Many editors, including our own Nick LaClair, moved to Resolve after years of editing in other tools. We’ve previously examined what’s driving that shift and how Resolve compares with Premiere Pro.

Now, we’re excited to help you get started. This beginner-friendly tutorial will prepare any DaVinci Resolve newbie, whether you’re new to the software or video editing altogether.

In this episode on DaVinci Resolve, LaClair walks through the full video editing process:

• Get organized in the Media tab.
• Tell your story in the Edit tab
• Make it shine and export from Delivery. 

DaVinci Resolve is available for free, making it easy for anyone to edit videos. From footage to finish, grab your clips and follow along. 

Thank you to Redfitz Films for the footage used in this video.

10 Quick Tips for Beginners Editing in DaVinci Resolve

1. What Are The “Tabs” in DaVinci Resolve? 

DaVinci Resolve has seven primary tabs at the bottom of the screen. Left to right, they contain the entire post-production process of making a video.

• Media: Organize assets (footage, audio, graphics, etc.)
• Cut & Edit: Tell the story; add effects
• Fusion: Motion graphics
• Color: Color grading
• Fairlight: Audio and mixing
• Delivery: Export project

The Cut and Edit tabs in DaVinci Resolve are spaces for editing video.

The main difference is that the Cut tab is ideal for short projects (such as social media shorts) and rough assemblies, while the Edit tab is the traditional editing workspace that’s ideal for complex projects.

2. Avoid the “Media Offline” Problem 

A common DaVinci Resolve issue is the “Media Offline” problem. This error occurs when footage imported into Resolve is moved on your computer or external hard drive.

In other words, if the source location of your footage changes, the link in Resolve breaks. 

To prevent this error, determine the folder or drive where you will permanently store your footage before bringing it into DaVinci. 

To fix this issue, select one or more clips. Right-click the footage and hover over Clip Operations. Select Relink Selected Clips and find the footage’s new location. 

3. Sync Video and Audio with Ease

If you record audio separately from your video, DaVinci Resolve makes it quick and easy to sync the audio with the video. 

To do this, 

• Select (control on a PC or command on a Mac) the audio and video clips you want to sync. 
• Right-click and choose Auto Sync Audio, then Waveform. 

Resolve will listen to each track’s audio and use it to align the waveforms. Once done, the footage automatically plays with the synced audio, simplifying your editing process. 

4. Add Sound Effects with Resolve’s Built-in Library

In the upper-left section of the Edit tab are various primary menus: Media Pool, Effects, Index, and Sound Library. When you open the Sound Library for the first time, the software prompts you to download it. Once downloaded, you can search for countless sound effects and easily drag them into your videos.

Pro Tip: Search three asterisks—”***”— to see all effects available in the Sound Library.

5. Gain Speed with Keyboard Shortcuts

One of DaVinci Resolve’s strengths is the ability to use your keyboard almost entirely in the editing process. Like learning the piano notes in a song, it takes some practice to bring them together. But once you do, editing goes much quicker, and you rarely need to use your mouse. 

Additionally, if you’re switching from another software, like Premiere Pro, you can import your keyboard shortcuts and continue using them. For our tutorial, we’re using the default shortcuts. We also made a reference sheet (below) of all the shortcuts mentioned in the video above.

Basic Editing Keyboard Shortcuts

Use these to cut through your footage and find the parts you want. 

• J: Back; increase play speed with additional taps.
• K: Stop
• L: Forward; increase play speed with additional taps.
• Space bar: Play and pause. 
• I: Create In Point (begin a cut)
• O: Create Out Point (end a cut)
• F9: Insert cut footage into the timeline. 
• Q: Toggles between the source and timeline views.

6. Scrub All Footage with Source Tape Viewer

If your project is large, selecting each clip individually can be a pain. In that case, you can choose the source tape viewer. When selected, the source viewer displays all your video files in a single stream. Source Tape Viewer makes it easy to go through and find your in and out points, which can be especially helpful when sorting through b-roll clips repeatedly. 

7. Automate Video Parameters with Keyframes

Keyframes allow you to change a parameter over time. Want a slow punch in? Keyframe. Dramatic zoom? Keyframe. Motion graphics? You get the idea: there are keyframes for every parameter imaginable. 

Let’s walk through the basics of using keyframes. 

• Select the clip you want to edit. This opens the Inspector in the upper-right corner. 
• Place your playhead where you want the parameter change to start. 
• In the Inspector, locate the keyframes. They are the column of diamonds. 
• Click on the keyframe diamond next to the parameter change you’re making, such as the zoom effect. This action adds a keyframe at the playhead for that parameter. 
• Next, move your playhead to the place where you want the parameter change to occur. Add another keyframe by clicking the diamond again. Changing the parameters will also automatically create another keyframe. 

Watch the video for more tips on keyframing in DaVinci Resolve.

8. Mass Apply A Change Across Multiple Clips

Let’s say you change the volume of one clip and want all or multiple other clips to also apply the same change. Here’s how.

• Select the clip you changed.
• Copy it with Ctrl + C (PC) or Command + C (Mac).
• Select all the clips you want to mimic that change and hit Alt + V (PC) or Option + V (Mac).  
• A paste menu will pop up, allowing you to choose which parameters to apply across the clips. Select the parameters you wish to change.

Other attributes you can copy and paste include zoom, crop, equalizer, and many more. 

9. Normalize Audio Levels Across Clips

DaVinci Resolve makes it easy to normalize audio levels, allowing you to even out clips with varying high and low volumes.

To do this, 

• Select all clips in the Timeline, right-click, and choose Normalize Audio Levels. 
• Choose your Normalization Mode. For most people, the differences don’t matter. 
• Choose Independent, which normalizes each clip individually to create a consistent volume range throughout the video.  

10. Auto Color Correct Your Video

In later episodes of our DaVinci Resolve for Beginners, we’ll cover color grading in depth. But here’s a quick beginner hack, and you don’t need to know anything about color grading to use it.

• From the Color tab, select a clip and hit the little “A” to auto color correct. 
• Select all the other clips to apply the same color correction. 
• Then right-click and select Apply Grade.

11. Quick Export Projects in the Edit Tab

Quick Export lets you export your project without going through the delivery tab. Find the option within the upper right corner of the Edit tab. 

The pop-up window lets you quickly choose your render settings (H.264 Master is a good place to start, but there are many presets as well), add a filename, and export to your computer or hard drive. 

You’re Ready to Edit In DaVinci Resolve

Whew. That was a lot to cover! But now you’ve walked through the core process of editing in DaVinci Resolve, from organizing media to exporting the final product. As you keep practicing, these steps will become second nature.

If you have questions, tips of your own, or want to see specific topics covered in future tutorials, we’d love to hear from you. See you next time! 

The post DaVinci Resolve for Beginners: Simple Video Editing Tutorial appeared first on SproutVideo.

The old publishing model is slow, reactive, and difficult to measure. With L&D and communications teams stretched thin, business demands often force speed to take precedence over strategy. In turn, video completion rates define success rather than actual business outcomes.

With the introduction of AI, many companies are asking the question: 

Can AI videos reshape corporate training and enablement at scale, without subjecting viewers to ‘AI slop’?

In this episode of the Business Video Playbook, we sat down with Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor for Synthesia, who helps L&D and communication teams close the gap between what’s possible with AI and real-world workflows.

Watch now to see how AI video is modernizing corporate training and communications, plus gain an effective framework for getting started.

How AI Video Is Transforming Corporate Training and Communications

AI videos for corporate L&D and communications teams promise cost and workload reduction. A straightforward example is the ability to translate existing text-based documents and training materials into dynamic, video-based content. 

However, Kevin Alster argues that AI’s role extends beyond resource efficiency. He believes AI is shaping a new future of business training and communications that prioritizes behavioral change and actual business impact. 

Of course, L&D and internal comms professionals want scalable, high-quality content with fewer production barriers. But does the vision of AI meet reality? 

Alster says it can, 

“An average day of shooting can cost $25K–$50K. I saw AI video cut down on the worst parts of production. You can get a first draft or prototype more quickly. If you need edits, you don’t go back to the linear, expensive process of reshooting and re-editing; you change the script like a document, hit publish, and the new version instantly replaces the old one.”

— Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor at Synthesia

Companies embracing AI are also finding more ways to streamline production, such as:

• Course localization: Tailor content more easily to specific subjects, audiences, languages, or cultures, which is essential for global companies.
• Content Relevance: Content is easily updated to match new announcements and product releases, reducing the support burden and meeting user information needs.

Therefore, AI video for corporate training and communications can provide incremental business benefits that would otherwise require additional solutions. 

Interactive and Personalized: The Future of AI Video for Training & Communications

Beyond production efficiency, AI is transforming how people learn.

Alster argues that it’s time to move past this old-school view of absorbing information that relies on the traditional classroom model. AI fuels the shift from passive learning to interactive, personalized, and context-driven experiences designed to change behavior. 

“We have a very antiquated view of how information gets into the brain. With the traditional classroom model, there is an expert at the front and a student at a desk listening to the expert. LLMs are changing the way people interact with information. Information takes a different form depending on the input.” 

— Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor at Synthesia

AI also enables learning in the flow of work (“just-in-time” learning), where content meets the person’s need at the moment they’re solving a problem.

Video has traditionally been a one-way medium. But Alster argues that generative AI is changing this by making video interactive through branching scenarios that give viewers choices and links to supporting resources for deeper learning, all without disrupting their flow.

This personalized learning experience comes to life through:

• Real-Time Feedback and Role-Play: AI avatars simulate scenarios and give instant, objective feedback for faster growth.
• Instant Content Curation: Employees receive precise answers and resources on the spot, eliminating the need to dig through an LMS.
• Gen AI Tutors: Integrate with enterprise talent management systems to assess learning needs and deliver customized training plans.
• Adaptive Learning Paths: AI adjusts onboarding and upskilling in real time based on performance and experience.

Alster posits that as AI video continues to advance, corporate learning becomes less about delivering information and more about enabling behavioral change at scale.

3 Best Practices: Using AI Videos for Corporate L&D and Comms

With a less intensive production process, AI videos offer more than just speed and scalability. Ensure your AI videos are effective training tools with these best practices.

