Write the shot list
Play the reel and pause at every cut. For each shot, write one line:
- Time: when it starts and ends, in rough seconds.
- Role: what job the shot does.
- What's on screen: a person, a product, hands, a place, a text card.
- Camera: still, slow push-in, pan, handheld.
- Words: what's said or written during the shot.
A 15-second reel often has somewhere between four and ten shots. Rough timings are enough to see the rhythm.
If pausing by hand is slow, paste the link into the free viral reel analyzer. It writes the shot list for you: the timing, the shot types, the caption style and the camera moves.
Name each shot's job
Most shots in a short reel do one of these jobs:
- Talking. A person speaks to camera. This carries the story.
- Product. The product on its own, often with a slow camera move.
- Cutaway. Something that shows what the speaker is talking about: hands using the product, the result, the place.
- Text card. Words on a plain background, used for list numbers, prices or a call to action.
- Reaction or proof. A look at the result, a before-and-after, a reveal.
Once the jobs are labelled, the reel becomes a recipe: "talking, cutaway, cutaway, product, text card." That recipe is what carries over to your brand.
Read the pacing
Look at the gaps between cuts.
- Steady cuts (about every two to three seconds) feel calm and clear. They suit explainers and demos.
- Fast cuts feel energetic. They suit lists, hauls and reveals.
- A long single shot works when one person is talking and the words do the work.
Also note where the cuts land. In many strong reels a cut lands on a key word, so the picture changes with the idea. Clone Viral Videos keeps the reference's cut timing and times captions to each spoken word.
Shots that are easy to rebuild
- one person talking to camera
- product shots with simple camera moves
- cutaways that show a product in use
- text cards, which are drawn by code and stay sharp
Shots that cause trouble
Plan around these before you commit to a reel:
- Two people talking to each other. Lip-sync is less reliable with two faces, and it takes more shots.
- Very fast montages, more than about one cut per second. Similar shots tend to get merged.
- Detailed hand work, such as pouring, applying cream or assembling something small. Fine finger movement can come out wrong and may need a redo.
- Small print on packaging. Logos and big text are fine. Fine print can blur.
- App or software screens. AI can't make a real screen recording, so you'd need your own.
None of these rule a reel out. They show where to expect a redo. Each Clone Viral Videos clone includes 2 free single-shot redos.
Check the length
Note the total length. Remade reels can be 8, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 seconds. Shorter reels are cheaper and often easier to keep tight: an 8-second hook uses half a credit, and a 15-second reel uses one. See pricing for the full table.
Exercise
Write the shot list for your strongest reel from lesson 2. Label each shot's job and circle any shot from the "trouble" list. If more than a couple are circled, consider a simpler reel. Then compare your list with the analyzer's breakdown and fix anything you missed.
More reels to practise on are in the template library.
Next: Lesson 4: match it to your business. Back to the course overview. Need a hook refresher? Try the hook checker.