From Facebook Ad to DIY Video Shorts
It started with a Facebook ad...
The offer was simple: take a full-length sermon and extract two 1-minute clips to post on social media. As someone who’s been exploring the idea of sharing “reels” or “shorts” lately, it caught my eye. Every Sunday, I record the full sermon at my chapel, broadcast it live via OBS, and it goes straight to YouTube. So, this seemed like a logical next step.
The offer was simple: take a full-length sermon and extract two 1-minute clips to post on social media. As someone who’s been exploring the idea of sharing “reels” or “shorts” lately, it caught my eye. Every Sunday, I record the full sermon at my chapel, broadcast it live via OBS, and it goes straight to YouTube. So, this seemed like a logical next step.
The Subscription Dilemma
Curious, I reached out to the advertiser and found it was a monthly subscription service. I’d just send them a YouTube link, and their AI would automatically generate two clips highlighting key moments. Here’s the thing: I’m not a big fan of subscription models unless absolutely necessary. I remembered seeing an App from a well-known Mac/Windows software Startup distributor offering a similar AI process with an App with one-off purchase. It came with a 30-day refund guarantee, so I decided to give it a try.
Testing the App
The App worked, as advertised. But it wasn’t quite right for me. My main issue? Framing. I tend to shoot sermons tightly, and that didn’t translate well when converting from landscape (16:9) to portrait (9:16). Add to that a few other issues, choppy edits, words getting cut off, and a noticeable dip in video quality and I knew it wasn’t the right solution. I reached out to the company, explained where the app fell short for my needs, and they refunded me promptly. To their credit, they appreciated the feedback and said it helped them identify areas for improvement for users with sermons to cut.
The Lightbulb Moment.
That’s when I had a moment of clarity: I already had the tools and now I'm retired, had the time to do this myself. I back up each sermon on my camera’s memory card while streaming via OBS. I have a 27” iMac running DaVinci Resolve Studio 20 Beta, an absolute powerhouse of a tool. Resolve now includes some fantastic features like Transcribe, Smart Reframe, Auto Audio Assistant, Magic Mask 2, and more.
Editing with Resolve.
I started with a 1920x1080 timeline in Resolve and dropped in the full 30-minute sermon. Resolve transcribed the entire video, and I edited out a 60 second clip directly from the transcript, the whole process is light years away from the old three-machine analog suites I used to work with!
Once I had my 60-second highlight, I switched the timeline to 720x1280 vertical format. Smart Reframe handled the resizing intelligently, keeping the subject mostly in frame. I previewed the result using Smart Render, added auto-generated subtitles (which I reviewed for accuracy), and then rendered the final clip and uploaded to Facebook.
Lessons Learned and What’s Next.
Moving forward, I’ll need to adjust my camera framing slightly, widening the shot to give speakers more room to move without moving out of a vertical frame (and maybe gaffer tape the speakers feet to the floor!). But with Resolve, I can now produce two or three short clips for YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels with minimal effort.
What started as a passing ad on Facebook ended up sparking a whole new workflow for me, one that gives me more control, better quality, and no monthly fees. Just a bit of effort, and the right tools. (Anyone got a Mac Mini M4 going spare?)
Update - Over 200 views on Youtube in 8 hours from my first 'Short' on YouTube!
Update 2 - 1000 views in 3 days.
