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Quick start: create your first video in Selects

This guide walks you through creating your first video in Selects, from adding footage to exporting the finished edit.

Written by Nandita Kothari

This quick start takes you from your footage to a finished, exported video in Selects. You direct the edit, Selects does the work, and you can step in by hand at any point.

You can edit with Selects chat, or with an AI agent you already use: your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription, or the Selects MCP. Learn more in Which AI setup should you use in Selects?.

Tip: Download the Selects app to get started. It's free to use, and new users get 3,600 free trial credits to try the native Selects AI features.

Click to Download Selects

Step 1: Start a project

You can start a project from the Home screen in several ways. Pick the one that fits what you have.

  • Drop in your footage. With the chat box empty, drag video files or a folder anywhere onto the Home screen. Selects creates a project, opens it on the timeline, and asks whether to analyze your footage. Nothing is analyzed, and no credits are used, until you confirm.

    Animation: a folder of camera files is dragged from a folder window onto the Selects Home screen. A new project opens with the files in the Project panel, and Analyze media for edit appears with the files checked.

  • Describe your video. Type what you want in the chat box and press Enter. To include your files, click + in the chat box and choose [Attach a file] first. Selects creates the project, adds your files, and chat starts working on your request.

  • Start from an idea. Pick a category under the chat box: [Shorts · Reels], [Explainer · tutorial], [Longform], or [Ad · promo]. Each one shows ideas such as [Podcast episode] or [Product ad]. Pick one to put a ready-made prompt in the chat box. For ideas that use your own footage, Selects asks you to pick your files right away. Some ideas turn on [AI video] for you. Add any lines you want under [Choose a direction], fill in any blanks, and send. A few ideas show examples or templates instead: pick one and click [Recreate] to start a project from it.

    Selects Home screen with Longform selected. Under Make a video for your channel, Podcast episode is selected and its prompt is in the chat box. Choose a direction shows lines to add, such as Trim dead air, but keep the conversation natural.

  • No footage? Generate it. Click + in the chat box, choose [AI video], describe the video, and send. Chat makes it with AI video generation. Learn more in Generate video in Selects.

  • Start empty. Click the + card at the start of [Projects] to open an empty project, then add your files later.

Note: Shot with more than one camera, or recorded audio on a separate device? Sync those files so your angles and audio line up. Select the files in the [Project] panel, right-click, and choose [Sync]. Selects opens them as a synced timeline. Click [Sync clips] there to line them up. Learn more in Sync your files.

Step 2: Analyze your footage

Analyzing your footage gives Selects a transcript, speakers, topics, and a description of what is on screen. This is what chat, or any AI agent you connect, edits from, so your first cut is built on what you filmed.

If you started by dropping in footage, [Analyze media for edit] opens as soon as your footage is in, with every new clip checked. If you started by describing your video, chat decides when to analyze and asks you to confirm the credits first. Uncheck anything you do not want analyzed, compare the estimated credits with your balance, then click [Analyze]. If you closed it, click [Analyze N clips] at the bottom of the [Project] panel to open it again.

The Analyze media for edit dialog in Selects. The list says 6 files and 14 min of media; four files are in view, all checked, under Select all. Below the list is the credit balance, and an arrow points to the Analyze button, which shows the estimated credits.

We recommend analyzing your footage before you ask chat to build a draft. Without the transcript and visual analysis, chat does not have much to work with. If you ask chat first, it shows you the credits for analysis and waits for you to confirm.

You can keep working while analysis runs. Leave Selects open until it finishes.

Step 3: Ask chat for a first cut

To get a first cut, describe the video you want in chat. Chat builds the draft from your analyzed footage, so finish the analysis in Step 2 first.

Note: Editing by hand does not need analysis. Creating drafts with chat, removing silence, cutting filler words, and adding captions all need analyzed footage.

Chatting uses Selects credits unless you connect your own Claude or ChatGPT plan or use the Selects MCP. For example:

  • "Cut this down to a 5 minute highlight and open on the strongest moment"

  • "Tighten the pauses and cut the repeated words"

  • "Cut this to follow my script", then paste the script in

Your draft appears on the timeline when it is ready. If you would rather build the draft yourself, you can create one by hand.

Selects editor after asking chat for a first cut. Chat says the first cut is saved as a new draft, Workflow walkthrough, 3 min first cut, and lists how it plays step by step. An arrow points to that draft open on the timeline.

Step 4: Refine your edit

To refine your edit, give chat notes the way you would to an editor, and it makes the changes. To pin notes to exact moments, switch the [Assistant] panel to [Comments], leave comments as you watch, then click [Send comments to chat]. To give chat more context about a specific file, type @ in the chat input and pick the file.

Selects editor with the Assistant panel on Comments. Step 1 marks the Comments tab, step 2 marks three time-stamped comments, and an arrow points to the matching marker at the playhead, where the same comment is open on the timeline. Step 3 marks Send comments to chat.

You can also step in yourself at any point: edit the transcript like a text document, or trim, reorder, and add B-roll on the timeline.

Step 5: Add captions, effects, and graphics

To finish your video, open the [Apps] tab beside [Project]. Use [Captions] to turn your transcript into styled captions, and [Effects] to add text, transitions, zooms, and sound effects. For titles and animated graphics, ask chat for motion graphics.

Two screens side by side. Left: the Apps tab with step 1 on Apps and step 2 on the Captions app. Right: the Captions app open, with step 3 on Add captions above the line The transcript is used to generate captions, and Import SRT.

To set line length and what captions leave out, click [Caption settings] at the bottom of the Captions app.

The Captions panel with the Caption settings menu open. Step 1 marks the Captions tab and step 2 marks the Caption settings button. The menu shows Max length per line (Letters or Words), Multi-line (up to 2 lines), Punctuation, Hide words, Letter case, Silent section and Speaker tracks.

Step 6: Export your video

To export your finished video, click [Export] in the top right and choose [Video].

Export menu in Selects. Step 1 marks the Export button, step 2 marks Video. The menu also lists Transcript, handoff to Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer, and Instagram, TikTok and YouTube under Socials.

You can also publish your video straight to Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. In the same menu, under [Socials], choose [Instagram], [YouTube], or [TikTok]. Publishing to Instagram needs an Instagram professional account.

Prefer to finish in another editing software? In the same menu, under [Handoff to], choose [Adobe Premiere], [Final Cut Pro], [DaVinci Resolve], or [Avid Media Composer]. Your edit points, track layout, and speaker labels come across, linked to your original media. Captions, effects, color, and graphics you added in Selects do not carry over, so export a video if you want to keep them.

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