Cinematic Montage From Stock Only
A cinematic montage built only from stock footage, photos and music.
- Pipeline
- Motion graphics (vector)
- Format
- 16:9
- Upload
- Nothing. Everything comes from the stock search.
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
Make a [LENGTH IN SECONDS]-second 16:9 video using only stock: search footage, photos and music with the stock tool and look at the previews before you pick. Concept: "[CONCEPT]". - Footage: [NUMBER OF SHOTS] horizontal clips of [WHAT TO SHOW]. - Music: [MUSIC], building to a peak around two thirds in. - Motion graphics: [A GRAPHIC THAT RUNS THROUGH IT], and an animated lower third naming each place or idea as it appears. - Rhythm: calm with dissolves at first, then faster cuts and a 2x2 split screen at the peak, then a final wide shot. - End: a title card "[CLOSING LINE]" with a whoosh and an impact. - Look: [LOOK], thin letterbox bars, a soft music fade at the end.
The blanks
- [LENGTH IN SECONDS]
- How long the finished video runs, as a number of seconds. Reels and Shorts hold best between 15 and 60.
- [CONCEPT]
- The idea in a few words, for example "a day in a city that never sleeps".
- [NUMBER OF SHOTS]
- How many different shots, 6 to 10 for 30 seconds.
- [WHAT TO SHOW]
- The kinds of shots, as specific as you can ("a desert with dunes, a snowy mountain, a night market").
- [MUSIC]
- A track you uploaded (say its file name), or a mood and genre for the stock music search, like "upbeat lo-fi" or "cinematic, builds slowly".
- [A GRAPHIC THAT RUNS THROUGH IT]
- One running motion graphic, for example "a clock speeding up in the corner" or "a distance counter".
- [CLOSING LINE]
- The words on the final card.
- [LOOK]
- The color look by mood, for example "warm and soft", "teal and orange", "crisp and bright", "black and white", "film".
Tips
- Specific shots find better stock. "Rainy Tokyo street at night, neon" beats "city".
- Stock adds count against your plan's monthly stock, so your AI only adds the clips it will use.
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.
The real render behind this prompt
This prompt was written from one we used to make a video for this site. Here is that video and the exact prompt that made it.
The exact prompt
Make a 25-second 16:9 video for the Cut Express site. Use only stock: search for footage, photos and music with the stock tool and look at the previews before you pick. Concept: "Around the world in 25 seconds". - Footage: 8 horizontal clips from very different places: a desert with dunes, a snowy mountain, an Asian city at night, a tropical beach, a market full of color, a train crossing a landscape, a northern lights sky, a busy airport. - Music: an epic or cinematic stock track that builds to a peak around second 18. - Motion graphics: a kilometre counter in the top corner that keeps rising throughout the video (0 → 40,075 km, the circumference of the Earth), and an animated lower third with each place's name as it appears. - Rhythm: it starts calm with dissolves, speeds up with fast cuts and a 2x2 split screen at the peak, then lands on a final wide shot. - End: a title card "Edit the whole world. By chatting." and below it "cut.express", with a built-in whoosh and an impact. - Look: a cinematic LUT, thin letterbox bars, a soft music fade at the end. When it's done, show me the video.