If you've been cutting in a "professional" editor, you know the feeling: you open the app, spend 20 minutes just figuring out where the trim tool is, drop a clip on a timeline, then close it all and reach for CapCut on your phone because at least it works. This is a short, opinionated walkthrough of how we cut a 60-second talking-head short in CutShit in under 10 minutes — start to TikTok-ready export.
1. Drop your clip in
Open CutShit, hit Ctrl + I, pick the long video file. It lands in the media bin. Drag it onto the timeline. That's it — no "import preset" dialog, no proxy generation unless you turn it on. By default we just play the file in place.
2. Mark the in and out
Hit Space to play. Hit I to mark in, O to mark out. The trim is the segment between the two markers. You can keep nudging with ← and → for frame-accurate moves. The waveform under the timeline shows you the audio peaks, so you can cut on breaths without listening back.
3. Auto-caption it (Pro)
Click the caption panel, hit Transcribe. Whisper runs on your machine — for a 60-second clip on a modern CPU it's about 4 seconds. Pick a style (we ship 40+ in v2.4). Drag the caption track up or down to position it. Done.
4. Drop in the reaction cam
Import a second clip — your webcam recording. Drag it to the overlay track. Resize with the corner handles, drag-shadow on, mask it as a circle if you want the "TikTok reaction" look. Snap to thirds if you want it precise.
5. Export
Hit Ctrl + E. Pick the TikTok preset (1080 × 1920, 30 fps, AAC). The encoder picks NVENC / QSV / AMF if your GPU supports it; otherwise it falls back to a fast software path. On a 2022 laptop, this 60-second export finishes in 18 seconds. On an M-class desktop GPU, under 5.
What's the catch?
Honestly, for a 60-second short, there isn't one. CutShit isn't a DaVinci replacement — there's no Fusion, no Fairlight, no 8-cam multicam. It's the editor for "I have a clip, I want it to look good, I have 10 minutes." That's the bar. If you need more, you need a heavier tool, and that's a fine line to draw.
Try it
The Free build has all the steps above except the auto-captions and the BGM. Download it, cut something, see how it feels. The Pro features unlock with a single Pro license, no per-month meter.
