The problem
Many clients now want short vertical clips from every interview or event film, and finding the best moments and reframing them by hand is slow. Cutting 5 clips from each of 4 long videos a month at 30 minutes per clip is 10 hours a month.
What the AI does
OpusClip takes a long video, picks out short clips, reframes them to vertical 9:16 and adds animated captions; paid plans add a virality score and watermark-free export. Processing uses 1 credit per minute of source video, and Starter includes 150 credits a month, enough for four 30-minute films. An editor reviews every suggested clip, trims clumsy cuts, checks the captions and gets the client's approval before anything is posted.
A worked example
A three-person video production company in Newcastle films 4 thought-leadership interviews a month for business clients, each about 30 minutes, and sells a pack of 5 social clips with each.
Before
20 clips a month at 30 minutes each to find, cut, reframe and caption: 10 hours
After
If OpusClip's suggestions need 10 minutes each to check and tidy: about 3.3 hours
What it's worth
About $356£268€319A$515C$504 a month saved, against about $15£11€13A$21C$21 for OpusClip Starter. About 6.7 hours a month saved (10 hours down to about 3.3), worth about $356£268€319A$515C$504 at an assumed $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour, if many suggested clips need only a light tidy (an assumption to test on the free plan). Cost: Starter is $15 (about $15£11€13A$21C$21) a month with 150 credits, enough for 150 minutes of source video; Pro at $29 (about $29£22€26A$42C$41) has 300 credits, square and landscape reframing and a team workspace.
How to set it up
- Try the free plan on a past client interview and compare its picks with the clips you chose.
- Move to Starter for watermark-free export, and set up the client's brand template for captions.
- Upload each finished long video and review every suggested clip: trim, reorder or reject as needed.
- Correct the captions word for word, especially names, product terms and numbers.
- Send the clips to the client for approval before anything is posted.
What goes wrong
- The AI picks moments that sound punchy, which can take a quote out of context. Check every clip against what the speaker meant.
- Starter only reframes to 9:16 and has one brand template; square or landscape clips and up to 4 templates need Pro.
- Credits are per minute of source video, so a 90-minute event uses 90 of Starter's 150 credits.
- Files on Starter expire after 29 days, so download everything you deliver.