A useful news recap starts with a small set of verified statements and pictures you have permission to use. Match each sentence to its source, write a short narration, then assemble the pictures and labels in CapCut. Keep event photos, archive material and illustrations clearly identified throughout the edit.
When you use an AI news video generator, treat the script and visual choices as editorial decisions. Keep reporting facts fixed while you use editing tools to arrange the story. Here is a practical workflow built around a historical NASA example, with a source table and a script you can adapt to your own reporting.
1. Choose One Update and Check Its Facts
Start with a single question: what does the viewer need to know after watching? For this practice recap, the answer is that Orion returned to Earth at the end of Artemis I. The event took place in 2022, so the opening must identify it as archive material rather than a new development.
Make a fact sheet before opening the editor. For each statement, save the source URL, the relevant passage, the event date and the date you checked it. Distinguish a planned event from a completed event: a preview of an expected landing cannot establish that the landing happened.
Use the following as a compact example. The statements are paraphrases, not quotations.
For a story involving people, check each person's full name, role and spelling against the original reporting. This example needs no named person, so adding an official's name or a quotation would add unnecessary checking and script length.
Trace every factual sentence through the same chain before it becomes narration.
2. Separate Event Evidence From Explanation
A dramatic picture can change the meaning of a factual sentence. Decide what each asset actually shows before choosing where to place it.
- Event photo or footage: a documented view of the event. Check its caption and date before describing the action.
- Archive or background material: a real view from another time. Label the date or its contextual role when the sequence could suggest it was captured during the current event.
- Illustration: a diagram or other explanatory visual. Label it as an illustration when it could be mistaken for documentary imagery.
These categories can overlap. An event photo from 2022 is also archive material when used in a historical recap today. The important distinction is what the viewer could reasonably infer from the picture beside the words.
Use the categories below to decide which label a shot needs. They describe editorial choices rather than a product feature.
For the practice edit, use three NASA photos: a return view with Orion in the ocean, an earlier onboard view from the flight and a descent view under parachutes. Record each photo’s original NASA page URL, image identifier, capture date and required credit beside its filename. Use the credit specified in each record. Keep the pictures as still photographs in the edit rather than presenting them as continuous footage of the return.
Check reuse rights for each file. NASA's media guidelines permit factual informational uses subject to their conditions, including acknowledgment and checks for third-party material. Other publishers' pictures need their own permission. Save the relevant rights record instead of treating a downloadable file as permission to reuse it.
3. Write a Script With One Job per Shot
Use a result-first structure: the update, enough context to understand it, then a closing image that reinforces the same story. A background shot can interrupt chronological order if its label makes that change clear.
For a short practice cut, start with these three original narration sentences:
Opening: Orion returned to Earth on December eleventh, twenty twenty-two.
Context: Its Artemis One mission lasted twenty-five and a half days.
Close: NASA's photographs document the flight and return.
This script describes the photographs without inventing witness testimony or an on-location recording. Record your own narration or create a neutral reading of the approved text. Keep the spoken script with the fact sheet so changes can be checked before another export.
Plan the visual sequence separately from the spoken sentences. A sentence may finish before its picture changes; the picture can remain on screen long enough to read its date and source.
The 15-second length and five-second picture holds are settings for this example. Choose your own duration around the narration and the time needed to read each label. A longer story should earn its extra time with additional verified information.
Use this planning order to keep the edit focused as you add pictures and text.
4. Assemble the Recap in Capcut Online
On a Mac, open CapCut in your browser and choose Video Editor from the workspace. The following steps use CapCut Web.
- 1
- Upload the permitted photos and your narration file. After import, inspect the sequence: upload order and the order you intended to tell the story may differ. Arrange the pictures as result, flight context and descent for this example. 2
- Set the canvas ratio to 16:9. Keep the full photo visible when cropping would remove the capsule or parachutes. Side bars are a useful choice for the portrait descent photo because they preserve the documented composition. 3
- Adjust the picture clips to the planned holds. Put the narration at the start and keep the final image on screen through the closing line. If the recording runs beyond the pictures, extend the last hold or shorten the script before exporting. 4
- Open Text, choose Add heading and replace the placeholder with the first shot's label. Set a readable size and use a dark background behind white text. Extend the text clip to cover its picture. 5
- Add separate labels for the remaining pictures. Check the dates after duplicating a text clip; copying the style must not leave the previous shot's date on a different image. 6
- Move the labels into empty space. On the flight-context shot, keep the spacecraft and solar array visible. On the descent shot, leave the parachutes and capsule clear.
The flight-context frame below shows a dated photo inside the actual CapCut export. Its label identifies an earlier stage of the mission even though it appears between return images.
If you want AI-created explanatory material alongside your reporting, prepare it through the CapCut AI video generator and keep its role separate from event evidence. Add a clear illustration label where needed. The factual photo sequence above does not require generated scene footage.
5. Check the Export Against the Fact Sheet
Choose Export, then Download. In the export settings, review the name, resolution, frame rate and format before exporting. The practice file used 1080p, 30fps and MP4. Those are this example's settings rather than a requirement for every destination.
Open the downloaded file rather than relying on the editor preview. Check the opening, each picture change and the final frame. Confirm that the file contains your current project and that every label stays with the correct photo.
In the descent frame, keep the portrait photo visible and place the archive label above the parachutes. Describe the image as Orion descending toward splashdown. Preserve the capsule and parachutes when fitting the photo into the canvas.
Complete a final review in three passes:
- Facts: compare every spoken claim, date and name with the fact sheet. If you change a sentence, recheck its source before rerecording it.
- Pictures: watch without sound. Confirm that archive dates and illustration labels are readable, and that an earlier picture does not appear to document a later event.
- Sound: listen to the complete exported file. Check pronunciation, missing words, the end of each sentence and whether the voice remains understandable beside any music. A correct written script does not replace listening to the export.
If a label hides the event, move it and export again. If a date is unreadable on a phone, shorten the label or increase its size. If narration implies something the picture and source do not establish, rewrite that line before changing the visuals to fit it.
Keep the final video, script, source table and rights records together. If you reuse the recap later, review its dates and labels again so the historical material remains clearly identified.
FAQs
Can an AI News Video Generator Verify the Facts for Me?
No. An AI news video generator does not establish that a claim is true. Verify each claim against its original source before editing, and check any generated script against those sources.
Can I Use Archive Photos in a News Recap?
Yes, when you have permission to use them and their context is clear. Include the event date or an archive label when viewers could otherwise mistake them for current images.
What Should I Do When I Have No Footage of an Event?
Use a permitted event photo, a clearly labeled diagram or a text-led explanation. Match the narration to what the source establishes and identify illustrations so viewers can distinguish explanation from evidence.
Do I Need to Fill the Entire Video Frame With Every Photo?
No. Keep the full photo visible when filling the frame would remove important evidence. Use the remaining space for a readable date or source label without hiding the subject.