# Talking Head With Jump Cuts > A tight talking-head video with the silences cut, punch-ins and captions. A ready prompt for Claude or ChatGPT: fill the blanks, Cut Express renders the video. Canonical: https://cut.express/prompts/talking-head-jump-cuts [Talking head and podcasts](https://cut.express/prompts#talking-head-and-podcasts) A tight talking-head video with the silences cut, punch-ins and captions. - **Pipeline**: Basic edit (cut): cuts, captions, looks, speed, split screens, stock, voices and music. - **Format**: 9:16 - **Upload**: One or more takes of you talking to the camera. ## 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 ``` I recorded a talking-head video about [TOPIC]. Inspect it with a transcript and use the speech cuts. - Keep only the best take of each sentence and cut every silence and "um". The finished video is about [LENGTH IN SECONDS] seconds. - Start on "[HOOK LINE]" even if I said it later. - A punch-in zoom (about 1.2x) every 2 or 3 cuts, on the words that matter, so it never looks like one static shot. - Captions: bold preset, upper case, 2 to 3 words per line, highlight [CAPTION COLOR], just under the middle of the frame. - Clean my voice: denoise 40 and enhance. [LOOK] look, a little sharpening. Show me the timeline (each kept line with its time) before you render. ``` ## The blanks - **[TOPIC]**: What the video is about, in one sentence. - **[LENGTH IN SECONDS]**: How long the finished video runs, as a number of seconds. Reels and Shorts hold best between 15 and 60. - **[HOOK LINE]**: The first words on screen, the reason to keep watching, in under ten words. - **[CAPTION COLOR]**: The color of the highlighted word in the captions, as a name or a hex code like #FFD23F. - **[LOOK]**: The color look by mood, for example "warm and soft", "teal and orange", "crisp and bright", "black and white", "film". ## Tips - Say which take you prefer when you repeat a line ("the last take of each sentence"), or your AI will choose the cleanest one. - Punch-ins on a word work better than a constant slow zoom: they mark the beat of the sentence. - If a word gets cut, say "keep the end of the sentence at 0:42" and the next version fixes only that. 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. ## 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 ### [Podcast Clip With Two Speakers](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-clip-split-screen) A podcast clip with both speakers stacked in a split screen and captions. Upload: The two camera files of the podcast (one per speaker), or one wide shot of both. ``` I uploaded a podcast episode with [GUEST NAME] and me. Inspect it with a transcript and moments, and find the best [LENGTH IN SECONDS]-second exchange about [TOPIC]. - 9:16 split screen in rows: the person speaking on top, the other below, with a 12 px gap. Switch who is on top when the speaker changes. - If there is only one wide shot, crop each person out of it into their own cell. - Captions from the speech in the middle, between the two rows: clean preset, highlight [CAPTION COLOR]. - A lower third for [GUEST NAME] in the first 3 seconds with "[GUEST TITLE]". - Clean both voices: denoise and enhance. List the candidate exchanges with their times before rendering. ``` [Fill in](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-clip-split-screen#fill) [Tips](https://cut.express/prompts/podcast-clip-split-screen) 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) Basic edit9:16 ### [Shorts From One Long Video](https://cut.express/prompts/shorts-from-a-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](https://cut.express/prompts/shorts-from-a-long-video#fill) [Tips](https://cut.express/prompts/shorts-from-a-long-video)