1. Evaluate Behavioral Change, Not Completion Rates

Technological skills are rapidly evolving: “39% of workers’ skill sets will be disrupted within five years,” according to the World Economic Forum. To fill these gaps, companies need a fundamental shift in how knowledge is consumed and applied. 

Instead of emphasizing completion rates, Alster suggests evaluating behavioral change:

“Learning isn’t the point. The point is changing someone’s behavior. You might learn something as a result of that. Learning is the product of trying to figure out how to tackle a particular challenge. But in the end, we are looking for a change in behavior.”

— Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor at Synthesia

Watch Alster share more in this short video.

2. Avoid “AI Slop” with Quality Over Quantity

Alster emphasises purpose over output for L&D teams. Despite the ease of production in the age of AI, quality remains foundational over quantity.

“An overabundance of low-quality content makes it nearly impossible for users to find what’s actually helpful, creating unnecessary friction and eroding trust. The winning strategy is to focus on quality, thoughtful storytelling, and purpose to stand out from the inevitable wave of low-effort, low-value AI-generations.”

— Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor at Synthesia

Watch Alster share more in this short video.

3. Connect Sales Growth to Customer Education

Historically, the impact of customer education is challenging to quantify. By integrating AI into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, companies can measure the correlation between customer education initiatives and business outcomes. 

“Customer education becomes a growth driver when you can connect the cost of content to the customer lifecycle.”

— Kevin Alster, Strategic Advisor at Synthesia

One way to make this connection is by linking customer actions (such as a lead watching a how-to video) to the actual customer journey and business outcomes (the company receives fewer support requests while sales continue to expand). 

Watch Alster share more in this short video.

How to Start Using AI Video in L&D: The Three E’s Framework

To help L&D teams get started without being overwhelmed, Alster offers a three-part framework for adopting AI video:

1. Engagement: Create an AI teaser video for your course. Focus on the pitch and what the person will gain from it. Focus on bite-sized videos that deliver information.
2. Experiences: Bring stories to life with AI. Consider how you can use video to model situations, such as two avatars role-playing a difficult employee-manager conversation. 
3. Enablement: Show how something is done step-by-step. A short video might replace screenshots in a knowledge base article, allowing the viewer to follow along. 

Watch Alster share more in this short video.

In short, start with simplicity and gradually build complexity into your AI video workflow. As you determine the workflow that fits your business needs, AI offers an opportunity for L&D to be more strategic.

Are AI Videos The Future of Workplace Learning?

Alster’s vision of AI videos for L&D training enables professionals to step away from the manual production grind and focus on what matters: powerful stories, organizational change, and measuring the impact of training on real business objectives. 

Is your business turning to AI videos for corporate training? If so, what tools and workflows have proven most effective? If not, why and what hesitations remain? 

We’re continuously exploring the evolving world of artificial intelligence; check out related content for more information and watch the full episode with Kevin Alster of Synthesia. 

• AI Content Repurposing: 5 Steps from Blog to Video in Under 2 Hours
• 10 Best AI Tools for Video Editing & Production
• The Complete Guide to Building a Corporate Communications Strategy

The post How AI Video is Transforming L&D, Corporate Comms, and Enablement appeared first on SproutVideo.

It’s a compelling promise: thought leadership already drives value, and adding video can provide even greater engagement and organic traffic.

Furthermore, traditional video production is notoriously resource-heavy, so the risk-benefit of using AI comes down to one key question:

Can AI streamline video production and deliver content worth sharing—or churn out AI slop that could undermine your brand?

Step into the lab with us!

Here’s what worked, what flopped, and the final result (with cost). Plus, create your own video in under two hours with our AI content repurposing workflow. 

Testing “One-Click” AI Video Tools

We researched and chose a handful of the most popular AI content repurposing tools for creating thought leadership videos.

Then, we tested each AI video tool with the same prompt: “Make a 90-second video summary of the following blog post,” and shared the URL. 

Invideo Example; Cost: $30

Each tool provides a different level of customization, such as aspect ratio, tone of the script (casual vs professional), audience type, AI voiceover, and b-roll theme. 

Here’s what we discovered:

• Pictory: Quickly assembled videos using stock footage, but the results felt generic and lacked engagement. Branding options were a plus.
• Synthesia: Created presentation-style videos and offered AI avatars, which worked better for thought leadership content. Synthesia is known for its avatars, so there are significant options for including a talking head. Branding options were also a plus.
• Veed and Adori: Leaned on generative AI for visuals instead of stock. Unfortunately, outputs often included glaring AI artifacts like nonsensical text and awkward motion.
• Invideo: Known more for commercials and AI-generated UGC. (You can also “hire” a virtual actor, but that’s beyond the scope of our simple AI workflow.) Stock footage looked out of place, while generative visuals were costly and unusable.
• NotebookLM: Surprisingly strong slide deck results; the best job creating informative visuals. However, the lack of customization means every output looks the same, and the video runs too long.

Keep in mind: these tools serve different audiences. Synthesia is tailored to internal communications, training, and sales enablement, while InVideo focuses on marketing teams and creators looking to produce promotional or social content. 

For our use case, none of these tools delivered something we’d feel confident publishing externally.

That being said, many of these tools include additional pricing tiers and features. Our use case required direct control over the final product, whereas most are built for automation. Results may vary, and we’ll continue to share our findings as we explore these emerging AI tools.

How to Turn Blog Posts into Videos with AI in 5 Easy Steps

With one-click solutions in the rearview mirror, we pivoted to a workflow that uses AI tools at each step of video production while still leaving room for human oversight.

The result? A polished video made in just under two hours. Here’s how we did it. 

1. Use ChatGPT for the Script (<35 minutes)

We fed the blog URL into ChatGPT and asked it to create a 90-second video summary script. After a quick edit pass, we had a workable draft. The key here is speed: instead of staring at a blank page, we had a foundation in minutes.

Learn More: 3 Best AI Script Writers for Making High-Quality Videos

2. Build Slides in Gamma (20 minutes)

Next, we used Gamma, an AI tool designed for presentation decks. After setting up our brand guidelines, we pasted the script card by card to control what appeared on each slide. This workflow kept the visuals aligned with the narration. 

Then our graphic designer did a quick pass on that output to make it really sing. This additional pass is optional; however, it elevated the overall video.

3. Generate a Voiceover with ElevenLabs (10 minutes)

One of ElevenLabs’ most impressive features is the ability to clone a person’s voice. We used 60 minutes of existing recording to do just this. The result was a natural-sounding voiceover (very similar to the source) without stepping into a recording booth.

Creating your voice clone will require additional time, but thereafter, generating your sound-alike voiceover takes less than ten minutes. 

4. Add Music with Suno (5 minutes)

Background music is essential for video engagement. In just a few minutes, we generated a custom track in Suno. Stock libraries offer similarly efficient options.

5. Assemble in DaVinci Resolve (20 minutes)

Finally, we edited these elements together using DaVinci Resolve.

The edit was straightforward, since AI did most of the heavy lifting. Therefore, basic editing skills are sufficient.

What We Made

Here’s the result: a short​​ video summarizing the blog, matching our branding, and delivering a professional polish.

Overall, this video took about two hours to create, with quick editing from our in-house copywriter and graphic designer. Without this additional work, it would take an hour.

What It Costs to Make

• ChatGPT: Free 
• Gamma: $8 per month for each team member
• ElevenLabs: $11 per month 
• Suno: $6 per month
• DaVinci Resolve: Free 

Cost of AI Video Generation: $25 (per month)

With that $25 a month investment, we can repurpose an endless amount of content into brand-worthy videos by strategically using AI tools at every step of production. 

What do you think? Do AI tools live up to the hype? Would you share a video using this five-step process in your business?

Key Takeaways: Repurposing Blog Content into Video with AI

Returning to our original questions: can AI create brand-worthy content? Is an AI workflow more efficient when producing short-form videos from blog content?

The short answer is yes! 

• One-click AI tools (for our use case) aren’t there yet. Simple AI wrappers are fast, but they didn’t repurpose content into videos we feel confident publishing.
• AI accelerates the right parts of the workflow. Tools like ChatGPT, Gamma, ElevenLabs, and Suno cut down on writing, design, and audio production time, while still leaving room for human control.
• The process is flexible. Want to swap in different tools? Go for it. The workflow is modular; you can easily adjust it based on your team’s preferences.
• The results feel professional. With light human editing, the output looks like content a team created, not a robot.  

A video production that would have taken days or up to a week of collaboration and coordination was produced in under two hours while maintaining brand standards. 

This AI-optimized workflow is just the beginning. With new tools and features rolling out constantly, we expect this workflow to evolve quickly.

For now, it’s an efficient, scalable way to add video to your content strategy while boosting the reach of your thought leadership.

The post AI Content Repurposing: 5 Steps from Blog to Video in Under 2 Hours appeared first on SproutVideo.

In a past episode of The Business Video Playbook, we featured Alex Hoff of CoverStory. A former reality TV producer, Hoff shared a winning formula for customer story videos. We followed his formula step-by-step; here’s how!

If your customer story video doesn’t hook viewers in 10 seconds, it probably won’t at all.

Drawing from binge-worthy shows that use documentary-style filmmaking, Alex Hoff of CoverStory crafts testimonial videos that ditch scripted talking points and generic benefits for emotional tension and character-led storytelling.

The result? A customer story video that holds attention and drives action.

Here’s how we used Hoff’s formula. Apply this framework to your next customer story or testimonial video and watch it transform viewer engagement.

The Results: Customer Story Video Examples

“If it feels like a press release, you’ve lost them.”

— Alex Hoff, CoverStory

Example 1: The Founder’s Story — CoverStory

During our interview, Alex Hoff shared CoverStory’s formula for testimonial videos. A longtime SproutVideo customer, he also shared his “before” story and why he chose SproutVideo over other video hosting platforms. Our Creative team turned his responses into an engaging one-minute testimonial video.

Example 2: The Production Partner — VMG Cinematic

Years ago, Creative Director Nick LaClair visited Ontario to capture a customer story video from VMG Cinematic, a high-end production company that chooses SproutVideo. Inspired by the CoverStory formula, LaClair dug into old footage and crafted a new 1-minute cut. 

