Make a film from footage I already have
You have said it well already. Somewhere in your course there is a minute where you explain the thing exactly right - unhurried, in your own words, looking straight down the lens. And separately you have a screen recording, or a video of the product, that shows what you mean. On their own they are two files. Together they are a film.
That joining used to be the whole problem. It meant a video editor, a timeline, and an afternoon of nudging one clip against another until the voices did not talk over each other. Now it is a description.
How it works
- Say what the film is. Which course the footage lives in, roughly what you want to open on and close on, and which video goes in the middle. If you are not sure which moment is best, ask - bernard can search your teaching for it (Where do I say that? Search inside my own lessons).
- Bernard checks you are actually on camera. This matters more than it sounds. Courses are rarely wall-to-wall talking head - long stretches are titles, animation or stock footage, and the words being spoken read exactly the same over all of them. So before a moment is used, bernard looks at what is on the screen at that point, not just what is being said.
- The middle video fits the voiceover. If you recorded a voiceover, the middle section is gently sped up or slowed down so the picture lands with the words - a small adjustment you would not notice watching. If the two are wildly different lengths, bernard says so and tells you which to trim rather than stretching something until it looks wrong.
- You see the shape before anything is made. How long the finished film will be, each moment quoted back to you in your own words, and where the text strips fall. This is the moment to change your mind - it costs nothing.
- Then it renders. A few minutes, in the background. When it is done the film is a file on your site, and bernard can put it on a page for you - that part waits for your approval, like every other change.
What comes back
One widescreen film with a closing card. It lives in your site's files, so you can drop it onto a page, link to it, or download it and post it wherever you already show up (What should I post, and where? is the honest guide to choosing).
If what you want is an interview instead - your customers' real questions, each answered on camera - that is the same machinery pointed a different way: see Make a question-and-answer video from my lessons.
One honest limit: films are made from footage that already exists. Bernard does not shoot anything, and does not invent a voice for you. If the moment is not in the footage, it is not in the film - and bernard will tell you that rather than approximating it.
A note on names. Each film keeps the name you give it, and bernard will not quietly write over a film you already made, because finished videos are held in people's browsers for a long time and a silent replacement would leave them watching the old one for weeks. Give the new version its own name.
Two close cousins while you are here: one moment on its own becomes a shareable clip (Turn a lesson into a shareable clip), and the short taster that sells the course itself is a trailer (Give my course a trailer).
The prompt
“Make a film from my [course name] course: open with where I explain [the idea], then my screen recording [file name], and close with [the other moment].”
Press Copy, then paste it into your AI and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard first - a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI.
Questions people ask
- Can bernard make a promo video or a marketing film for me?
- Yes, out of footage you already have. It takes the moments where you explain something well in your course, wraps them around a screen recording or a product video, adds the captions along the bottom and a closing card, and gives you back one finished film. Nothing is filmed fresh - it is your own footage, cut together.
- How is this different from a clip or a course trailer?
- A clip is one moment, cut out to post on its own. A trailer is the short taster that sits on your course page and sells the course. A film is a made thing: several pieces from different places, joined, with your voice or a voiceover running over the top of the middle section. Use a film when you want something that stands alone.
- Do I see it before it is made?
- Yes, and this is the step that matters. Bernard shows you the shape first - which moments, quoted back in your own words, which lesson each came from, and how long the finished film will be. Making the film costs real rendering time, so nothing starts until you say go. Putting the finished film on a page is a separate change and still waits for your approval, like any other.
- What do I need before I start?
- A course with at least one video lesson that has finished processing, and the video you want in the middle - a screen recording, a product video, anything you can upload. If you have recorded a voiceover, that helps too. If you have not, the middle video simply plays with its own sound.
- Can I put the questions or key points along the bottom of the screen?
- Yes. Those are the strips of text that appear low in the frame and fade in and out. You supply each one as an image and say roughly where in the film it belongs, and bernard fades it in and out at that point. Bernard works out the exact timings from the film's own running time before anything is made, so you can check them.