Block out a video before you shoot: placeholders and structures
Write the whole video as named slots with notes, shoot to the list, drop the clips on the slots. Five built-in structures to start from.
Most short videos are the same shape every time. A hook, a few points, a close. BetterEdits lets you lay that shape out as named slots before you have a single clip, and Claude can write the layout from a sentence.
The five structures
New Video in the app offers five built-in structures. Each is a timeline of placeholders with notes on what to shoot:
| Structure | Slots |
|---|---|
| Talking head | Hook, points, close |
| Tutorial | Setup, steps, result |
| B-roll montage | Beats over music |
| Before and after | Two states, one cut |
| Listicle | Numbered slots with a title each |
Pick one in the sheet, or ask Claude for it by name.
Ask Claude for a structure
New 9:16 video called Hook v2: hook, demo, call to action, five seconds each, with music underneath.
Claude writes the timeline: three named placeholders on the video track, a music placeholder on the audio track. A placeholder plays as a black plate with its name, in the viewer and in exports, so the piece already has a length and a rhythm.
Add notes so you know what to shoot:
Add a note to each slot: hook is me at the desk saying the problem in one line, demo is the screen recording, call to action is me again.
Notes live on the clip and show in the sidebar when you select it.
Add the text while the slots are empty
Text does not need footage under it.
Put a title over the hook in the Strong favorite that says "Stop doing this", near the top, for the first two seconds.
You can see the whole piece now: black plates, a title, the music slot. That is the plan.
Shoot, then fill the slots
Back with footage, drop a file on a placeholder in the timeline. The file takes the placeholder's spot and length. A shorter file asks whether to keep its own length, fill the rest with a placeholder, or cancel.
Or let Claude fill them from the footage folder:
Fill the hook slot with take-2.mov from "the problem is" to "every single time", and the demo slot with screen-1.mov from the start.
If the footage has been analysed Claude finds those words. If not, give it seconds.
Drop any song on the music slot. Music ducks under a voiceover on its own.
Keep the structure for next time
A structure you like is worth saving.
Save this video as a template called Hook.
Next week:
New video from the Hook template, called Hook v3.
Why block out first
A blank timeline asks you to invent and edit at the same time. A row of named slots asks one question at a time: what goes here? Claude is good at the layout and you are good at the footage, and the placeholders are where the two meet.
