Write a better AI video editing prompt: six fields, one brief

Disclosure: this guide is from the Valmera team. We built the video editing prompt builder described below.

“Make this video better” leaves almost every editorial decision open. Better for whom? Shorter by how much? Is the viewer learning a task, deciding whether to try a product, or watching a story?

A useful editing brief answers those questions before the first preview. It also names the material the editor must protect.

Here is a six-field workflow you can use for your next recording, with examples you can adapt. If you already have a recording ready, build your editing brief, then choose “Open my brief in Valmera” to carry it into an editable Studio draft.

1. Name the recording

An interview and a tutorial need different editorial structures. A tutorial should keep the steps required to reproduce a result. An interview clip needs enough context to make the answer understandable outside the original conversation.

Choose the kind of recording in the builder: tutorial, interview, product demo, webinar, travel story, real estate walkthrough, event highlights, or lesson.

This first choice gives the brief its editorial goal. It is more useful than starting with a list of effects.

2. Name the destination

Choose where the finished video will appear. A vertical social clip needs a composition that protects the speaker, product, or demonstration inside a portrait frame. A landscape tutorial may need the wider screen context.

You can also keep the source format. There is no reason to reframe a recording when the original composition already serves the destination.

3. Give length a purpose

“About 60 seconds” is a target. “Remove the explanation even if it stops making sense” is a different instruction.

The builder keeps that distinction in the brief: aim for the chosen length without cutting off essential information. There is also a “Let the story decide” option for recordings where the complete thought matters more than a fixed duration.

4. Describe the viewer

“First-time customers” and “experienced users troubleshooting an integration” need different amounts of explanation.

Name the audience in ordinary language. You do not need a marketing persona document. One specific sentence is enough to guide which context, terminology, and examples belong in the cut.

5. Protect the important material

This is the most useful field to personalize.

For a product demo, preserve the step that makes the result reproducible. For an interview, preserve the condition attached to the speaker’s claim. For an event, preserve the names and relationships that give a moment its meaning.

Avoid a vague instruction such as “keep the important parts.” Say which parts matter:

Keep the permissions step, the final working screen, and the warning that the integration needs an administrator account.

6. Decide on captions

Choose captions when they help the viewing experience. Ask for names and numbers to be checked, and keep the text clear of important visual details.

If you want a clean version for a different publishing workflow, leave captions off for that version.

A complete example

Suppose you have a screen recording showing how to connect an integration. The destination is YouTube, the audience is first-time customers, and the useful explanation takes about three minutes.

Here is an adapted brief:

Edit this screen recording into a tutorial for first-time customers. Show the working result early, then keep every necessary step in order. Remove repeated attempts and loading waits. Aim for about three minutes without cutting off essential instructions. Use a landscape composition and make the interface readable. Keep the permissions step, the final working screen, and the administrator-account warning. Add readable captions and check product names. Render a preview so I can review the sequence before the final export.

Every sentence gives the editor a decision or a constraint. You can shorten the brief when the recording makes some of those decisions obvious.

Two more briefs for different recordings

An interview clip for vertical video

Turn this interview into one vertical clip of about 60 seconds for viewers who have not seen the full conversation. Start with the strongest complete answer. Keep the question or a short context line when the answer depends on it. Preserve any condition or exception that changes the speaker’s meaning. Remove repeated starts and long pauses. Keep the speaker in frame and place readable captions clear of their face. Render a preview before final export.

Check the result against the source: would a viewer who watched only the clip understand the same claim? If the answer needs more than 60 seconds to remain accurate, keep the complete thought and revise the duration target.

A product demo for prospective customers

Edit this product recording into a 45-second demonstration for someone seeing the product for the first time. Show the finished result first, then the two or three actions that produced it. Cut loading waits and duplicate attempts. Preserve the requirement needed to reproduce the result. Keep interface labels readable, add short captions where they clarify the action, and finish on the working result. Render a preview so I can check that the steps still make sense.

Check the screen at the size your audience will see. A wide desktop capture can become unreadable in a vertical crop; ask for a wider composition or a focused view of the relevant control when necessary.

Move the brief into your edit

1. Open the prompt builder and personalize the six fields, or choose a prompt from the library.
2. Select Open my brief in Valmera in the builder, or Use this prompt on a library card.
3. Sign in or create an account if prompted. Continue in the same browser tab so the saved request stays available.
4. In Studio, review the editable request, upload your footage, and submit it when you are ready. Opening a brief prepares a draft; it does not start an edit automatically.

You can still use Copy to keep a reusable brief in your notes. If the saved request is no longer available, return to the library and open it again, or paste your copy into Studio.

Review once, then revise precisely

After submitting your brief with the footage attached, watch the first preview for three things: whether the story makes sense, whether the protected material survived, and whether the output is readable at its intended size.

Then request a specific revision:

Keep the current order. Restore the explanation immediately before the permissions screen, hold the completed result longer, and leave the rest unchanged.

That is easier to evaluate than starting over with “make it more professional.”

Try it with your own footage

The Valmera prompt builder and library are public to use without signing in. The library currently includes 94 examples across 14 editing tasks. Creating a Valmera account and uploading are free; editing requires a subscription.

You can refine a brief in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or another planning assistant, then bring it to Valmera. A planning conversation and an actual edit are separate steps: review the rendered video before you publish it.

Valmera’s promise: the world’s most advanced AI video editor. Join thousands of creators. Build your first editing brief.