Add Captions to a Finished Video

Your finished video with word-by-word captions, nothing else changed.

Pipeline: Basic edit (cut): cuts, captions, looks, speed, split screens, stock, voices and music.
Format: 9:16
Upload: The finished video.

The prompt

Type your own words into the fields: the [BLANKS] fill in as you go. Copy it and send it to Claude or ChatGPT with Cut Express connected.

Prompt

Add captions to the video I uploaded and change nothing else: same cuts, same sound, same length. Make a transcript first (language: [LANGUAGE]).

Captions: [CAPTION PRESET] preset, font [FONT], [WORDS PER LINE] words per line, 1 line, the spoken word highlighted in [CAPTION COLOR], positioned [POSITION] so they never cover a face or the text already on screen.
Fix the spelling of [NAMES AND BRANDS] if the transcript gets them wrong.

The blanks

[LANGUAGE]: The language spoken in the video, for example English or Portuguese.
[CAPTION PRESET]: One of the six looks, pop, karaoke, boxed, bold, clean or minimal, or "you pick".
[FONT]: A font from the assets list, for example Montserrat Black, or "you pick".
[WORDS PER LINE]: 2 to 4 for Reels and Shorts, up to 8 for 16:9.
[CAPTION COLOR]: The color of the highlighted word in the captions, as a name or a hex code like #FFD23F.
[POSITION]: Top, middle or bottom third.
[NAMES AND BRANDS]: Names a transcript can misspell, written the right way.

Tips

Ask to see a frame with the captions before the full render if the video already has text on screen.
Two to three words per line reads best on a phone; whole sentences get skipped.

New to prompting video? How to write a good prompt for Cut Express covers the story, the hook, captions, sound, pace and how to iterate with versions.

Paste it in Claude. Get the MP4.

Start your 7-day free trial Or get the Mac app

7 days free, then $19/mo. Cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing.

Basic edit9:16 and 16:9

Captions Translated Into Another Language

Your video with captions in another language, timed to the speech.

Upload: The finished video.

My video is in [SPOKEN LANGUAGE]. Make a transcript, then add captions in [TARGET LANGUAGE]: translate each line yourself and keep it on screen while that line is spoken (captions source items, one item per spoken line, with its start and end).

- Clean preset, white with a black stroke, 2 lines at most, bottom third.
- Keep [NAMES AND BRANDS] as they are, untranslated.
- Change nothing else in the video.
Show me the first ten lines of the translation before you render.

Fill in Tips

Basic edit9:16

Branded Caption Style for Every Video

A caption style in your brand that you reuse on every video.

Upload: One recent video with speech to try the style on.

Design a caption style for my brand and try it on the video I uploaded (make a transcript first).

Brand: [BRAND COLORS], font [FONT], feeling [TONE].
- Try the style as v1: your pick of preset adapted to the brand, the spoken word in the accent color, [WORDS PER LINE] words per line.
- When I approve it, write the caption style out as a short block I can paste into future chats ("captions: preset ..., font ..., colors ...").

Fill in Tips

Basic edit9:16

Shorts From One Long Video

Several vertical Shorts cut from one long video, each with captions.

Upload: One long video with speech (a podcast, a talk, a stream, a course lesson).

I uploaded [LONG VIDEO], about [TOPIC]. Inspect it with moments and a transcript, then find the [NUMBER OF CLIPS] strongest moments that make sense on their own, each about [LENGTH IN SECONDS] seconds.

Before you render, list them for me: the in and out times, the first line said and why it works as a hook. Wait for my pick.

For each one I pick:
- Start on the hook line, no warm-up. Cut the silences and the false starts on the speech.
- 9:16, cover crop kept on the speaker's face. A slow punch-in on the key sentence.
- Captions from the speech: bold preset, 3 words per line, the key word in [CAPTION COLOR], bottom third.
- Clean the voice (denoise and enhance). No music unless I ask.
Render each as its own video titled "[SERIES NAME] 1", "2", and so on.

Fill in Tips