New 1-Minute Testimonial Example

Original 2-Minute Testimonial Example

How to Create Compelling Customer Story Videos 

Step One: Prep

As if preparing for an exam or presentation, familiarize yourself with your customer or main users and their industry. Map out their use case and consider why they might need your product or service. 

• What features do they use most? 
• Have they already left a positive review? 
• What challenges are they addressing by way of using your product or service? 

Step Two: Draft Interview Questions

The most powerful testimonials sound like conversations, not commercials. Interview with open-ended prompts like: 

• “Take me back to the moment you realized you needed help.”
• “What would have happened if you didn’t find our product?” 

The questions should capture details about the individual, their business, and why they chose your company. Design the questions to elicit more than simple yes or no answers. 

“Don’t aim for a soundbite. Aim for a story arc.”

— Alex Hoff, CoverStory

10 Example Questions for Customer Interviews

Tailor your questions to your customer’s day-to-day and the connection to your product or offering. Here’s what we asked Alex Hoff about his background and his path to using SproutVideo: 

1. Can you think back to the first time you uploaded a video? What was your motivation, and what were the outcomes? 
2. What led you to start a business built around video testimonials and storytelling? 
3. What gap did you see in how companies used video to connect with customers? 
4. Do you have any tips for sales or marketing teams trying to capture customer stories themselves?
5. Can you walk us through your workflow—from prepping for a testimonial shoot to final delivery?
6. How have your needs for video hosting evolved, and what did you use before finding your way to SproutVideo?
7. Why did you choose SproutVideo? What boxes does it check?
8. If you were to coach someone comparison shopping for a video host, what would you encourage them to consider? 
9. What are three SproutVideo features you love and why? 
10. What role does SproutVideo play in giving your videos a ‘branded but lean’ delivery system?

Step Three: Tools to Capture the Interview

Capturing customer testimonial videos in person is ideal yet often expensive and logistically challenging. We’ve had luck thus far using Zencastr to capture and record the interviews. When the interview is captured locally on your computer, it’s relatively easy for both parties to join. Local recording also ensures pristine video quality even if your internet connection fluctuates. 

The rules of good lighting and sound still apply. To ensure a smooth process, we provide interviewees with a tip sheet before the interview.

Additionally, we test for audio quality, lighting, and composition before every interview. 

Our Remote Recording Toolkit

Here are the tools we use to capture high-quality remote video. On-camera employees have a home recording kit that includes: 

• Mac laptop
• Sony A7 camera and tripod
• Ring lights (1-2)
• Hollyland wireless lav mic kit 
• U-TAP USB 3.0 (3.2 Gen 1) Powered HDMI Capture Device by AJA (sends camera feed into your computer as a webcam)

You don’t need much equipment to get the job done right. 

Step Four: Conduct the Interview 

The best insights come from an informal conversation that feels like friends getting coffee. A documentary-style interview approach starts with the camera rolling, a relaxed conversation, and open-ended questions for reference. 

The interviewer listens and guides the conversation, using open-ended questions to help the subject expand on thoughts. Employ active listening to reveal unexpected divergences in the topic and keep notes for follow-up questions.  

Another important consideration is to think like an editor. Did the subject share a partial answer that would be gold if completed? Feel free to ask the subject to expand on a thought or repeat answers in full sentences. This ensures you’ll have a strong soundbite when editing the full interview. 

Example of Asking Follow-Up Questions During A Customer Interview

Step Five: Edit Interview

We edited the two customer testimonial video examples using Blackmagic Davinci Resolve and followed the CoverStory editing formula, which includes: 

• Emotional Hook: Start with emotion or urgency. Viewers decide in less than 10 seconds if they’ll stick around. Make them feel something.
• Introduction: Introduce us to the person and the context of their experience.
• Story & Product: Contrast “before” and “after.” Show what changed and how. The “before” tension gives meaning to the “after.”
• Final Zinger: End with a quote or insight that sticks. The ending should be as powerful as the beginning. 

We shared the first draft versions with Alex for his feedback. Here’s what he said: 

“I love it! You guys did an awesome job! You nailed all the hooks and formats. The only little thing I would say is that it starts with a graphic. If possible, I’d start with the soundbite on screen as it’s more attention-grabbing.”

— Alex Hoff, CoverStory

Step Six: Distribution and Repurposing Your Customer Story Video 

We built a video distribution plan to launch alongside this blog post:

• Publish video to SproutVideo Video Library
• Share the testimonial within this blog post
• Promote the video to email subscribers
• Share video shorts (15-30 seconds) across social media
• Share text-based carousel posts on social media

Additionally, here are a few ways we plan to repurpose the content:

• Create behind-the-scenes content or highlight blooper moments
• Upload and save the raw interview for future content
• Share the transcript with the Product team for valuable feedback and with the Marketing team for use cases, quotes, blog posts, success stories, and other promotional material.
• Embed the testimonial video on relevant pages of our website 
• Integrate the video into our free trial onboarding email sequence 

With this approach, each customer testimonial video becomes a gold mine of branded content.  

Final Thoughts:

Most customer story videos fall flat because they haven’t evolved with our attention spans. The CoverStory approach combines a modern understanding of video engagement with timeless storytelling techniques. 

Customer testimonial videos are tremendous gifts: real people sharing real stories about your product provide insights you might otherwise never discover.

When done right, testimonial videos become powerful multipurpose assets your business can use to build trust and drive sales. 

The post How’d We Do That: From Proven Formula to Compelling Customer Story Video appeared first on SproutVideo.

Yet these days, both products are neck-and-neck in the race for the “We Do Everything” award, and it’s a pretty fantastic competition. But, when comparing Premiere Pro vs. DaVinci Resolve, which software is better than the other?

Welcome to part 2 of our video series comparing Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve as all-in-one solutions for video editing, effects, and post-production. In the last episode, we covered the history of editing software. Now, we’ll take a deeper look at Premiere Pro versus Davinci Resolve specifically. 

You’ll learn about the ins and outs of Premiere and DaVinci and get a look at the differences in their user interfaces, ease of use, and workflows. Dive into the pros and cons of each software and determine which solution is better for you.

DaVinci Resolve vs Premiere Pro: Which Is Better?

Interface (Premiere)

Interface (DaVinci)

Ingesting and Prep (Premiere)

Ingesting and Prep (DaVinci)

Editing (Premiere)

Editing (DaVinci)

Post Production: Effects and Graphics, Color Sound (Premiere)

Post Production: Effects and Graphics, Color Sound (DaVinci)

Review, Output, and Delivery (Premiere)

Review, Output, and Delivery (DaVinci)

How Experts Turn Video Views Into Profit

Tired of videos that feel like a rigged carnival game? Discover expert strategies for turning video into a growth engine across any industry.

Get Real Video Results—Just Press Play

How To Choose The Right Software For You

Adobe is a 200 billion dollar company whose software has long been the backbone of the creative community. But this broad community covers photography, graphic design, web design, motion graphics, video, audio, etc. 

Blackmagic is over 60 times smaller and laser-focused on video and audio, with products ranging from cameras to software to live production hardware. 

Premiere Pro is really good. For all our talk about DaVinci, we’re still editing in Premiere because it’s what we know. Our experience highlights one of the biggest pros of Premiere: lots of video editors are accustomed to using it.

If you aren’t convinced to try Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve yet, let’s conclude with some general pros and cons on the look and feel, overall functionality, and pricing. 

Look and Feel 

Premiere Pro feels old and crowded. It functions great. But in the race to do it all, Premiere added more and more furniture to the room, so to speak, without building out the footprint. Even after working in the software for a decade, that can get confusing. 

DaVinci, on the other hand, is clean, organized, and well-thought-out. It seems like the future of editing. But it also introduces a lot of UI that video editors aren’t familiar with—namely nodes for color grading, which can be a challenge for people who aren’t used to them. 

Overall Functionality

Premiere covers everything professional video editors need, but it leaves much to be desired in the quest for a complete all-in-one solution. The necessity of Adobe’s ecosystem means that while you can do everything with Adobe, there’s a lot more importing, exporting, and general switching between applications than feels intuitive for the solo filmmaker’s workflow. 

Resolve also covers everything professionals require, including many next-gen features, like its neural engine and fantastic turnkey tracking—even the renders and analyses for smoothing footage seem to run much quicker. While both software include collaboration features, DaVinci’s feels smarter—similar to Avid. But time will tell as we use them a bit more. 

Pricing

• Premiere: $22.99/month ($263.88/year).
• DaVinci: Free (95% of features) or a one-time $236 for Studio.

At the time of this recording, Premiere is $22.99 a month or $263.88 a year, which increases to $59.99 a month for access to the full range of Adobe apps. 

DaVinci, on the other hand, is free! The free version includes 95% of its functionality. You can gain the rest for a one-time $236 purchase of Resolve Studio, which includes all the bells and whistles (like output in resolutions above 4k, GPU acceleration, noise reduction, lens correction, and more). But for most people, the free version will knock their socks off. 

Is DaVinci Resolve Better Than Premiere Pro?

Premiere Pro will likely remain a standard video editing software, alongside Avid, for many projects because it’s what people know. Plus, it’s great for editors who are exactly that: editors who can hand their timelines off to post houses for the rest. 

Switching to DaVinci will be a huge learning curve, but I’m pretty certain it’s the future of video editing. I am still learning, but it’s also becoming my new go-to editing software.

— Nick LaClair, SproutVideo Creative Director

So, which is better? Perhaps that isn’t the right question. Instead, how about “which is better for most people?” And by that, we mean small solo video production.

We’re partial to DaVinci Resolve. But, with a free version that’s hard to beat, try it out yourself and see if DaVinci Resolve fits your workflow better than Premiere Pro.

Stay tuned for more DaVinci how-to content coming soon. In the next episode, we’ll cover how to use DaVinci Resolve. Subscribe to our blog for that and many other valuable tips and tricks. 

• The History of Video Editing Software—And Why DaVinci Resolve May Be The Future
• 10 Essential Planning Documents for Video Production
• Employee Training Videos: How L&D Experts Make Engaging Content

The post Premiere Pro vs. DaVinci Resolve: Should You Switch Software? appeared first on SproutVideo.

But have you ever used it for video editing? 

