Video editing with your agent

1Send your footage

There are three ways to get footage to your agent, and none of them fill up your agent's own space, which is small.

An upload link. Ask your agent for an upload link and open it on your phone or computer. Choose your videos and they go straight to the editing computers, up to 8 GB each, and it works from mainland China too. Keep the page open until it says everything is uploaded, then tell your agent. The link works for 2 days.

A share link. If your videos are already in Google Drive or Dropbox, send your agent a share link set to anyone with the link. Your agent hands it straight to the editing computers, so even a long 4K video arrives in seconds. Share links from Baidu Netdisk, Aliyun Drive and other Chinese cloud drives can't be opened this way, so use an upload link for those.

In the chat. Photos and short clips can go straight into the chat in the AgentSmith app, which takes files up to 15 MB, Hermes Desktop or Telegram, which stops at 20 MB.

Tell your agent what the video is for and where it will be posted, because a Reel, a YouTube intro and a product page each need a different shape and length. Your originals are never changed, and every edit is saved as a new file.

2Getting your videos back

Finished videos come back as a download link that works for about 3 days. Open it and save the video to your own Google Drive, Dropbox or phone. Your agent doesn't keep copies, so if a link runs out, ask for the video again.

3Quick edits

For everyday edits, say what you want in your own words. Some examples:

• Cut this into a 30 second vertical reel with captions.
• Make three short clips from this vlog, one for each tip I give.
• Add Chinese subtitles to this video.
• Resize this for YouTube and for Instagram.
• Take out the pauses and the ums.

Your agent checks the length and the resolution before it sends the video, and it tells you up front if a long 4K video will take a few minutes.

4Voice-overs and music

Your agent can write and record a voice-over in a voice you describe, like "a warm, friendly female voice", and it keeps that voice for your next videos so they sound the same. It can also use your own voice from a recording of you. It will only copy your voice, or a voice you have written permission to use.

It can make original music too, either instrumental or a song with lyrics, from 10 seconds to 10 minutes long. The music is new and yours to use in your posts, and your agent won't imitate a named artist or song.

5Studio edits

For a more polished piece, ask for a studio edit. Studio edits are reels built from your photos or clips with animated titles, transitions, captions, your logo at the end and music. Send the photos or clips with your request and say something like:

• Make a studio edit: a 15 second vertical reel of my five outfits, with a short caption on each and a question at the end.

Studio edits are made automatically and usually arrive within 5 to 10 minutes. The studio edits what you send. It can't film new scenes, create people or change what's inside a photo, and if your request needs that, your agent tells you and suggests what can be made from your files instead.

6Your brand kit

Ask your agent to set up your brand kit, and send it your logo, your brand colours and your fonts if you have them. After that, every studio edit uses your colours, your fonts and your logo, and your captions look the same every time. You can also give it notes about your style, like "playful, never salesy". To change or remove the kit, just ask.

7Your own video formats

If you post the same kind of video again and again, like a before and after, a top five or a product of the week, ask your agent to make it a template. Describe the format, and your agent designs it, makes a test video for you to check, and saves it. From then on you only send new photos and say which template to use.

8Good to know

Your footage is only used for your own videos. It's processed on cloud computers we rent by the minute, and the copies there are deleted 3 days after a quick edit and 14 days after a studio edit. Videos you send with an upload link are deleted 3 days after you upload them, even if they were never edited. Your brand kit stays saved until you ask your agent to remove it.

Only send music, logos and fonts you own or are allowed to use, and get permission before you use someone else's face or voice. Your agent never posts anything for you. You get the videos, and you decide what goes online.