Make a TikTok short, start to finish

This is a full recipe — from blank page to a postable vertical short — that ties the other guides together. We'll make a faceless product clip for TikTok / Reels, but the same steps fit any short.

Plan the clip

• Format: vertical 9:16, a few seconds per shot, 2–4 shots total.
• Hook: decide the first second. The opening shot has to stop the scroll.
• Beat per shot: one action each — don't cram a whole scene into one clip.

For our example: a 3-shot clip for a reusable water bottle — *unboxing → in use → hero shot.*

Step 1 — Generate the visuals

In the video generator, set 9:16 and work shot by shot. Real prompts for the example:

Shot 1 (hook): *A hand lifts a matte-green water bottle out of a kraft box on a sunlit kitchen counter, slow push-in, crisp morning light. 9:16, 3s.*

Shot 2: *The same bottle being filled at a tap, water splashing, shallow depth of field, bright and fresh. 9:16, 3s.*

Shot 3 (hero): *The bottle standing on a mossy rock outdoors, slow orbit, golden hour. 9:16, 4s.*

Seedance 2.0 is fast and vertical-first; Veo 3.1 gives the most camera control. Keep early renders short and at default resolution while you find the shots, then commit the keepers. See Choosing a model and Prompting for video. Got a real product photo? Drop it in as a Start Frame — see Image-to-video guide.

Step 2 — Add voice and music

In the audio studio:

• A tight voiceover: *"Hydration that actually looks good. Meet the one bottle you'll never lose."*
• A music bed: *"warm upbeat indie-pop, light percussion"* — instrumental, kept quiet under the voice.
• A couple of sound effects — a box open, a water pour — for texture.

See Voiceover and audio basics and Music, sound effects & dialogue.

Step 3 — Assemble

Sequence the three shots and lay the audio underneath in Flow, or build a multi-scene edit in Studio. Trim each shot to its beat and make sure the hook lands first.

Step 4 — Export and post

Export 9:16 as MP4. Add on-platform captions when you upload — most viewers watch muted, so the first line of text matters as much as the hook shot.

The shortcut

Want a finished clip in one step instead? A one-tap Effect turns a single photo into a themed vertical video with no setup — great for trend-style posts.

More recipes

For specific formats, these use-case pages walk through complete examples: UGC video, UGC ads, and lip-sync videos.