SproutVideo Creative Director Nick LaClair recently took a deep dive to explore whether DaVinci Resolve is a suitable alternative for video editing. But to answer this question, we need to examine the history of editing and how the industry standards have changed over time. 

Welcome to our new series on DaVinci Resolve versus Premiere Pro for editing. Today, we look at the history of non-linear editing (NLE) and how Premiere Pro has become the de facto standard for video professionals across various industries.

We also determine whether or not DaVinci Resolve, known for color grading, is a suitable all-in-one post-production alternative.

Let’s start by exploring the history of video editing software. 

A Modern History of Video Editing: The Last 20 Years

Historically, there are three key user groups for video editing software: 

• Professional industry video editors for TV, film, and high-end broadcasts.
• Commercial producers, filmmakers, and prosumers 
• Content creators, learning and development or marketing specialists, and entrepreneurs

In the 1990s and beyond, Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Pro were the reigning champions of video editing software. Avid Media Composer was the number one choice for professional video editors, while prosumers and independent filmmakers used Apple’s Final Cut Pro. 

Final Cut Pro quickly became a beloved workhorse in the creative video community. Adobe Premiere, introduced in 1991, struggled to gain market share. 

Final Cut Pro was more affordable than Avid Media Composer. Still, Avid remained unrivaled for industry video editors due to one fatal flaw with Final Cut Pro: the 32-bit program started to fall apart when project files approached 100 MB. 

The creative community, especially documentarians, waited for Apple to release a more robust 64-bit version that would use Apple’s multi-core Mac Pro. 

Resolve for Beginners: Editing in DaVinci Resolve (Simple Video Tutorial)

Apple’s Final Cut Mistake Becomes Adobe Premiere Pro’s Opportunity

Finally, in 2011, Apple released Final Cut X, which reinvented the software in a way no one was asking for. It was a 64-bit native macOS app with background rendering, but it removed traditional sequences and timeline tracks (the backbone of editing software). 

With the wide adoption of iPhone, YouTube, and content democratization, Apple wanted to broaden the appeal of Final Cut Pro beyond the professional video editor market.

However, the massive change in UI required editors to suddenly do their jobs in a completely different way. Not surprisingly, this didn’t go well. 

A couple of years later, in 2013, Apple also discontinued its industry-standard tower-like Mac Pro, replacing it with what was commonly called “the trashcan.” 

Old Mac Pro vs “Trashcan” Mac Pro

Both Final Cut X and “the trashcan” backfired. Most professionals kept using Final Cut Pro 7. 

Adobe, meanwhile, seized the opportunity. It invested resources in adding new functionality, making it easy for video editors to switch. Abode allowed editors to map their Final Cut keyboard shortcuts into Premiere Pro, which essentially made Premiere Pro into Final Cut Pro 7 with a darker background color. This dramatically flattened the learning curve. 

Content creators and video professionals alike started making the switch to Premiere Pro. 

Around this time, Apple stopped supporting Final Cut 7 with the release of High Sierra in 2017, yet dedicated professionals continued to use it. In fact, the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” was cut with Final Cut Pro 7 in 2019—a full two years after Apple stopped supporting it.  

Nonetheless, Adobe Premiere Pro started to flourish, becoming fairly standard for video professionals, content creators, and everyone in between.

Despite this shifting in the marketplace, Avid Media Composer remained a popular choice for industry professionals, which we’ll discuss next. 

But coming around the corner, Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve was leveling up its software with every release and gaining a fanbase. 

What Do Professional Industry Video Editors Really Need? 

Not much has changed in the past twenty years of professional video editing. The evolution of NLE software has been relatively uneventful. 

Look at a screenshot of the original Avid Media Composer compared to now. 

Now compare Final Cut 7 to Adobe Premiere Pro.

In form and function, they’re all pretty similar: you have a source window, a program window usually to the right of it, a timeline below them, and some sort of file browser. 

Traditionally, you scrub through your footage in the source window, find your in-and-out points, and place your chosen clips in the timeline. Then, you edit that together with all your other clips. 

When it comes to professional video editing, this is the way. This is the process. And so this timeless UI makes a lot of sense.

— Nick LaClair, SproutVideo Creative Director

Professional editors don’t need a lot of innovation. Instead, they need two things: the ability to handle huge projects and to collaborate. 

Video Editors Need The Ability To Handle Huuuuge Projects

Professional video editors need software to handle and organize massive projects, such as multiple seasons of a TV series or years of footage for a documentary.

Avid does that better than any other software. It allows you to open and work on smaller parts of a project without taxing your system with the entire project. Which was Final Cut 7’s fatal flaw—crashing when projects got too big. Adobe Premiere isn’t made for massive projects, either. 

So, even today, Avid Media Composer remains a top choice for video editors working in film and TV. In contrast, video professionals working on smaller projects, like music videos and commercials, tend to favor Adobe Premiere Pro.

Video Editors Need The Ability to Collaborate

Professional video editors also need the ability to collaborate. Avid Media Composer makes this incredibly easy: everyone can work together on the same project without interrupting each other’s workflow. 

Premiere Pro is made like a sports car that can hold a couple of people, while Avid is a tour bus with as many seats as you need.

— Nick LaClair, SproutVideo Creative Director

In general, more people are involved in post-production for bigger professional projects. Each person’s job is often more specialized and segmented as well: the person color grading isn’t the same as the person editing or the same person creating graphics or mastering audio. 

Therefore, in many cases, professional video editors use different specialized software for their specific tasks. But what about everyone else—which is the majority of video professionals?

How Experts Turn Video Views Into Profit

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Get Real Video Results—Just Press Play

What Do Video Professionals and Content Creators Need?

Industry video editors are a specific crowd. A much larger number of editors fall under the umbrella of video professionals, whether they’re content creators, learning and development specialists, commercial producers, or entrepreneurs. 

Video professionals require ease of use and an all-in-one solution for every element of their post-production workflow. That’s no easy task.

— Nick LaClair, SproutVideo Creative Director

But Adobe didn’t shy away from the challenge of creating an all-in-one solution that is accessible to a wide range of video professionals. They support the entire video editing process with:

• Premiere for editing
• Speed Grade for color grading
• Audition for audio
• After Effects for graphics and effects 

While most of the above functionality has always been part of Premiere in some capacity, it can be clunky. However, this workflow is also flexible, allowing some video professionals to complete projects end-to-end while others pass the project on to the next person in post-production.

This flexibility also means that many professionals, even those using an Adobe workflow, turn to DaVinci Resolve for color grading. It’s simply the best at the job.

DaVinci Resolve launched as a dedicated color grading solution, but it gradually added editing, audio, graphics, and more.

Blackmagic, the company that created DaVinci Resolve, is slowly but surely making DaVinci the true all-in-one software for video post-production. 

This strategic expansion has resulted in a UI that looks like four software packages in one, lending to a workflow that matches the modern approach to video editing.

The Future Of Video Editing & Social Media’s Influence 

Today, professional video editors, whose sole job is video editing, are a tiny share of the post-production market. Most video editing is done by content creators and small teams that need ease of use and an all-in-one solution. 

People want the TikTok model: add your footage, change the aspect ratio, remove the background, add titles, throw in some music and effects, then upload the thing!

— Nick LaClair, SproutVideo Creative Director

Many apps are broadening their scope to encompass more of the functionality of the post-production space. To this end, Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve are the two best video editing software, providing ease of use in an all-in-one solution. 

But which is suitable for your needs? In the next part of this series, we’ll take a deeper look at Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, both in terms of software functionality and marketplace positioning. Until then, check out our other video resources: 

• Color Grading Fundamentals in Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe After Effects: The Basics
• Filming Solo 1: Professional Results All Alone (Video)

The post The History of Video Editing Software—And Why DaVinci Resolve May Be The Future appeared first on SproutVideo.

However, 43% of employees want their training to be more effective. 

If you’ve ever sat through a boring lecture, you know training alone isn’t enough. That’s why we reached out to experts in learning and development, marketing, and operations to learn what works when creating employee video training that produces results. 

Their experience, alongside insights from neuroscience, paints a clear picture of how to create training that engages employees. 

Discover why video can be your superpower for effective video training. This complete guide reveals how to streamline employee training without in-person or online meetings and tedious reading. We’ll also cover how to track employee progress and completion.

What Is Video Training for Employees?

Companies use video training to efficiently onboard, upskill, and align team members with company initiatives. Video training is accessible and flexible. It can be shared directly with employees online, whether they work remotely or in the office. 

The Benefits of Employee Video Training

Video training offers many advantages over in-person training events or exhaustive reading material. These benefits include: 

• Improved Employee Experience: Onboard new hires with video training to expedite productivity and provide clear expectations
• Flexible & Cost-Effective: Eliminate travel costs with remote training and minimize employee time away from projects
• Scalability and Efficiency: Support team alignment and scale employee training while reducing manager workflow interruptions 
• Compliance and Tracking: Track video engagement to validate training ROI and maintain compliance in regulated industries
• Employee Engagement and Retention: Engage and upskill employees, increasing business advantage and employee productivity 
• Learning Effectiveness: Implement new software or procedures with increased adoption rates using micro-learning and interactive tools for greater absorption
• Feedback and Optimization: Gather feedback based on viewing patterns and engagement to increase training effectiveness

Types of Employee Training Videos

• Onboarding
• Company Culture/Policies
• Mandatory Training
• Scenario Training
• Demonstrations & Tutorials
• Professional Development

Skip to the video examples here. 

What Makes An Employee Training Video Successful?

A good video training program is up-to-date and comprehensive. It should provide a measurable return in job performance, task efficiency, and employee retention. 

The majority of video training aligns team members for specific roles within departments. A complete onboarding series or training program may include one-size-fits-all videos. But, companies often tailor video training to specific departments or roles within a business. 

Effective video training is:

• Bite-sized: Create compact video content that is under 20 minutes long. Most viewers prefer videos that are 3-6 minutes long. Turn large topics into short videos to reduce cognitive load and increase watch times. 
• Science-based: Our brains build connections to remember information. Darren Smith, CEO of Making Business Matter, believes space repetition is key to building those connections. “[It] essentially means we do something, stop, wait, and do something again. Video-based learning needs to be similar.”
• Engaging and Enjoyable: “Video-based training has a reputation for being boring,” says Rob Boyle, Marketing Operations Director for Airswift. “To hold employee attention, use relatable characters [with] a problem to solve or challenge to overcome.”

