Guide
Add screenshots to a talking head video so each one shows while you talk about it
Updated
A screenshot works best when it appears on the exact words where you mention it and goes away when you move on. You can line that up by hand in any editor, or let Cutroom's Magic Editor place each one for you.
In short
- Adding a screenshot means placing it on a layer above your clip, then trimming it to the words where you mention it.
- CapCut, Canva and iMovie let you put a screenshot over your clip by hand, and you line it up with your words yourself.
- Cutroom's Magic Editor does it for you, so each screenshot you upload appears on the words where you talk about it.
- If a screenshot lands on the wrong line, you ask Jacob, the Magic Editor's AI editor, to move it in plain words.
- In a vertical video, put the screenshot in the top half, so your face and the captions stay visible under it.
How do you add screenshots to a talking head video?
You put each screenshot on a layer above your clip. Then you trim it so it starts and ends on the words where you mention it.
- In the CapCut app, you tap Overlay, pick the screenshot and tap Add overlay, then pinch and drag it into place.
- In Canva's video editor, you add the screenshot and drag the trim handles at its edges to set when it appears.
- In iMovie on iPhone, you tap Add Media, pick the photo, then tap More and choose an overlay option.
- Then you play it back and nudge each screenshot's start and end until it matches your words.
Where to put a screenshot in a vertical video
In a 9:16 video, your face and your captions already take up part of the screen. Put the screenshot where it covers neither, and make it big enough to read on a phone.
- Put the screenshot in the top half of the frame, so your face and the captions stay visible under it.
- Show it full screen for a moment when people must read a detail, like a price or a setting, then cut back to your face.
- Use a smaller window over the top of the frame when your face matters more than the detail.
- Crop each screenshot to the part you talk about, so its text is about as big as your captions.
- Blur or crop out emails, customer names and anything private before you add it, because a still picture stays readable.
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
Letting AI put each screenshot on the right words
In Cutroom's Magic Editor, you add screenshots in the Your files step, next to your clip. You press "Make my video" once, and Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit. Each screenshot lands on the words where you talk about it.
Before the edit, you pick one of four styles, and the style decides how each screenshot is shown.
- Steps shows them in floating windows above you, with one big word under them.
- Skit slides them onto a panel over your face while you talk about them.
- Verdict plays them on a drawn laptop, with you in a small box at the bottom.
- Poster shows no screenshots at all, so pick another style for a walkthrough.
- You can add up to 20 files. Pictures can be PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 25 MB; recordings can be MP4, MOV or WebM up to 200 MB.
A founder's app walkthrough with one screenshot missing
She uploaded calendar.png with her clip. She'd forgotten the pricing screenshot, so she added it later in the chat with Jacob.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 45-second phone video of a founder showing two screens of her booking app
“Um, so this is the pricing page, uh, and this is the calendar where, uh, where your clients pick a time.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Steps style
“This is the pricing page, and this is the calendar where your clients pick a time.”
- On “calendar”: your screenshot calendar.png in a floating window
- On “clients”: the word set big under the window
- Under the whole video: calm music under your voice
window: calendar.png
Then you ask Jacob
- “Put it on the pricing line”v2pricing.png, which she added in the chat, now shows in a floating window while she says “pricing page”
- “Use less text on screen”v3the same edit with fewer words on screen, so both screenshots are easier to read
Moving a screenshot to other words
In a timeline editor, you drag the screenshot along its track and trim it again. In the Magic Editor, you say where it should go, and Jacob makes a new version with it there.
- You type where it goes, such as “put it on the pricing line”, and Jacob puts the screenshot on those words.
- You can also tap words in the transcript and put a file on them yourself, which costs nothing.
- If you forgot a screenshot, you upload it in the chat, and Jacob asks which words it belongs on.
- A chat message that changes the video costs 40 credits, and a question that changes nothing is free.
- Every change Jacob makes is a new version. The earlier versions stay, and going back to one is free.
No screenshots? What fills the screen instead
Without screenshots, Jacob looks for short clips that fit your words, called b-roll. It checks your own clip library first, then the stock sites Pexels and Pixabay.
- A stock clip fills the screen, but it can't show your own app, page or numbers.
- Stock clips only fill the gaps, so upload a screenshot for every screen you talk about.
- The app nudges you to add at least two files for Steps and Verdict, and at least one for Skit and Poster.
- Poster is the style made for no screens, with big words carrying the video instead.
- Jacob never makes AI-generated clips. Each clip is your own file, a clip from your library or stock.
Questions people ask
- How do I put a screenshot over a video?
- Put it on a layer above your clip. In the CapCut app you tap Overlay and Add overlay, in Canva you drag its trim handles, and in iMovie on iPhone you add it as an overlay. Then match its start and end to your words.
- How long should a screenshot stay on screen?
- As long as you're talking about it. If you only name it in passing, say one more sentence about it, so people have time to read it.
- Can I add screenshots to a talking head video on my phone?
- Yes. The CapCut app and iMovie on iPhone both put a picture over your clip. Cutroom's Magic Editor works in a phone browser too: you upload the clip and the screenshots, and Jacob places them.
- Does Cutroom put the screenshots in the right place by itself?
- Yes. Jacob puts each screenshot on the words where you talk about it. It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready. If one lands on the wrong line, ask Jacob to move it for 40 credits.
- Can I use a screen recording instead of screenshots?
- Yes. Upload it the same way, and it plays as the demo while you talk it through. You can mix screenshots, a screen recording, product photos and your logo in one video.
- Can I add screenshots to a long YouTube video?
- Not in the Magic Editor. It takes a clip of up to 3 minutes and makes one vertical 1080 by 1920 video. For a long or wide YouTube video, use a timeline editor such as CapCut, Canva or iMovie.
Upload your clip with your screenshots, and Jacob puts each one on the words where you mention it. Your first video is free.