video cutter and trimmer can come in handy. These modern video editors can tackle most of the repetitive stuff. This can save time and help you focus on more important tasks.
How AI Video Trimmers Can Help You
AI-powered video trimmer tools and YouTube Shorts makers use several techniques to trim videos faster. One of the best timesavers is their ability to analyse a video and find highlights/key moments.
This technique allows you to 10x your workflow because the AI auto-trims the bulk of your video. Thanks to this, you don’t have to skim through the entire video and find the boring moments to trim out.
The AI cuts these out automatically and provides several TikTok-style short clips for you to review. You can then make any manual edits or publish them directly to social media.
Finding the Right Video Trimmer: Common Things to Look For
AI-assisted or not, you need to find a video trimmer that does a good job. This means you need one that saves you time, edits videos the way you want and boosts engagement for your trimmed videos.
So a few things you need to look for are:
- Ease of Use: A beginner-friendly user interface is priority number one. You want something that’s easy for anybody to use. This can save you time and improve collaboration.
- Compatibility: Most creators are always on the move. So a video trimmer that can run on an iPhone or iPad is extremely useful. Look for one that stores your projects on the web and can trim videos from any device.
- Export Options: Trimming videos can affect the clarity of the visuals. So you want a video editor that gives you high-quality export options. At a minimum, look for one that supports full 1080p export options.
- Platform-Specific Features: Another great time saver is when the video trimmer optimises your content for your target platforms. For instance, a YouTube Shorts-focused video trimmer will always keep your clips shorter than 60 seconds.
Trimming Videos for Maximum Impact: Best Tips
Cutting out the fluff and trimming your videos for clarity is always the best practice. Trimming makes your content look professional and drives engagement.
That said, you can’t just cut out all the bloopers and silent moments of a video and call it a day. You’ll need to add some extra effects and features to keep things engaging and easy to understand.
Focus on Key Moments
Time is limited and you only have a short window to impress. So you want to prioritise the best bits of your content and leave out all the rest.
This means you’ll have to go through your content and find the pieces that are entertaining, insightful and engaging. With an AI-video trimmer, you can also use the AI to do this for you.
Use Clean Transitions
You also want to keep things professional and pace your videos correctly. This means using smooth transitions and not using too many quick cuts. Otherwise, your video might be too choppy and unreadable.
Apply Captions and Branding Elements
Captions can improve accessibility and make it easier for people to follow along with your content. They also help you steady the pace when you need to cram in more information or use dynamic edits.
Conclusion
Trimmed videos get better views and shares. This is because people are more willing to watch through shorter and perfectly-trimmed.
You can use a video trimmer/editor to shorten your videos and cut the unnecessary stuff. This can make your content look more appealing to your target audience.
You can find hundreds of video trimmers and editors. But nowadays, it’s better to go for an AI-powered video editor/trimmer. Thanks to AI, you can edit videos 10x faster and focus on more important tasks.
So if you’re a content creator, don’t forget to use a video trimmer. They can help you highlight the best parts of your content and boost engagement.
