How to make Reels without losing an evening

A reel about your work does one job: one tip, one answer, one story. Write it as a few lines you'd say out loud, not an essay.

Time it before you film. The free script length calculator shows how long your words run at your own pace, and the online teleprompter scrolls them while you record. The video script template gives you the shape: hook, point, ask.

Hold the phone upright, at eye level, a little more than arm's length away. Face a window so the light falls on you, not behind you. Get close to the phone, or use a small clip-on mic, because bad sound loses people faster than a plain background.

Reels take shapes from 1.91:1 to 9:16, at 720 pixels or more and 30 frames a second ^[2]. Upright phone video sits at the tall end. If you stumble, pause, then say the line again: the pause makes the cut easy.

Most of the editing is taking things out: the breath before you start, the false start, the 'um'. Each cut that removes a bit of you mid-sentence is a jump cut, and on a talking reel nobody minds them.

Add B-roll, a few seconds of something to look at, where you describe a place, a document or a result.

Postmosis edits the video you filmed on your phone in the browser: it cuts the pauses, retakes and filler words, adds captions in 6 styles, keeps your face in frame, drops in B-roll, and exports 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 and 16:9 in one run. See the video editor

Many people watch with the sound off. Instagram can make captions for you: it uses speech recognition to create closed captions for reels ^[3]. You can also add your own text on screen by tapping the text icon after you record or pick a clip ^[4]. Put the hook in big text in the first second.

Tap Create, then Reel, pick your video and tap Next ^[5]. Before you share:

• Pick the cover. The recommended size is 420 x 654, and you can't edit it after you upload ^[2].
• Write a caption that says what the viewer gets, and add up to 5 hashtags ^[6].
• Stay under 3 minutes if you want it shown to people who don't follow you yet ^[1].
• Not posting now? Reels can be scheduled up to 30 days ahead from the app ^[5].