# Cinematic Montage From Stock Only > A cinematic montage built only from stock footage, photos and music. A ready prompt for Claude or ChatGPT: fill the blanks, Cut Express renders the video. Canonical: https://cut.express/prompts/stock-footage-montage [Stock-only videos](https://cut.express/prompts#stock-only-videos) A cinematic montage built only from stock footage, photos and music. - **Pipeline**: Motion graphics (vector): everything in a basic edit plus animated titles, charts, screens and tracked objects. - **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](https://cut.express/prompts/guide) 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. ``` ## Paste it in Claude. Get the MP4. [Start your 7-day free trial](https://cut.express/#pricing) [Or get the Mac app](https://cut.express/#desktop) 7 days free, then $19/mo. Cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Related prompts [All 35 prompts](https://cut.express/prompts) Basic edit9:16 and 16:9 ### [Faceless Channel Video From a Script](https://cut.express/prompts/faceless-channel-video) A faceless video from your script, with a voice, stock clips and captions. Upload: Nothing, or your own voice recording of the script. ``` Make a faceless [LENGTH IN SECONDS]-second video about [TOPIC] for [PLATFORM]. 1. Voice: make it with audio, [VOICE], from this script: "[SCRIPT]". Ask me before making it if the script is long. 2. Footage: search stock videos for each sentence of the script (one shot per sentence, 2 to 4 seconds each), look at the previews and pick the ones that show what the voice says. 3. Captions from the voice track: bold preset, highlight [CAPTION COLOR]. 4. [MUSIC] from the stock music, ducked under the voice. [LOOK] look over everything so the clips match. Format [FORMAT]. Show me the shot list (sentence, stock clip) before you render. ``` [Fill in](https://cut.express/prompts/faceless-channel-video#fill) [Tips](https://cut.express/prompts/faceless-channel-video) Basic edit9:16 ### [Quote Video From Stock Photos](https://cut.express/prompts/quote-video-from-photos) A calm quote or motivation video from stock photos, text and music. Upload: Nothing. Your own photos work too. ``` Make a [LENGTH IN SECONDS]-second 9:16 quote video. Quote: "[QUOTE]", by [AUTHOR]. - Search stock photos of [MOOD OF THE PHOTOS], vertical, and pick 4 that feel like one set. - Each photo 3 to 4 seconds with a slow zoom or pan, crossfades between them. - The quote appears a few words at a time across the photos, centered, [FONT] font, white with a soft shadow; the author's name on the last photo. - [LOOK] look over all photos. [MUSIC], fading out at the end. ``` [Fill in](https://cut.express/prompts/quote-video-from-photos#fill) [Tips](https://cut.express/prompts/quote-video-from-photos) Motion graphics9:16 ### [Audio Podcast Clip With Moving Sound Bars](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-audiogram-sound-bars) An audio-only podcast clip with sound bars that move with the voice. Upload: The episode's audio file and its cover art (a photo or image). ``` Make a [LENGTH IN SECONDS]-second clip from my podcast audio, [SHOW NAME]. Inspect the audio with a transcript and pick the line that works best on its own about [TOPIC]. - Picture: my cover art large in the top half on a [BACKGROUND COLOR] background, a slow zoom in over the whole clip. - Under it, a motion graphic of 24 sound bars that follow the real voice (levels from the mix), in [CAPTION COLOR]. - Captions from the speech under the bars: karaoke preset, 4 words per line. - The show name and episode number as a small label at the top. Show me the timeline before you render. ``` [Fill in](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-audiogram-sound-bars#fill) [Tips](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-audiogram-sound-bars)