Creating and editing videos

Create a video from your own footage, generate new clips with AI, and combine images, captions, and audio on a timeline. Export the finished edit to your media library, then add it to a page or download it.

Your saved timeline, generated source clips, and exported video are separate. Saving the timeline preserves your edit. Exporting creates a finished video file. Neither action publishes a website page or replaces a video already used on one.

Open the editor and protect existing work

Go to Site → Media → Create media → Create Video. Check the project title and timeline before adding anything: the editor can reopen your existing saved draft.

You need permission to create and edit media, working media storage, and video processing enabled on your site. AI generation also needs a video-capable provider and model configured under Settings → Providers. A text or image model alone is not enough. Follow Why can’t I see or edit a feature? if access is missing.

Give the project a recognizable name using Video project title at the top. Draft edits save automatically to your account on the current site. Wait for the saved status before leaving; a saving, conflict, or error message is not confirmation that your latest edit is stored.

The editor keeps a current draft rather than a separate project for every name you enter. Renaming the title does not create a backup. Project actions → Start a new video clears the timeline and its saved draft after confirmation. Exported videos remain in Media, but an exported file does not preserve separately editable layers. Keep the draft until you are finished revising it.

Use footage, images, music, and voices you have permission to use. AI prompts and source images are sent to the configured service; include only material appropriate for that service. Generation can incur provider charges, including repeat attempts.

Build a first edit from your own media

For a short service introduction, start with one main video, add a logo image and a short title, then review the result before adding more effects.

1. Move the playhead—the current time marker—to where the first clip should start. Use Go to start for the beginning.
2. Choose Add media in the timeline toolbar. Search by filename or filter to Video, Image, or Audio.
3. Click the intended asset tile to add it at the playhead. Use the tile’s menu to choose another compatible track or Open in library to inspect the source. Clicking a tile adds it; it is not just a preview action.
4. If the file is not uploaded, choose Upload media. Select or drop your video, image, or audio file and wait for processing to finish. Return to the media choices and add the ready asset to the timeline. See Uploading and organizing media for supported files and limits.
5. Read the placement message, choose Done, and confirm the clip is on the intended track at the intended time.
6. Move the playhead before adding the next asset. Repeated additions at the same time can overlap. The On the timeline label does not prevent you from adding another copy.
7. Play the sequence and check the transitions between clips. Watch for unintended gaps, overlaps, or a still image that remains too long.

Use Add track for another available layer. A track’s own menu can open Add media for that specific track, so the picker shows compatible sources.

The main picture goes on Background video. Other tracks support an avatar video, image overlays, voiceover, music, additional audio, and captions. Their purpose determines which asset types they accept. Images on overlay tracks can be used for logos or callouts; check their scale and position in the preview.

Hiding a visual track or muting an audio track excludes it from both preview and export. Turn every wanted track back on before exporting. The separate Mute preview control only silences your preview playback.

Generate one AI clip

From Add media, choose Generate with AI. In Generate Video, keep One clip selected.

1. In Describe the shot, explain the subject, action, setting, camera movement, and anything to exclude.
2. Choose Length and Motion. Available lengths include 5, 6, 8, 10, and 15 seconds; provider support can vary.
3. Open Advanced if needed. Under Start from an image, choose Choose image to animate a library image. Without a start image, generation uses the written prompt.
4. Check Project format and Size. These also affect the timeline’s output canvas; changing them is not limited to the next source clip.
5. Choose Generate clip once. Watch the progress and any error message.
6. When it succeeds, play the result and check the reported filename and timeline position. The clip is saved in Media and added to the timeline automatically.
7. Choose Back to editor to arrange it, or Open in library to inspect the saved asset.

For example:

A slow camera push toward a handmade ceramic cup on a wooden studio table. Soft morning light, a little steam rising, no people, no lettering or logos. Keep the cup fully visible throughout the shot.

Use the prompt starters as starting points, then replace their example details. Inspect motion, object shapes, lettering, and any claims implied by the result before using it for customers.

Generate another creates another clip; it does not refine the existing file in place. Remove from timeline removes that result’s placement but keeps the library asset. To delete an unwanted library file, follow Replacing or deleting a media asset.