It’s essential that video training is accessible as well; we discuss this in detail later. 

Corporate Training Video Examples

Employee video training has evolved. Gone are the days of retro training videos with over-the-top explanations and distrustful commentary about employees. Let’s look at some modern examples for inspiration. 

Onboarding

Set new hires up for success and save managers time.

This video aligns new Spotify engineers with its company strategy in just over ten minutes using a whiteboard-style video. “Whiteboarding is an excellent way to break down tough ideas into smaller, more digestible pieces,” shares Adam Klein, a Certified Integral Coach and Managing Director for New Ventures West. “The use of straightforward drawings and animations can make the content more accessible to a wider range of viewers.” 

Company Culture/Policies

Showcase environment and set new hire expectations.

In this video, the city of Edmonton uplifts its workers. It focuses on their role in creating a safe and healthy environment through waste management. The city also presents the idea of long-term fulfillment with the company by featuring employees who made it their career.

Mandatory Training

Maintain safety and compliance standards.

With a clever script and creative perspective, video training can be entertaining and cost-effective. A character-driven narrative is powerful for delivering important messages. Here, the live-action character holds attention while the animation delivers life-saving knowledge. 

Scenario Training

Prepare employees to handle specific situations with success.

This type of video provides a solution-oriented explanation for a common but difficult situation. It offers an empathetic approach to why a customer may be rude. The video follows with effective instructions for moving through the interaction. 

Demonstrations & Tutorials

Showcase how to complete a task or use a program.

Tossing pizza dough requires practice. New employees will likely watch the video various times while learning the technique, which makes this to-the-point video ideal. Additionally, it concludes with a few slides summarizing the key information.

Professional Development

Develop current employee skills for company goals.

Longer content is engaging and powerful when storytelling, delivery, and high-quality information align. This 12-minute talk by Simon Sinek showcases a high production value. But Sinek’s ability to persuade through storytelling is a masterclass on holding attention. 

How to Design a Winning Video-Based Training Program

1. Define Objectives and Engage Viewers

“Define clear objectives for the training. Identify what employees should know or be able to do after completing the course,” says Bradford Glaser, President & CEO of HRDQ. “These objectives will guide the content and structure of your videos, ensuring that the training is purposeful and aligned with your company’s goals.”

Consider the other resources you will provide, too. Map out interactive elements like quizzes, discussion questions, practice exercises, and hands-on application. “These elements not only aid in comprehension but also make the training more interactive and enjoyable,” states Glaser. 

2. Collaborate with Content Matter Experts (CMEs)

Also known as subject matter experts (SMEs), collaborating with CMEs is key to effective video training. CMEs include department managers, senior team members, and other internal stakeholders. 

Alexander Nosek is an L&D specialist who updated and expanded training content for Patriot Growth Insurance Services. He recommends listing all CMEs and using a task management system (i.e., Jira) for project management. Additionally, they suggest 

• Request CMEs provide the information needed to cover a topic accurately
• Use CME knowledge to write scripts and organize videos by chapters
• Have CMEs review video scripts for accuracy before moving forward

Stakeholders may also need to review content for approval before moving forward.

In some instances, you might be the expert. Following this process can still help organize the subject matter before creating content. 

3. Invest in Production Quality

“High-production quality is also important,” says Bradford Glaser of HRDQ. There are three essential elements of video training that will enhance the learning experience and prevent distractions. They are:

• Clear audio
• Sharp visuals
• Professional editing

“Poor production quality can undermine the effectiveness of your training and make it less engaging,” Glaser notes.

4. Make Content Organized & Accessible

Accessibility comes in many forms. 

1. Inclusivity for people with disabilities is a key component of employee video training. “Use captions, subtitles, and audio descriptions,” recommends Steven Mostyn, Chief Human Resources Officer for Management Library. 
2. When scripting content and creating interactive resources, use various learning styles and culturally diverse examples. This accessibility practice increases training effectiveness by considering multiple groups of people.
3. From a user experience standpoint, consider accessibility across devices. “Enable employees to learn anywhere and at any time in a comfortable and personal environment,” recommends Tornike Asatiani, CEO of Edumentors.

Finally, ensure employees can navigate your video training portal without friction. One solution is to organize content into playlists by topic, department, or role.

Learn More: Playlists Overview

5. Gather Feedback

“Before rolling out the training program, pilot your videos with a small group of employees to gather feedback on its effectiveness and engagement levels,” recommends Steven Mostyn of Management Library. 

Get feedback from internal stakeholders as well. This review process ensures the information is accurate and aligned with the company.

The more people who test the training program, the more you’ll be able to ensure its accuracy, effectiveness, and accessibility. 

6. Monitor and Evaluate the Program

Video training is successful when it positively impacts employee performance and company goals. Common key performance indicators (KPIs) for employee video training include: 

• Time to onboard new employees
• The volume of customer complaints
• Compliance with regulations
• Adoption rate of new technology or platforms

Creating benchmarks for video content is a great way to ensure it meets company standards. Monitor overall video performance and individual engagement. These benchmarks can help you determine when to assist an employee who may be struggling to learn the material.

How to Track Video Engagement 

Measure overall employee participation in training videos with average engagement rate.

The average engagement rate is represented as a percentage. It measures the time a viewer spends watching your video compared to its duration.

Therefore, 100% indicates that viewers watched every second of your video. Video engagement can also be above 100% if viewers rewatch parts of the video.

You can use engagement metrics to track individual employee video engagement and completion as well. We discuss how later.

4 Ways to Create Employee Training Videos 

Across the types of employee training videos you create, Steven Mostyn for Management Library recommends including “a mix of visuals, animations, and real-world examples to illustrate points and keep the content dynamic.” 

Here are a few different ways you might approach employee video training production. 

1. Live-Action Videos

Live-action videos use real-world scenarios and human interactions to convey a message. This video style centers on realistic situations, making both task instructions and messages like “safety first” or “your team is here to support you” more engaging and emotionally impactful. 

This level of video production may require a team. Use in-house team members, video freelancers, or a production company. Your approach will determine the resources or creativity required.

2. Animated Videos

Animated videos are effective at engaging viewers. Voiceover conveys important information that is brought to life through animated elements. Common animation styles include whiteboard, 2D or 3D animation, and motion graphics. 

This video tier is suitable for various budgets. There are many ways to create animated videos, from hiring an artist to employing an online tool.

3. Talking-Head Presentations

Are you working with a skeleton (or no) crew and limited resources? A single person with a quality filming setup can create professional videos alone.

Create a well-crafted script and consider how the video will hold attention. These videos often cut to short animations, stock footage, or text-based slides. Another strategy is to film two camera angles and flip back and forth during the video.

4. Screen Recorded Videos

Screen-recorded videos showcase how to perform a specific task within a software program. This type of training video is the easiest and most affordable. 

One person can easily create professional screencast videos. However, making engaging videos in this category is challenging. Keep videos focused on a single how-to and use playlists to guide employees through the software onboarding.

How to Implement A Video Training Program 

It’s essential to make employee video training easy to access and navigate. Social sharing sites are great for distributing brand materials to a wide audience. However, employee training videos are usually intended for internal distribution only. 

One solution is to create a dedicated and secure video library for training content. This ensures that your proprietary content is organized and visible only to employees with authorized access. 

A second option is to use your company intranet. 

Secure Video Library

Share internal videos with employees through a secure and centralized video library.

SproutVideo makes it easy with our hosted Video Websites, which include a suite of video hosting tools. Create a professional video portal and use privacy tools to control and monitor access.

Common privacy measures include login protection and single-sign-on (SSO). Both options allow you to track the viewer’s email address in engagement metrics. Use this data to audit viewer access and review employee video engagement. We discuss how here. 

You can also add dynamic watermarking to deter screen recording theft. 

Company Intranet

Another option for sharing employee video training is your company intranet. Use it in combination with SproutVideo privacy measures to ensure private content stays internal.  

Here’s an example of how to secure video content embedded on your company intranet when using SproutVideo:

• Leave your videos set to private and embed them on your company intranet. 
• Use allowed domains or signed embed codes to prevent video sharing.
• Add dynamic watermarking to deter screen recording theft.

You can still display individual engagement metrics. Use embed code parameters to track viewers by email address through your company’s intranet.

How to Track Individual Employee Video Training Engagement

How to evaluate training video effectiveness or maintain compliance with regulations? Track individual viewers using video engagement metrics on the SproutVideo platform. 

How to Track Individual Employee Video Engagement 

Video heat maps visually represent viewer engagement with a single video. 

You can use heat mapping to determine what parts of videos employees watch and rewatch. When viewers rewatch part of a video, the content may be confusing, worth repeating, or especially engaging. 

Heat mapping is a granular way to:

• Ensure individual employees are gaining the necessary insights
• Determine what topics an employee is struggling to learn

If employees skip parts of a video, the heat map reveals what sections they overlook.

When this happens, review the video and determine why. It may be that the video is redundant, loses viewer attention, or doesn’t relate the information’s importance to the employee. 

Heat mapping insights can help you improve and update your content. Use this data as a before-and-after test to measure the effectiveness of your changes.

How to Track Employee Video Training Completion 

Track if an individual completed the video using engagement metrics. Within engagement metrics, click on a viewer’s email address to review:

• All past videos accessed
• The percentage completed for each video session
• Heat maps that indicate viewing behavior

You can also access individual viewer data from Viewer Logins when using login protection. 

Learn More: Video Analytics

Employee video training provides businesses with a tactical advantage in more ways than one. It increases productivity, morale, and retention—all of which lead to more gross profit. Video training makes it easy to gain these benefits while providing flexibility to employees. 

Check out our related content to keep learning: 

• How to Create a Video Website in 10 Easy Steps
• Best Practices to Securely Share Corporate Video
• 10 Strategies to Grab & Hold Viewer Attention

The post Employee Training Videos: How L&D Experts Make Engaging Content appeared first on SproutVideo.

This is an ideal 2D animation tutorial for beginners because we used common video tools. Anyone with basic video editing skills can create similar 2D animations — even with zero animation experience. We’ll show you how! 

