Discover 5 useful tools to master Edits and create successful videos for your social networks.
Last week, Instagram launched Edits, its new editing app, modeled after CapCut. The platform is completely free and focuses on simplicity, with features that are certainly less advanced than its rival, but sufficient to create engaging videos in a few minutes. As a bonus, Edits aims to integrate into a global creative environment, where users can draw inspiration from other creators, organize their ideas, and track the performance of their creations. In this article, we offer five tips for using Edits effectively!
1. Add an effect to a video
Video effects are useful for bringing your projects to life. Edits focuses on the essentials, while CapCut offers a range of highly developed effects. If you want to add an effect to your video in Edits, here’s how:
- Open a project and select the track you want to apply the effect to,
- In the bottom menu, scroll to the right and then tap Effects.
- Choose the one that suits you. You can include zooming (more or less fast), lateral or vertical camera movement, grain, fading, etc.
Below we use the feature to add super zoom.
2. Cut out an object
The Trim feature in Edits lets you isolate an element from a video already in your gallery and integrate it onto a different background. This is a popular option for comedy videos. To trim, here’s how:
- First, open your project and import the video or photo that will serve as your background.
- In your timeline, make sure no tracks are selected, then from the bottom menu, choose Trim.
- You will then be able to choose which video from your gallery you want to use,
- If the element to be cut out is sufficiently isolated, the application will take care of cutting it out itself. Otherwise, you can do it manually,
Then choose Follow Object and your cutout will appear in your background!
3. Use green screen
Just like cutting, green screen is useful for immersing an element of a video in a new environment. While it doesn’t give you a look worthy of the biggest Hollywood productions in Edits or CapCut, it’s widely used by many creators to add a setting to a face-cam video. To add a green screen, this time go to the Record section of Edits. It’s the 4th icon in the bottom menu. Then proceed as follows:
- In the menu on the left, choose the green background icon (2nd option from the top),
- The main element of your video will be visible, while the background will be green.
- Tap Change Background to choose your background.
- Select the background from your gallery, then shoot your video!
4. Add automatic subtitles
AI-powered subtitles are a lifesaver for video content creators. Their introduction has saved considerable time, as it limits user intervention to choosing typography, colors, and any corrections. Adding subtitles to Edits is simple:
- Open your project once the editing is finalized,
- Make sure you don’t select any tracks, then check Subtitles in the bottom menu.
- Once the subtitles are generated, press Edit to change the font, color, alignment, etc.
5. Organize your ideas with sticky notes
Edits isn’t just about capturing or editing videos. The app aims to bring your entire creative process into one place. This is characterized by two tabs: Inspiration, which lets you watch Reels from other creators to spark your creativity, and Ideas, which lets you find your favorite content and organize your thoughts.
To do this, Edits lets you create Sticky Notes, which are digital post-it notes. Here’s how to create one:
- Go to the Ideas section,
- At the bottom right, press +,
- Write your note. At the top right, you can assign it a color to better distinguish your different notes.
You can also create a note from a Reel you’ve watched in the Inspiration space. To do this, tap the + icon at the bottom of the Reel and add your note, which will be associated with the video in your Saved tab. Creating a note on a Reel automatically adds it to your saved videos on Instagram.
