Wed Feb 14, 2024

Install Shotcut

Create a project

personally, I like the naming convention with the date (YearMonthDay) first and a title

for example: 20220821_beach

Organize your photos and videos in your desired order in file explorer first

it is much harder to rearrange things in software, so I really recommend that you do it in your file explorer Drag your photos/videos into the ‘Playlist’ tab

Select all with CMD + SHIFT + A (MacOS)

Click on the Playlist Menu (stacked three lined button) which is on the next row directly above ‘Export’ and select ‘Add Selected to Slideshow’

Options that need adjusting:

Clip duration: usually no shorter than 7 secs

Aspect ratio conversion: Pad Blur

To add audio track:

CMD + U or right click on your Timeline and select Track Operations > Add Audio Track To splice audio or video clips:

Click on the thing you want to splice

Use the ‘S’ key to splice

To adjust audio levels of your song:

select your song on the Timeline so that there’s a red box highlighting it

click on filters, click the ‘+’ button, click or search for ‘Gain / Volume’

To create a title or text:

At the top left, click ‘Open Other’ and select Color

Once you’ve created your color, drag from the PREVIEW SCREEN and drop it into the Timeline (yeah I know weird)

From there you can add a Filter with Text

When you are done and ready:

Save

Go to the Export button and hit ‘Export File’

the default is a H.264/AAC MP4