Use this guide to uncap your creativity and discover the captivating world of 2D animation. 

What Is 2D Animation? 

2D animation is created using images and illustrations that are 2-dimensional. 2D animation is animated frame-by-frame or rigged. 

Frame-by-frame animation can be analog (such as traditional animation) or digital. Our 2D animated video used a combination of analog and digital techniques: the images were hand-drawn, but it was animated digitally by editing the images together in layers.

Rigged animation is entirely digital, utilizing software to animate movement. However, animation software requires a significant learning curve. With this guide, anyone can create a 2D animation using common tools and basic knowledge of video editing software.

Other Types of Animation

There are many other types of animation (see examples in the video above), including

• 3D Animation
• Motion Capture
• Motion Graphics
• Stop-motion Animation

Stop-motion animation is a close cousin of 2D animation. The main difference is that stop-motion uses live-action shots to capture every frame instead of illustrations. 

Past stop-motion animation videos we’ve created include this Valentine’s cupcakes video, Halloween video with stop-motion pumpkin carving, and product update. 

How to Make a 2D Animation in 5 Easy Steps

1. Outline Video with a Storyboard

Brainstorm your concept and sketch a rough storyboard to outline your ideas. For our Earth Day video, we envisioned a sprout growing into a majestic tree, symbolizing the cycle of life.

At this stage, there are three crucial things you need to consider. 

• Motion. Determine what actions the artist needs to draw frame-by-frame and what motions can be animated during the edit. Some motion, like when drawing characters, requires multiple sketches to illustrate the movement. Simple motions, like the falling water drops in our video, can be created by layering images with sound effects to contextualize the movement. 
• The Number of Frames Needed for Action. 2D animations are usually 12 frames per second. When an artist draws the animation, they need the exact number of frames required. To effectively determine the number of frames, consider creating an animatic. 
• Rest. Elements without motion still need to be brought to life. Create variations of elements that aren’t in motion so they don’t appear as still images. In our video, we created multiple frames of trees and edited them together to create a subtle wiggle.  

This planning stage is essential for efficiently communicating with an artist and ensuring all the elements needed have been created before the animation process begins. 

Learn More: 10 Essential Planning Documents for Video Production

 2. Create a Graphics List 

Compile a list of the necessary elements for your animation. Use this list to communicate with your artist; it also doubles as a game plan during the creation process. 

Considering the number of frames per second, we determined how many variations of each element we would need to create the desired animation. We needed a growing sprout, a watering can, raindrops, a tree, the sun, and the Earth for our video. Each element required multiple versions or frames to add dynamic movement and life to the animation. 

3. Collaborate with an Artist

Find a talented artist whose style aligns with your vision. Provide a detailed list of elements and collaborate closely throughout the creation process. Common places to discover artists include Etsy, Fiver, UpWork, and social media platforms like Instagram.

We knew we wanted an organic-feeling art style. We discovered an amazing watercolor artist, Heather Ivins. We sent her our request and graphics list. Ivins did some testing and approval check-ins during the process. When she was done, Ivins shipped us the notebooks. 

4. Digitize & Prepare the Images

With the physical notebooks in hand, it was time to scan each image into the computer. We removed the backgrounds and cleaned them up in Photoshop. Now our graphics are in a digital format that can be easily edited together into a 2D animation.

5. Animate Images in Premiere 

It’s time to animate the images! 

We used Adobe Premiere Pro to animate the images; however, any professional video editing software will also work. We highly recommend using nesting sequences in Premiere — these are sequences within sequences that make it easy to animate elements and movements separately. 

Combine all elements in the main edit, adding background details and sound design to bring it all together. If applicable, incorporate text supers and end card elements to enhance the overall presentation. Export your video, upload to SproutVideo, and share! 

Prefer Resolve? DaVinci Resolve for Beginners: Simple Video Editing Tutorial

We hope this guide on 2D animated videos will inspire you to bring your vision to life! Check out our related content to learn more about creating videos:

• Video Editing Basics with Adobe Premiere Pro
• How To Get the Best Audio in Any Environment
• How to Find Music and Edit It Into Your Video

The post 2D Animation: How to Easily Create an Animated Video for Beginners appeared first on SproutVideo.

Whether recording at home or in an office, you don’t need a large budget or significant experience to create professional voiceovers.

In this complete guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to record voiceovers that sound professional, from delivering an engaging performance to setting up a voiceover studio. 

Whether you want to launch a podcast, make viral TikTok videos, or convert viewers into customers, here’s how to record voiceovers from the comfort of your home. Let’s get started! 

TL;DR: How to Do Voiceovers from Home

• Create a DIY Voiceover Studio. Build a blanket fort, or use your closet. Record professional voiceovers for cheap by using low-cost materials to prevent sound from bouncing around the room.
• Choose a Software. Acquire audio or video editing software. Try out free trials of paid software before investing in a professional product. 
• Practice, Practice, Practice. Read the script internally and out loud. Internalize its message and find a natural pacing. Record once you feel ready to perform.
• Upgrade Your Sound Equipment. It doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg to improve your voiceover quality with an audio interface and XLR microphone.
• Pay Attention to the Details of Your Setup. Invest in high-quality over-ear headphones, pick up a pop filter, and stay close to the microphone when recording.
• Get Multiple Takes and Edit the Audio. When it comes time to record, get multiple takes. Review each one with headphones. Don’t be afraid to splice parts of the best takes together or re-record over small mistakes in the editing process. 

What Is a Voiceover?

A voiceover recording refers to voice narration that does not feature the narrator’s image. 

Voiceovers are common in entertainment, such as audiobooks, video games, and animated television. But they are also ideal for businesses, whether you’re creating educational content, professional screencasts, or corporate commercials. 

In marketing videos, it is common for B-roll footage to play while an off-screen voice tells the brand story, describes the benefits of a product or service, and encourages the customer to take action. 

For businesses and creators, voiceovers offer the versatility to provide additional context and create an emotional connection. They are often used to narrate animated promotions, knowledge-based content, marketing videos, and social media shorts. 

How to Record Voiceovers in 7 Steps

We’ve broken down how to create a professional voiceover into three parts: pre-production, recording, and post-production. This guide will help you level up your voiceover’s quality.

Pre-Production

1. Create a DIY Voiceover Studio

Not all voiceovers need to be of professional quality. There are millions of examples of off-the-cuff voiceovers on social media that simply use a standard earbud’s microphone. For those videos, a quiet place free from interruptions is sufficient.

But if you’re buying a microphone for quality voiceovers, it’s time to upgrade your setup. 

A wide open room is full of dense, hard surfaces for your voice to bounce off; this creates “reflections,” which negatively affects the recorded audio quality. Luckily, you can create a cheap voiceover studio.

To develop good audio, consider how to prevent sound from bouncing around the room. Here are two common, incredibly low-cost options:

• Turn a closet into a makeshift sound booth. Line the walls with thick blankets, pillows, or foam boards to create surfaces that will absorb sound. 
• Create a blanket “fort.” A thick blanket over your head works surprisingly well; however, creating a blanket “tent” is even better to avoid picking up any movements. 

Of course, you can implement far more impressive setups. If you plan to record multiple voiceovers, consider creating an at-home studio. Buy (or make) sound-absorbing foam panels for your walls, or procure a portable booth with panels and a roof. The options are endless; choose the one that matches your needs and budget. 

2. Select the Microphone & Audio Software

At a minimum, you will need an external microphone and audio or video editing software. You can purchase a USB microphone that plugs directly into your computer for under $100. 

However, upgrade to an audio interface with an XLR microphone to create professional voiceovers. An audio interface will improve sound quality and latency. You can purchase a decent audio interface for under $250 and an XLR microphone for under $150. 

Also, consider getting a pop filter to avoid picking up “pfft” sounds in your recordings.

What Is the Best Software for Recording Voiceovers? 

Voiceovers can be recorded with the audio or video editing software of your choice; although, you can also use your computer’s built-in tools, like QuickTime to record audio. 

Most video editing software provides sufficient tools for cleaning up audio, allowing creators to avoid the process of importing and exporting audio across software. Popular video editing options include Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. 

Consider using audio editing software if you need advanced audio editing or aren’t creating a video. The most popular options include Audacity and Adobe Audition.

3. Write the Script

A script illustrates your vision. It includes visual and spoken elements of the video.

Determine whether the visuals (such as a scene with a mix of dialogue and narration) or the voiceover (like a promotional product video) will set the video’s pacing. This decision will help you adequately convey the message in voiceover.

It can be tempting to skip the process of writing a script. But refining what you’re going to say and practicing your performance will go a long way in helping you craft a professional voiceover. When you’re ready to brainstorm, grab our free scriptwriting template as a jumping-off point. 

Voiceover Recording

4. Conduct a Test Recording

Everything has to work together in sync to capture a high-quality recording. Therefore, you should conduct a test each time you begin a new recording session. Skipping this step is the quickest way to get frustrated with the recording process. 

1. Set up your recording equipment and prepare the software. 
2. Press record and voice the first minute or so of the script.
3. Listen for errors in the recording with headphones. Check the audio levels. Alter your setup or audio settings as needed. Then, conduct another test. 
4. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the initial audio quality.   

Audio Levels for Recording Voiceover

Avoid vocal distortion by watching your recording levels. An ideal recording level will average somewhere between -18dB and -10dB. The peak meter should never peak over -6dB while recording. Furthermore, a final mastered recording should never go above 0dB. 

Microphone Distance for Voiceovers

Make a fist and point your thumb and pinky in opposite directions, creating a Shaka sign. With your thumb to your mouth, your pinky should touch the pop filter of your microphone. 

You should be about 6 to 12 inches away from the microphone when recording a voiceover. This closeness helps the microphone pick up your voice instead of various noises in the room. 

The optimal distance will vary depending on the type of microphone you use and the level of sound treatment in your recording space, so determine the best-sounding distance with tests. 

