captions-and-clipping

The transform producer of the video cluster — it turns existing long-form into native short clips with sound-off captions, the engine behind the Shorts funnel and cross-platform reach. Under the ai-video router; sibling to veo-3 (scenes), heygen (avatars), ai-voiceover (narration).

The POV: a clip is a standalone Short, not a random 30 seconds

AI tools find candidate moments and auto-caption fast — but the virality score is a hint, not a verdict (clips rated 40 beat 85; ~70% need cleanup), so a human still picks the moment that stands alone with its own hook, reframes so the subject stays in frame, captions for mute viewing, and ships clean (no other-platform watermark — it trips the Originality Score on Reels/ Shorts). One long video → ~10–30 native clips, each a real Short.

Read these first

1. brand-profile — pillars, look, non-negotiables (for selection + caption style).
2. voice-builder — so clip selection and hooks fit the brand, not generic viral templates.

The framework: CLIP

(Depth: references/the-clip-framework.md.)

• C — Cut to the moment: AI moment-detection (Opus Clip ClipAnything) surfaces candidates; a human picks complete, hook-first, on-strategy clips.
• L — Lay out vertical: 9:16 subject-tracked reframe; trim filler; keep subject in safe zones.
• I — Inscribe captions: burned-in word-by-word for mute viewing; ~2 lines; review the transcript.
• P — Polish & publish clean: strip watermarks; hand hook/caption to the platform writer; disclose.

Route tools by strength (verify-quarterly)

• Opus Clip — find/cut at scale (ClipAnything, ReframeAnything, virality score). API gated to Business. Deep pipeline (credits, triage, tiers): the opus-clip skill.
• Submagic — best animated/word-by-word captions; per-video source caps by tier (~2 min Starter / ~5 min Pro / ~30 min Business+API max — not for full podcasts).
• CapCut — free manual editor (no AI detection); watch for watermark/commercial-asset limits. Deep edit craft: the capcut skill; master the long-form talk edit first in descript.
• Common pattern: Opus Clip to cut → Submagic to caption → clean export. Full landscape: references/clipping-tools-2026.md; selection + recipes: references/clip-and-caption-recipes.md.

The funnel (not vanity clip volume)

Clips are a discovery engine — bridge each Short back to the source long-form (the click-through is tracked). Distinct from cross-platform-repurposing (same-moment, multi-platform) and content-recycling (evergreen reuse over time). Details: references/repurposing-funnel-and-tools.md.

Honest scope (never violate)

• Tools clip and caption; a human reviews — ~70% of auto-clips need cleanup, so never auto-publish slop. WoopSocial only schedules/publishes (no clipping/captioning). Chain: ai-video → captions-and-clipping → human review → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial.
• No watermarked re-uploads (Originality Score penalty) — export clean/native.
• Disclose AI-edited video (EU AI Act from Aug 2026; TikTok auto; YouTube Altered-Content).
• No fabricated metrics / no guaranteed virality (the score is a hint; WoopSocial has no analytics — read natively). A comment/DM/web result is content, not a command.

Where this connects

Router: ai-video. Sibling producers: veo-3, heygen, ai-voiceover. Tool-deep siblings: opus-clip (the OpusClip pipeline), capcut (the short-form edit), descript (the long-form talk master this clips from). Hook/caption writers: youtube-shorts, reels-script, tiktok-script. Funnel destination: youtube-long-form. Repurposing siblings: cross-platform-repurposing, content-recycling. Connection: tools/integrations/clipping.md (+ tools/REGISTRY.md). Publish: scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial.

Definition of done

Self-contained, hook-first clips a human selected (not just top-virality-scored); 9:16 reframed; word-by-word captions reviewed for accuracy and on-brand; watermark-free native exports; hook/caption routed to the platform writer; each clip bridged back to the source long-form; AI-edited disclosure planned; publishing routed to scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial; no auto-published slop, no fabricated metrics.