Guide
Make a UGC video by filming upright, answering four questions and pressing one button
Updated
You make a UGC video in four parts: plan what to say, film yourself on your phone, edit the clip and send it to the brand. This guide walks through each part on one example clip of a person talking, not an AI actor.
In short
- To make a UGC video, write a short script with a hook, film yourself upright on your phone in a quiet room, edit in captions, product shots and music, then export a 9:16 file for the brand.
- Filming needs no studio. Influentials' phone guide says to face a window, record in a quiet room and hold the phone upright for 9:16.
- The usual edit takes several apps: a chatbot for the script, an editor such as CapCut or InShot, a caption tool and a stock site.
- In Cutroom's Magic Editor you upload the clip, answer four short questions and press "Make my video". Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole edit, and you change it by chat.
- A paid UGC video needs a disclosure. The FTC says it belongs in the video itself, not only in the description.
How do you make a UGC video?
A UGC video is a short clip of a real person talking about a product, filmed like a normal post. This guide is about filming yourself; many results for this search are about AI-generated actors instead.
Making a UGC video, start to finish
Plan
Read the brief and write a hook, a few lines and one ask
Film
Upright, in a quiet room, facing a window
Shoot the product
A few photos or short clips of it
Edit
Cut the slow parts, add captions, product shots and music
Send
Export a 9:16 file and deliver what the brief asks for
Filming a UGC video on your phone
Your phone is enough. What matters most is filming upright, in good light and in a quiet room, and starting on a strong line.
Influentials' guide puts the hook in the first 3 seconds. TikTok's ad guide asks for it in the first 6 and recommends a DIY, not overly polished style.
- Hold the phone upright and film in 9:16. Influentials warns against cropping a horizontal video to vertical afterwards.
- Face a large window for soft daylight, and avoid a bright window behind you.
- Record in a quiet room. A carpeted room has less echo, and the Magic Editor can't remove background noise later.
- Keep your face and the product near the middle of the frame, because the app's buttons and captions cover the edges.
- Talk to the camera in one go. Mistakes are fine, because the edit cuts the ums, and the Magic Editor takes clips up to 3 minutes.
- Before or after, take a few photos or short clips of the product, such as close-ups and the product in use.
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.
Editing it without five different apps
The usual route uses several apps. A chatbot writes the script, and CapCut or InShot cuts the pauses and adds captions. B-roll and music come from stock sites.
In Cutroom's Magic Editor it happens in one place. You upload the clip, pick a style and add your product photos. Then you answer four optional questions and press "Make my video".
- "What are you selling or showing?" In the example, the answer is "A physical product".
- "Who is it for?" Here, "New parents".
- "What should people do after watching?" Here, "Tap the link in my bio", which becomes the ending.
- "Where and when will it run?" Here, "TikTok".
- It normally takes 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email when your first cut is ready.
- After the first edit you change it by chat. A message that changes the video costs 40 credits, and every change Jacob makes is a new version. The earlier versions stay, and going back to one is free.
A skincare routine clip, from phone video to UGC ad
The four answers above go in before the press. Jacob cuts the warm-up and the restart, puts the serum on screen when it's named and ends on the link.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 45-second phone video of a mum filming her morning skincare step in the bathroom
“Hi, um, okay. As a new mum I've got about two minutes for skincare, so this serum is the one step I never skip. It goes on, sorry, It goes on right after I wash my face, and my skin feels calm all day. … (pause) If you're short on time too, tap the link in my bio.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Skit style
“As a new mum I've got about two minutes for skincare, so this serum is the one step I never skip. It goes on right after I wash my face, and my skin feels calm all day. If you're short on time too, tap the link in my bio.”
- On “serum”: your product photo serum.jpg, cut in on this word
- On “wash”: your short recording routine.mp4 of you putting it on, playing as the demo
- On “calm”: the word set big in your accent colour
- On “bio”: the ending on a phone, with the call to action "Tap the link in my bio"
window: serum.jpg
Then you ask Jacob
- “Change the music to something calmer”v2softer music under the same edit
- “Keep my pauses, it feels too rushed”v3the same edit with more of your natural pauses kept
Sending the video to the brand
Read the brief again before you send anything. It says the length, the format, the call to action and which files the brand wants back.
If the brand is paying you or sent the product for free, say so in the video. The FTC says the disclosure belongs in the video itself, ideally both said out loud and shown on screen.
- Words such as "ad" or "sponsored" are fine for the disclosure, the FTC says, and a hashtag like #ad is optional.
- The Magic Editor exports a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920, 30 frames a second, with the sound levelled. If the brief asks for 4:5 or 16:9, that version needs another editor.
- Some briefs ask for the raw clip as well, so keep your original phone file.
- Cutroom doesn't post for you. You download the MP4 and send it through the brand's upload link or platform.
- Free exports carry a Cutroom mark across the middle. Lite at $19.99 a month removes it, which matters for paid brand work.
Questions people ask
- How do you make UGC videos with just your phone?
- Write a short script with a hook, then film yourself holding the phone upright, facing a window, in a quiet room. Edit in captions, product shots and music, and export a vertical 9:16 file.
- Do I need a script for a UGC video?
- A short one helps. Write a first line that makes a specific claim, two or three reasons and one ask at the end, then say it in your own words rather than reading it.
- How long should a UGC video be?
- As long as the brief asks. Brands usually set the length, so check it before you film. The Magic Editor takes a clip of up to 3 minutes, and you can ask Jacob to "Make this about 10 seconds shorter".
- Do UGC videos need to say they're an ad?
- Yes, when a brand pays you or gives you the product. The FTC says the disclosure should be in the video, not only in the description, and words like "ad" or "sponsored" are fine.
- What app do you need to edit UGC videos?
- Any editor that cuts, captions and exports 9:16 works, such as CapCut or InShot, where you make each edit yourself. Cutroom's Magic Editor makes the whole edit from your clip and takes changes by chat.
- Is AI-generated UGC the same as filming UGC yourself?
- No. AI-generated UGC uses an AI actor and no filming. This guide is about a real person filming themselves, which is what Cutroom's Magic Editor edits.
Film your first UGC clip on your phone today, then let Jacob make the edit. Your first video is free.