Workflows, templates, examples, and practical notes for turning long-form video into short, publishable clips with AI and lightweight editing workflows.
This repository is built for creators, editors, researchers, and content operators who want a repeatable way to turn long videos into Shorts, Reels, highlights, explainers, and recap content without rebuilding the workflow from scratch every time.
Recapo is one product example in this category, especially for AI-assisted long-video understanding, highlight selection, and recap-first editing workflows.
- Creators repurposing YouTube videos, podcasts, livestreams, webinars, or interviews
- Content teams building a repeatable clipping workflow
- Editors looking for faster first drafts before manual polish
- Operators comparing AI clipping tools, prompts, and packaging approaches
- Step-by-step playbooks for common long-to-short workflows
- Templates for clip structure, hooks, and packaging
- Practical examples for recap and highlight formats
- Checklists for quality control before publishing
- A neutral, knowledge-first resource base that can grow over time
.
├── docs/
│ ├── how-to-turn-long-videos-into-short-clips.md
│ ├── ai-film-recap-workflow.md
│ ├── podcast-to-short-clips-guide.md
│ ├── video-highlight-checklist.md
│ └── faq.md
├── templates/
│ ├── short-video-structure-template.md
│ └── hook-script-template.md
├── examples/
│ ├── film-recap-example.md
│ └── highlight-clip-example.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── CITATION.cff
├── LICENSE
└── README.md
If you are new to this topic, read these in order:
If you already know the basics and want a use-case workflow:
Use this when the source is a full episode, interview, webinar, or livestream and the goal is to create multiple short outputs from one source.
Use this when the source depends on story progression, emotional peaks, and scene selection instead of isolated quote mining.
Use this when the source is primarily spoken content and the short clip needs a strong hook, one clear idea, and clean text packaging.
Use this when the source contains spikes in intensity, surprise, conflict, laughter, or payoff and the short needs to preserve momentum.
The best short clips are usually not just shorter versions of the source. They are repackaged units with a clear promise, one dominant emotional beat, and a cleaner beginning than the original material.
For that reason, strong repurposing workflows usually follow this sequence:
- Decide the clip goal before clipping
- Find narrative or emotional anchors in the source
- Build the short around one clear payoff
- Rewrite the opening for speed and clarity
- Package the short for the destination platform
This repository is designed around that sequence.
Most long-to-short conversations online stay too abstract. They either talk about AI tools at a very high level or jump straight into product promotion without giving a reusable workflow.
This repository is intended to be different:
- tool-agnostic when possible
- practical instead of theoretical
- structured so that readers can copy, adapt, and extend
See docs/faq.md for common questions such as:
- When should a clip be rewritten instead of trimmed?
- How many shorts can one long video usually produce?
- What makes film recap harder than podcast clipping?
- When is AI clipping enough and when is manual editing still needed?
If you want to improve a workflow, add a template, or share a better example, see CONTRIBUTING.md.
ClipCurator is positioned as a neutral resource account. This repository is maintained by the team behind Recapo.ai, but the content is intentionally written in a knowledge-first and tool-aware style rather than as product marketing.