5. Record Your Audio

It’s time to record! You’ve done all the necessary preparatory work. Now, it’s time to perform. Here are some tips to make recording easier and more enjoyable:

• Get in the Zone First. Find a way to loosen up. Watch a funny video, do yoga stretches, or dance to your favorite song. A great performance comes from a relaxed and centered place. Take a few minutes to get yourself in the right state of mind. 
• Don’t Stop for Mistakes. It’s good practice to complete each recording, even if you notice mistakes in your performance. You can fix some errors in editing; other errors will provide priceless feedback for future takes. 
• Record Five Takes or Less. If you need more than five takes, practice more before recording. Performing takes a lot of energy as well. If you didn’t get an acceptable take in five attempts, take a break and allow your energy to replenish. 

An effective voiceover makes it easy for the audience to absorb a video’s message. Keep the listener or viewer’s experience at the forefront of your mind when evaluating a recording. 

Post-Production

6. Edit Voiceover Audio

Before beginning the editing process, listen to your recordings with headphones.

In an ideal situation, your voiceover requires minimal editing. Using the editing software of your choice, you might rerecord a section, remove breaths and mistakes, or delete long pauses. 

Stop here if you will hand the recording off to an audio engineer; audio processing alters the recording in ways that limit the audio engineer’s ability to produce a high-quality mix. 

If you are creating the final mix, there are a couple of basic considerations that will improve the sound of your voiceover audio: equalization and compression.

This is called mastering a mix. Mastering is its own specialization and career path. So don’t fret if you feel overwhelmed during this learning process. The ultimate goal is to create a quality listening experience by making the audio as clear, crisp, and easy to hear as possible. 

Equalization

Different sounds fall into different frequencies. Equalization allows you to adjust the volume of certain frequencies without affecting others, making removing or boosting certain parts of a mix possible. Equalization removes background noise, word pops, and more. 

It’s better to capture audio with fewer background noises and high-frequency sounds. It’s generally preferred to need as little equalization as possible. For those who aren’t familiar with manually adjusting equalization, it’s common to use plug-ins and software presets.

Compression

Compression reduces the dynamic range of audio, which allows you to create a consistent volume. It prevents the highest highs from being too loud and the lowest lows from being too quiet. Compression also prevents distortion while allowing you to increase volume. 

7. Sync Audio & Complete Video 

Congratulations! You’re ready to sync your audio with the visual story of your video. 

Audio and video are recorded separately in traditional filmmaking. At the beginning of each take, the actor claps. This produces a spike that makes syncing audio and film easy.

Voiceover includes different challenges. Instead of syncing an on-screen actor’s lips with the spoken audio, you need to sync the voiceover pacing with the pacing of visual content. 

For this reason, you may decide to record voiceover first. This allows you to edit the video to match the voiceover, rather than trying to get one that matches an edited video. 

Either way, you now have all the tools to record a voiceover for your video! 

Why Are Good Voiceovers Important? 

Consumers want videos from brands. However, holding viewer engagement, even with short videos, can be challenging. After all, 20% of viewers click away in the first 10 seconds. Yet a website visitor who watches a product video is 64% more likely to make a purchase.  

It is paramount to grab and hold attention. Don’t give viewers an easy reason to click or scroll away by underestimating the importance of good sound quality and an engaging performance. 

Key Aspects of a Good Voiceover

Audio quality and vocal performance are two central aspects of a professional voiceover. As such, each has important attributes that result in a good voiceover. 

Audio Quality

Generally speaking, voice recordings should sound realistic. The goal is not to create a new sound but to fully capture the vocal performance. 

Therefore, recording hardware must be able to capture sound with a wide range of audible frequencies, the full dynamic range (the quietest and loudest sounds), and little-to-no distortion.

Errors can happen at any stage of the recording process. In a soundproof setting, use your equipment to create a test recording. Listen closely and alter your setup if you hear any of the following:

• Extraneous noises (hiss, hum, etc.)
• Background sounds
• Echos
• Vocal pops
• Audio processing errors
• Microphone bumps 

Don’t fret if this process requires trial and error. Multiple factors of your voiceover studio contribute to the sound quality, including the microphone distance, equipment, room treatment, location (city versus country), and more. 

Performance 

There are several elements to a good voiceover performance. Even if your audio quality is pristine, a monotone script recitation quickly puts viewers to sleep. To improve how your voice sounds when recorded, consider pacing, diction, tone or inflection, and emotive performance. 

Pacing and Volume

Pacing is the rate at which you recite the script. Aim for a natural, conversational pacing. Practice the script to internalize its messaging and make the words sound like your own (whether you wrote them or not). 

Diction

A voiceover must be understood. Therefore, the first task of a good performance is to say the words correctly at an audible level. 

Speak clearly and enunciate each word without letting it drop off. For example, “The boys walk down to the river and fetch a pail of water.” It would be easy for this sentence to sound like a garbled mess, “The boy wall dow to the rivah and fesh a pail of wafer.” 

Pay particular attention to words with “s,” “er,” “ch,” and “t” sounds. It will be easier to focus on delivery the more you can recite the words without needing to recall or read them. 

Tone and Inflection

Your tone is the pitch of your voice plus its resonating quality. You might speak in a higher pitch with a calming tone or have a deeper voice that naturally booms like an announcer. 

Inflection is the way you alter your tone to express the script. Your cadence (the modulation or inflection of your voice when reading) will convey context, underlying information, and emotions. 

Emotive Performance

The emotion and energy you bring to the performance will ultimately sell it and keep people engaged. The technical aspects of audio quality and performance ensure mistakes don’t cause people to tune out. But your emotive performance keeps people tuned in. 

How Do I Improve the Sound of My Voice? 

A common hurdle when you begin recording voiceovers is accepting the sound of your voice. It’s normal to feel shy or unsure about how your voice sounds. It may take some time to get used to it yourself, but you will focus on it far more than anyone else. 

Another approach is to learn from professional voice actors. Voice actors can adjust tone, inflection, and pacing to create an immersive recording with their unique voices. Consider working with a vocal coach to improve your technique and gain new skills.

Voiceover sets the mood and tone of your video. With some planning and the right equipment, it can take your video to a new level.

But bad audio can ruin good content. After spending hours or days on a video, the last thing you want to do is ruin it with an amateurish voiceover. 

Capturing professional recordings includes a learning curve, but producing an engaging, professional-quality voiceover is well worth the time and effort.

The post How to Record Voiceovers with Tips from Professional Voice Actors appeared first on SproutVideo.

Many creatives are (rightfully) skeptical of AI’s ability to generate original, engaging ideas. But marketing videos don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Like a good pop song that plays too many times on the radio, marketing videos follow tried-and-true formulas — which AI can mimic. 

To produce humanlike content, AI script generators employ natural language processors, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But how good can an AI scriptwriter really be? Let’s find out! 

We tested over 30 AI script generators; here are three options that produced the highest-quality results when writing a video script.

The goal wasn’t to create a small list, but we had high standards for the AI script-writing tools. These three tools delivered professional results. We’ve also included tips on how to write effective AI prompts and example results from each script-writing tool we’ve featured.  

How to Create Effective AI Scriptwriting Prompts

The results of AI-generated writing are limited to the information you provide in your prompt. 

Therefore, it’s important to over-explain the parameters of what you want the AI to generate, rather than leaving it to make its own assumptions about tone of voice, ideal audience, and other similar details. 

Your prompt should include all of the information you want to be reflected in the generated script. This might be creative, product, or brand information. 

We’ve created a template (below) for a general marketing video script. Replace the bolded text with information from your marketing video brief to utilize the template with an AI writing tool. 

Spending a few minutes creating a detailed prompt is essential to getting the most out of AI script writing tools. This prompt covers all of the most important information AI needs to create a marketing video script for your product and company. 

When writing your prompt, add or remove details as needed. To create varying results or use AI as a brainstorming tool, experiment with the amount of information you provide. 

Other information you might include:

• Product or Service Details 
• Video Setting or Location
• Live-action, Animated, Webcam, Studio, etc.
• Number of Actors or Voice Actors 

Note: AI output can be improved with follow-up prompts. You can specifically point out a desired change or even just ask AI to “try again.” 

3 Best AI Script Writers for High-Quality Videos 

Of the 30+ AI writing tools we tested, only three made the cut for generating high-quality scripts for marketing videos. 

Most AI writing tools use the same machine learning model: OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

OpenAI has established several contracts with third-party companies, which allow them to utilize the network in specific, limited ways. We will note what AI model each respective tool uses as we discuss them.

We created the prompt below using the template provided. The goal of the prompt is to generate a 30-second explainer video script for an organic, minimalist makeup brand.

We used this same prompt when testing each AI script generator.

1. ChatGPT: Best Free Tool

You don’t need to pay for a script-writing tool to produce solid results with AI. This is perhaps the most surprising thing we learned while testing these AI writing tools. 

Since most AI writing tools use some version of ChatGPT, we figured it was worth starting with the free version of ChatGPT for comparison with the paid tools featured below. 

At the time of writing, ChatGPT-3.5 is OpenAI’s free tier. 

To test ChatGPT, we input the prompt four separate times. The AI produced slightly different scripts each time, even though we did not change the prompt. 

Each new iteration provided more detail and dynamism in the shot imagery and text. The following script was the fourth script generated using the prompt.

ChatGPT produced a solid script from the setting and visual elements to the copy and potential business taglines. There’s nothing fantastically original here, but it tells an emotional story well without becoming cliché or using overly-flowery language to convey luxurious femininity.

Pros

• Free Version with Unlimited Generations: There is no limit to the number of content generations you can produce with ChatGPT. It’s also easy to ask ChatGPT to rewrite or improve its output. 
• Industry Leader & Content Source: As stated, most AI writing tools have contracts with OpenAI to use its technology. It makes sense, then, that going straight to the source would produce results on (at least) the same level as paid tools using this model.

Cons

• No Prompts or Templates Provided: ChatGPT doesn’t provide templates like paid AI writing tools. These templates allow you to plug in information without formally writing a prompt. This isn’t an issue if you are accustomed to writing detailed prompts. 
• Potential Delays with Free Version: The server is sometimes too busy, causing delays. But these are uncommon hiccups in an otherwise seamless generative experience. ChatGPT-4, the paid version ($20/mo), removes the potential for delays.

Cost: Free

2. Jasper: Best Text Generation

Jasper integrates multiple AI models to produce some of the most dynamic results across tools. The AI models it utilizes include ChatGPT, PalM (Google), Anthropic, and Cohere.

