Cut the dead air off the start and end of a lesson video
Almost every recording has a bit at the front where you are checking the camera is on, and a bit at the end where you are reaching for the stop button. Neither belongs in the lesson.
You do not need to re-edit and re-upload the file to lose them. Tell Bernard where the lesson should start and stop, and it plays only that stretch.
How it works
- Find the two moments. "Start at one minute thirty, end at fourteen oh five." If you are not sure, ask where you begin the demonstration - Bernard can read the transcript and tell you the timecode (Where do I say that? Search inside my own lessons).
- Ask for the trim. It applies immediately. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is re-processed, and the original recording is untouched.
- Approve. Learners see the trimmed lesson once you say so (How do I approve or undo changes?).
Because the file is never changed, a trim costs nothing and is not a decision you have to get right first time. Move the ends, watch it, move them again. Ask for the whole video back and the trim simply comes off.
Captions, the transcript and any chapter markers all come with it. A lesson trimmed to start at 1:30 reads from 0:00, so a learner clicking a line in the transcript lands where they expect (Captions and transcripts, written for me).
This is different from making a clip. A trim changes the LESSON; a clip makes a separate short video to post or send somewhere else, and leaves the lesson alone (Turn a lesson into a shareable clip).
The prompt
“In the [lesson name] lesson of my [course name] course, start the video at [1:30] and end it at [14:05] - cut the setting-up bit off the front.”
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 I trim a video after I have already uploaded it?
- Yes, and it takes seconds. Say where it should start and stop and the lesson plays only that stretch. Nothing is re-uploaded, nothing is re-processed and the original file is untouched, so you can move the ends as many times as you like.
- Does trimming lose my captions or transcript?
- No. They are kept and simply follow the new start - so if you cut the first 90 seconds, the transcript starts at 0:00 rather than at 1:30, and clicking a line still jumps to the right moment. The chapter markers move with them.
- Can learners still see the part I cut off?
- No. The lesson page plays only the stretch you chose - there is no way to scrub past the ends you set.
- How do I put the whole video back?
- Ask for the whole video again and the trim comes off. Nothing was ever removed from the file, so the full recording is still there - and, as with every change, learners see it once you approve.