Not for: Not a tool that reads the rituals for you, and not one that invents the look behind the leaves if the camera was on the wrong side.
Story beats for this day
- Gaye holud. Turmeric on the bride and the groom, often at their own homes, with conch shells and ululation. Bright, close and happy; a few faces under the paste set up the day.
- Shubho drishti. The bride is carried in on a low wooden seat, her face hidden behind betel leaves, until the moment she lowers them and sees the groom. It is the shot of the night. Keep the reveal whole, from the leaves to the first look.
- Saat paak and the mala badal. Seven circles around the groom and the exchange of garlands, often with cousins lifting the bride higher. Plenty of movement; keep the shots where both faces can be read.
- Sindoor daan. The groom puts sindoor in the bride’s hair parting, often under a cloth held over them. A still, close moment. Let the song quieten here.
- Bidaay and the bou bhat. In many families the bride throws rice back over her shoulder to her mother as she leaves, then days later the bou bhat welcomes her to her new home. End on faces: the parting, then the welcome.
After Vantacut Auto-Edit makes the cut, walk these beats on the timeline. A missing one is an ordinary clip; swap it in.
How Vantacut cuts it
Import the cards from each gathering, or each as its own project, and turn on AI analysis; speech is understood in 22 Indian languages and English. Choose the song, pick Cinematic Story, and tell Auto-Edit the couple matter most when it asks. It shows the plan, then lays the reel on a new timeline of ordinary clips. Check that the shubho drishti is whole and that the sindoor daan comes after it.
The music
A song that can hold both the noise of the saat paak and the hush of the sindoor daan. If the bou bhat is a separate film, give it a separate song. The song’s length is the reel’s length, and the cuts land on its beat.
The light
Morning daylight for the gaye holud, then a night ceremony under tungsten, fairy lights and fire. The red and white of the sari and the yellow of the turmeric are the look. Auto Balance Colour evens white balance across the cut; check skin and the red on the colour page so the night does not go orange.
Theme
Start with Cinematic Story. You pick it alongside the song and the brief, and if the pace is wrong you can run Auto-Edit again with another of the four.
Your footage stays on your computer
Editing, playback and export run on your computer, and your original footage and songs never leave it. To find moments, Auto-Edit shares low-quality copies of your clips, still frames and the speech, and the app asks once before anything is sent. The editor works worldwide, in English; credit packs are priced in Indian rupees.
Questions
Will the shubho drishti reveal stay in one piece?
Check it on the timeline after the cut. If the reveal was trimmed, extend the clip: it is an ordinary trim, not a new run.
Can the bou bhat be a second film?
Yes. Import its cards, choose its own song and run Auto-Edit again. The reel opens on its own timeline and pays for its own minutes.
Can the ululation and the conch shells stay audible?
Yes. Keep that stretch of the clip’s sound in the reel and the song ducks under it. Speech and blessings, in 22 Indian languages and English, can count as moments too.
Get the editor
Windows and Linux now; macOS is coming. The editor is free; create your account when it first opens.