It also allows you to upload brand and campaign information, saving you the trouble of constantly reiterating standard information about your company to the AI. Instead, the tool remembers this information and contextually incorporates it where relevant. 

We input the prompt several times when testing the tool. It’s important to produce multiple variations when using AI to create a high-quality script. This allows you to initiate a collaborative process with AI that creates better results overall. 

We also used both the “blank document,” which allows you to start from scratch, and the “Video Script Outline,” template offered as part of Jasper’s service. Both produced sufficient results, but the experience of using a blank document mimics tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. This created a more natural-feeling user experience and ease of conversing with the Jasper AI. 

Jasper excels in producing copy that genuinely mimics human language and captures the desired tone. Jasper isn’t built to write scripts, and that’s most apparent in the lack of visual direction included in the script above. 

However, Jasper took follow-up instructions extremely well. The second example script below was produced with two follow-up requests, “try again with more visual direction,” then “try again with a setting in a unique location.” 

Pros

• The Best AI Copy Writing for Marketing: Jasper was built to make creating copy for marketing campaigns efficient and easier. There are a lot of exciting features, like content repurposing, that we have yet to explore. 
• Employs Multiple AI Models: As mentioned, Jasper is the only AI writing tool that transparently integrates multiple machine learning models, including ChatGPT, PalM (Google), Anthropic, and Cohere. This allows Jasper to generate higher-quality copy. 

Cons

• Took the Structure Too Seriously: The prompt includes specific instructions on the desired structure of the video. This is meant to help the AI create an explainer video script. However, Jasper often prioritized the Video Structure Outline to a limiting degree. This made us want to remove that part of the prompt, resulting in a less focused script overall. 
• Mediocre Workflow: Jasper silos Documents and Templates in different sections of the tool. When writing within a document, you can ask Jasper to produce content, but you can’t easily trigger a template. Instead, you must start with the template and export the text into a document (by clicking a button). This creates a poor and, at times, frustrating workflow when trying to create content. 

Cost: Starts at $39/mo

3. Hoppy Copy: Best User Experience

Hoppy Copy sets itself apart with an easy-to-use platform and effective templates. Although advertised as the AI for marketing emails, Hoppy Copy has something for every aspect of a marketing campaign. In fact, it’s one of the few tools we tested that includes a dedicated Video Script Template. 

In many ways, Hoppy Copy excels where Jasper falls short and vice versa. Both tools offer the ability to save brand information that AI can automatically integrate. Hoppy Copy provides the best user experience by far but can’t quite keep up with the quality of writing Jasper generates. 

In fact, it’s unknown what AI models Hoppy Copy uses. When we reached out, this was the company response, “We can’t say exactly the models we use, but we do use OpenAI.” 

Despite this lack of transparency, Hoppy Copy feels like a tool built for longevity. As artificial intelligence continues to improve, the platform Hoppy Copy has created will only become more of an asset to users. 

This script illustrates one of the most powerful benefits of using AI to create video scripts: randomly great ideas. The script above outlines a scene in which, “a woman in a butterfly-filled garden [is] using the XYZ Makeup brushes to apply makeup.” This incredibly vivid image could become the setting for the entire commercial, lending to an engaging 30-second advertisement. 

In general, this ability to play around with the output from Hoppy Copy is one of its greatest assets. The tool splits your screen in half, allowing the left side to be AI Chat or a built-in template, while the right side is a live text document with your working copy. This allows a truly seamless workflow for marketers and copywriting professionals. 

Pros

• Includes a Video Script Template (& Many More): The most frustrating aspect of using templates when testing AI scriptwriting tools was how ineffective most of the templates actually were. The opposite is true of Hoppy Copy’s templates, with an impressive library of templates that are genuinely helpful and easy to use.
• Seamless User Experience: Hoppy Copy’s standout feature is the platform’s user experience. The most common flaw across AI tools (aside from poor writing generation) was clunky and confusing tool navigation. In this realm, Hoppy Copy is a step above the competition. 

Cons

• Unfavorable Pricing Model: At the time of writing, Hoppy Copy starts at $23/mo, but this plan includes only 20,000 generated words. While it’s nice to have a lower price option, the plan doesn’t include enough words for most use cases. The next plan up is $39/mo and includes 100,000 generated words. Compare that to Jasper, which starts at $39/mo for unlimited generated words. 
• Word Count Frustration: Hoppy Copy’s UI has one big flaw. There’s no record of your conversation with AI, which means you can accidentally hit your word count and have nothing to show for it. To save AI generations, you must “Insert” the text from the AI Chat or Template into the Document on the right side of the screen. The whole process is far from intuitive, leading to a potentially costly and frustrating learning curve.

Cost: Starting at $23/mo

Convert Your AI-Written Script into an AI-Generated Video

We thought it would be fun to grab one of the example scripts and test the end-to-end AI workflow, from writing the video script to generating and editing the video. 

There’s plenty of room for improvement, but it’s amazing to see the script come to life with music, voice-over, and stock video footage. This rough cut was produced in about 30 minutes.

Here are the steps we took to create this short video:

1. Generate Script: We input the written prompt (created from the video script template) into several script generators. We chose the Hoppy Copy output for this video. 
2. Input Script to Create Video: The Hoppy Copy script was pasted into Pictory, an AI video generator, where we began creating the video with its Script-to-Video tool.
3. Choose a Video Template: You can choose from Pictory’s library of templates or create your own. These templates provide a style and branding starting point for the video.  
4. Review Video & Customize: With Pictory, we swapped out stock images and videos, added background music, customized the branding, and more. Options will vary depending on the Script-to-Video tool you use. 
5. Add Voiceover: Our choice for the best AI voiceover tool is ElevenLabs. We used its VoiceLab to create a realistic-sounding voiceover and uploaded it to Pictory, which auto-synced the audio with the visuals.
6. Final Touches & Download: After previewing the video and making any final touches, we downloaded the MP4.
7. Upload to Video Host: Upload the AI-generated video to a video hosting provider, such as SproutVideo. Now your video can easily be shared, privately or publicly. 

Check out our complete list of the best AI tools for video editing and production, including Pictory, which was used to generate the video above. 

3 Ways to Write a Script with AI 

AI can produce seriously impressive scripts. But it’s often more helpful to employ AI as an assistant, rather than asking it to do all the work for you. Here are a few ways you can use AI to brainstorm fresh ideas and expedite scriptwriting. 

Conduct Dynamic Solo Brainstorms

Brainstorming in a group setting synthesizes more engaging, interesting perspectives. Artificial intelligence can quickly gather a large range of potential ideas. To get effective and customized output, you will need to ask specific questions or provide significant detail. 

Using our example from before, you might ask AI to, “provide 40 different potential settings for an explainer video about a luxury, organic makeup brand for affluent women in their 30s who value sustainable business practices and desire a minimal but stunning daily beauty routine.”

Alternatively, you might include those same product and brand details but ask AI to, “write 40 different taglines for this brand,” or, “write a story about a woman who uses this makeup.” 

AI output is hugely dependent on the input. Introduce various different prompts or ask for a significant number of responses to conduct a productive solo brainstorming session.

Get a Rewrite to Gain Perspective

AI learns from the content that already exists across the internet. Therefore it’s not always ideal to write the first draft using AI. The boundless originality of the human imagination is a huge asset that shouldn’t be quickly discarded for convenience. But whether you hit writer’s block or need some insight into your own writing, consider asking AI to rewrite your first draft. 

Be specific with your rewrite request. Instead of simply asking AI to, “rewrite the script,” be specific about what you want to be changed. For example, you can ask AI to expand the script, add uniqueness, or change the setting. Consider what you want to be changed in the script and use precise words to generate a useful rewrite. 

Which AI Writing Tool Is the Best at Rewriting Copy? 

Without additional instruction, how well do our favorite AI script generators rewrite scripts? That may depend on your preferences! 

• ChatGPT changed as little as possible by selecting synonyms while keeping the same general outline and sentence structure. 
• Jasper took significantly more liberties by condensing sections of dialogue and expanding sensory elements. 
• Hoppy Copy was the “Goldilocks” of the group, providing genuinely helpful rewrites of some sentences, rather than only changing individual words or rewriting the overall text.

We found this feature to be particularly helpful for rewriting clunky text or fixing sentence structure. At a minimum, AI rewriting can take pressure off of the first draft by allowing you to produce multiple, similar iterations. This makes it easier to identify weaker sections to improve the second version.

Mimic a Viral Video

It’s not easy to write a script that engages a wide audience. But there are a lot of viral videos that have done just that. Why not use AI to generate a similar tone (emotional, humorous, etc.)?

To test this out, we asked ChatGPT to mimic “1984“, a classic Apple commercial that first introduced the Macintosh personal computer. 

• Make sure to reference a video produced before September 2021, since ChatGPT doesn’t have information past that point.
• Ask AI to write a script inspired by the name of the commercial and brand. For example, we asked ChatGPT to generate, “Video Script for XYZ Makeup (Inspired by Apple’s “1984” ad)“

The results are shockingly accurate — even too similar at times to use. In this case, a parody of this classic commercial would likely be a big hit.

Provide minimal information for best results. Use follow-up requests to customize the output for your brand or products.

What Makes an AI Writing Tool Good?

Among the 30+ tools we tested, many were built specifically for scriptwriting. While some of these tools offered useful features for screenplay writers, none of them were built for marketing writing and failed to meet our standards. 

Additionally, the vast majority of AI writing tools relied too heavily on their contract with OpenAI, as well as a handful of mediocre templates. If the AI writing tool you’re considering only offers these basic features, the free version of ChatGPT is sufficient. 

Instead, the best AI script writers (and AI writing tools overall) are those that:

• Offer the ability to save information about your brand.
• Provide the ability to “chat” directly with AI.
• Include specific templates that the AI utilizes well. 
• Integrate AI with a solid writing user experience.
• Utilize multiple AI models (generally)

Many of the tools we tested were unintuitive, produced overly simplified copy, and failed to compete with the free version of ChatGPT. But the three AI writing tools we chose can be used to produce quality videos from draft one through the final script. 

Ready for more? Discover AI tools for video production or brainstorm corporate video ideas with tips for creating your own. Get inspired by the power of video for customer support or learn how to make a website for your videos in less than an hour. 

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