If you stop waiting or leave

Stop waiting stops waiting in the browser. Once a job has been queued, it can still finish on the server and save a clip to Media. It does not guarantee cancellation of provider work or charges.

Read the notice: stopping before the request is queued is different from stopping afterward. After leaving, a timeout, or an interrupted connection, check Media for a completed or processing result before generating again. If the result was not added to your timeline, add the saved clip through Add media.

Create a video with several planned scenes

Choose Full video when you want a brief turned into several shots. This plans and produces source material; you still review and export the finished edit.

1. Fill in What should this video do? with a concrete goal, such as “Introduce our pottery workshop and invite beginners to book a class.”
2. Choose Where it runs, the number of Scenes, and the length of Each scene. Where it runs sets the project canvas; it does not connect or post to that platform. The plan offers 2–6 scenes, with short scene lengths up to 10 seconds.
3. Open Add detail for the audience, product or offer, call to action, tone, visual direction, and constraints. Include only claims you can support.
4. Choose Create scene plan. Read every scene’s title, caption, timing, and prompt. Use Edit prompt to improve the footage request before generating.
5. Choose Generate for an individual scene, or Upload to use your own video or image for that scene. Generate [count] remaining processes scenes that do not yet have footage, in order.
6. Decide whether to enable Add scene captions to the timeline. This adds each scene’s caption over its time slot; it does not transcribe the spoken audio.
7. Check the shots-ready count, then choose Open editor. Review the actual footage, scene lengths, captions, and audio before export. Opening the editor does not prove that every scene is complete.

Regenerate or another upload replaces that scene’s timeline placement. Earlier generated files remain in the library. A batch stops if a scene fails or you choose Stop; already completed clips remain, and a queued request may continue. Check what exists before restarting the remaining work.

Changing the brief and choosing Replace scene plan creates new scenes and removes the previous plan’s placements from the timeline. Read the confirmation before continuing. The earlier files remain in Media, but their previous arrangement is not a separate saved project.

If the scene planner is unavailable and Cedros offers a basic outline, review and rewrite its captions and prompts before generating clips. The outline is a starting point; it does not contain finished footage.

Arrange, trim, and adjust clips

Select a clip on the timeline to open its properties. The preview shows the playhead’s position, which may be outside the selected clip. Use Not at the playhead — go to clip when offered, or move the playhead over it.

• Move: drag the clip’s middle to change when it starts. Check neighboring clips and the overall sequence afterward.
• Trim: drag an edge to shorten or adjust the used portion. Trimming the timeline does not delete the source library file.
• Split: place the playhead inside the clip, then use Split or Split at playhead in its context menu. Select the correct clip first.
• Duplicate or remove: use Clip actions or the clip’s context menu. Removing a timeline clip leaves its library file available.
• Undo or redo: use the timeline’s history buttons for supported clip edits in the current session. Do not rely on them as a saved revision history after reloading or starting a new video.
• Select several: Shift-click or Command/Ctrl-click to add clips to a selection. Check the selected count before moving, duplicating, or removing the group.

Use the zoom controls and Fit timeline to window to see the complete edit or work on a close cut. Review any overlap warning rather than assuming one clip automatically pushes the next aside.

For a selected visual clip, adjust Scale, Opacity, and Position & crop. Look contains brightness, contrast, saturation, blur, and sharpening. Motion → Animate position & scale adds an end position and scale for a pan or zoom over the clip’s duration.

Use Layer to move a clip to another compatible track. Moving video onto the avatar track enables background-color removal by default. In Greenscreen, check Remove background color, the key color, Similarity, and Edge blend. Turn the effect off if an ordinary video is losing colors or parts of its subject.

These adjustments belong to the timeline and its next export. They do not overwrite your original uploaded footage or update an earlier export.

Add readable captions and balance audio

Captions

Move the playhead to the start of the text, then choose Add caption. In Caption properties, enter Text, choose Style, Position, and Size, then move or trim the caption clip to set its timing.

The styles are Subtitle, Karaoke, and Clip art. Karaoke divides the words evenly across the caption clip; changing its text or length recalculates the timing. It is not automatic speech alignment. Listen to the audio and adjust the caption segments to match what is actually said.

Timeline captions are drawn into the exported picture. They are different from a caption file viewers can switch on and off. For speech, provide accurate text and relevant sound information, not just promotional scene headings. Check spelling, names, timing, contrast, and readability on a small screen. See W3C’s guidance on captions.

Keep important instructions in the page’s text as well, so visitors can find the information without playing the video.

Audio

Add your narration or music through Add media and place it on a compatible audio track. Selecting a video or audio clip exposes Volume and Fades. Reduce background music while checking that speech stays clear throughout the edit.

An audio track’s volume slider sets the volume of every clip currently on that track. Use the individual clip’s Volume when only one segment should change. Also listen for sound already present in video clips; adding a voiceover does not automatically remove it.

Mute preview only affects listening in the editor. To remove sound from the output, mute its audio track or set the relevant video/audio clip volume to zero. Clip volumes above 100% are boosted in the export, while the browser preview caps playback at 100%; listen to the exported result before publishing.

Export and check the finished video

1. Review the full timeline from beginning to end. Show every track you want included, remove accidental gaps or overlaps, and check the last frame and final audio fade.
2. Open Video settings in the toolbar. Choose Format and Size, then Done. Formats include vertical, widescreen, square, standard, and portrait. Sizes are 720p or 480p; Auto resolves to widescreen 720p for the output. Check the dimensions shown beneath the preview.
3. Confirm the project title and wait for the draft’s saved status.
4. Choose Export video. You need at least one visible image or video backed by a library asset; captions and audio alone are not enough.
5. Wait for the success message, then open the finished video in Site → Media. The export creates an MP4 asset and keeps your editable timeline.
6. Play the whole exported file with sound. Check its dimensions, duration, cuts, captions, volume, and beginning and ending. Check the asset’s description and access before sharing its delivery URL.
7. Download a copy if needed using Original under Delivery URL or Download original in Media actions on the asset details page.

The export continues on the server if you leave the editor. It uses the edit submitted when you clicked Export video; later timeline changes need another export. After a timeout or connection error, check the media library’s processing state before starting a duplicate job.

To put the finished asset on your website, follow Adding images, videos, and downloads to a page. Select the exported video, review its poster and playback settings, and publish the page through its normal workflow. Test the public page on desktop and mobile as the intended visitor.

A later export is a new file. It does not automatically replace an earlier video on a page or change links you already shared. Keep the old file until you have updated and verified its intended uses.

Troubleshooting

Generation is unavailable. Read the listed readiness checks. Ask your administrator to resolve missing storage, the video-provider assignment, or processing tools. For a quota, billing, or unsupported-option error, check the configured provider and requested settings before retrying. Editing your own footage does not require AI-generated clips.

The project uses an unsupported generation mode. The simple generator supports a written prompt or a start image. If the notice offers Switch to text-to-video, use it only when you intend to replace the existing generation setup. Otherwise keep the draft and ask the person who configured it for help.

A source is missing from Add media. Clear the search and filters, check the site, and confirm upload/processing finished. A picker opened from a specific track only shows compatible files. Keep source assets while you still need to edit or re-export the project.

The preview is blank or shows the wrong clip. Move the playhead over the intended clip. Check track visibility, opacity, position, source availability, and unintended overlaps. Selecting a clip does not always move playback to it.

Captions do not match the voice. Scene captions are generated copy, and karaoke word timing is evenly distributed. Correct the text and break it into accurately timed segments. Inspect the exported video as well as the preview.

Export video is disabled. Add a visible video or image asset, check whether all visual tracks are hidden, and read any server-readiness notice. If caption rendering is unavailable, ask your administrator to enable it. Hiding captions changes the output and should only be used if a caption-free version is intended.

The draft reports a conflict or save failure. Keep the editor open and preserve any text or settings you need. Retry attempts to save after an error. Load latest adopts the saved draft and can discard your unsaved local changes; coordinate with another session before using it. A successful export is not proof that every later draft edit saved.

Generation or export appears stuck. Read the stage and error, then inspect Media for the result and its processing state. Avoid repeated submissions while a job may still be running. A provider clip, a timeline export, and a website publication are separate steps.

For unresolved problems, use Getting help and reporting a problem. Include the site address, project title, affected asset, action, stage, and exact error. Keep private footage, delivery URLs, and provider credentials out of public reports.