---
title: Make a trend edit like CapCut: slow-mo, meme, freeze frame
description: A vertical trend edit like a CapCut template: speed ramps and slow-mo on the drop, a freeze frame, a reverse, meme text, shake and glitch transitions.
---
You get a vertical trend edit, the kind people make from a CapCut template: a velocity edit with speed ramps, slow-mo on the drop, a freeze frame with a caption, a quick reverse, meme text, and shake, flash or glitch transitions. Your agent times every move to the beat of the song.
Use invideo for this when you want the effect timed to the music without a template: your agent finds the drop in the song, ramps the speed there, and every move stays editable on the timeline after.
## Quickest path
Set up your agent first with [invideo for AI agents](/agents). Then give it this prompt.
```text
Make a 15 second vertical velocity edit from ./skate.mp4 to the song
./song.mp3. Ramp the speed down to slow-mo on the drop, freeze on the
jump with the text "wait for it", then a shake zoom transition back to
normal speed. Keep text clear of the TikTok buttons. Show me frames.
```
In a chat app, you drag your clip and song into the project's Media panel in invideo, then name them in the chat. In a terminal, you name the files and the agent uploads them.
## What you need
A trend edit needs one strong clip and a song with a clear drop.
- **Clips.** MP4 or MOV from your phone. Clips shot at a high frame rate give smoother slow-mo.
- **The song.** Your own licensed file, or a track from stock music. Trending sounds from an app stay in that app.
- **The moves.** Slow-mo, speed ramp, freeze frame, reverse, meme text, shake or glitch.
- **The text.** The meme lines, top and bottom, or one caption.
- **The shape.** 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
## Steps
Your agent edits on a branch and tells you what changed at each step.
The agent makes a project with `new_project`, a 9:16 timeline with `new_timeline`, and a branch with `timeline_history`. Expected result: a vertical timeline URL on the new branch.
The agent uploads both with `start_upload` and `add_media`, or adds a stock song from `stock_music` with `search_library`. It places the clip with `place_media` and fills the frame with `fill_frame`, and the song on its own audio track. Expected result: the clip and the song on the timeline.
The agent runs `media` `audio.markers` on the song for its tempo and drops, and `audio.beats` for the strong beats, and turns each time into a frame: seconds times the frame rate. Expected result: the frame of the drop, and the beats around it.
The agent runs `retime` with `kind` ramp on the clip, from normal speed down to slow-mo across the drop, with `shape` ease_in_out. Later clips move to make room. The clip's own sound goes silent while its speed is changed, so the song carries the sound. Expected result: the clip slows on the drop.
The agent runs `retime` with `kind` freeze at the peak frame for a short hold, and `kind` reverse on a short range for the rewind moment. Expected result: the picture holds, then plays back.
At each cut, the agent adds a catalog transition with `add_transition`, such as `shake_zoom`, `flash`, `glitch` or `zoom`. On the clip, it can add an effect with `add_effect`, such as `wiggle` for camera shake or `pixel_glitch`. It adds meme text with `add_text`, white with a black stroke, and safe zone guides with `create_guide`. Expected result: transitions on the beats and text inside the guides.
The agent runs `capture` before, on and after the drop, at the freeze and at each text, and `check_timeline`, and looks for the drop on the slow-mo and text that reads on a phone. Then it runs `export` with `format` video. In a terminal, it saves the file with `invideo notebook show` on the card's URL. Expected result: an export card with status `completed`.
The same job from a terminal:
```bash
invideo project new --title "Skate edit"
invideo agent register --name
export INVIDEO_AS=
invideo edit new --name "Velocity" --width 1080 --height 1920
invideo asset upload ./skate.mp4 ./song.mp3
invideo media audio.markers
invideo media audio.beats
invideo edit catalog --ops retime,add_transition \
--transitions shake_zoom,flash
invideo edit show
invideo edit change --timeline T1 --token \
--operations @ops.json
invideo edit capture --at 4,6,7.5,9 --out ./frames
invideo edit export --format video --quality 1080 --json
invideo status --wait
invideo notebook show --out ./out
```
Where each value comes from:
- `` is the name you choose in `invideo agent register`. `INVIDEO_AS` passes it to every later command.
- `` comes from `invideo project new`, and `` from `invideo edit new`. `` is the URL `invideo asset upload` returns for the song.
- `` comes from `invideo edit show`. `ops.json` holds a bare list of operations, like the `operations` list in the call below.
- `` is `.sequences[0]` of the export result. `invideo status` waits and saves nothing. `invideo notebook show` saves the file as `./out/export.mp4`.
The key MCP call is the full call. It ramps to slow-mo on a drop at 6 seconds, freezes at the jump, and adds the meme text. At 30 fps, 6 seconds is frame 180. `` is the `branch_url` that `timeline_history` returns. The `` and the clip id `c1` come from `get_timeline`.
```json
{
"url": "",
"timeline_id": "T1",
"expected_state_token": "",
"operations": [
{ "op": "retime", "clip": "c1", "kind": "ramp", "from_f": 165,
"to_f": 195, "start_speed": 1, "end_speed": 0.25,
"shape": "ease_in_out" },
{ "op": "retime", "clip": "c1", "kind": "freeze", "at_f": 240,
"duration_f": 30 },
{ "op": "add_text", "track": "V2", "start_f": 240, "end_f": 270,
"text": "wait for it",
"style": { "font_size": 90, "color": "#ffffff", "stroke": true,
"stroke_color": "#000000", "stroke_width": 6,
"align": "center" } }
]
}
```
Each `retime` moves the frames after it. The agent reads the timeline again with `get_timeline` before it places transitions after a ramp.
## Cost and time
Edits and exports are free. Generation and transcripts cost credits. Paid stock costs a small credit charge, or one of your workspace's iStock licenses. Your agent runs a dry run first and tells you the price before it spends anything.
- **Free:** every `retime`, transitions, effects, text, guides and the export.
- **Tool ops:** `audio.markers` and `audio.beats`. The dry run shows its price before anything starts.
- **Costs credits:** a paid stock song. Your own song file costs nothing.
A trend edit takes the agent a few minutes. A few tries on the ramp timing are normal. See [Credits and what they cost](/account/credits) for prices.
## If something goes wrong
Most problems are timing and sound after a speed change.
| Symptom | Fix |
| --- | --- |
| The clip goes silent after the ramp | That is how `retime` works. Put the song on its own audio track, or `retime` with `kind` reset to bring the sound back. |
| The slow-mo looks choppy | The clip has few frames a second. Use a clip shot at a higher frame rate, or a smaller slow-down. |
| The drop lands late | Each `retime` moves later frames. Read with `get_timeline`, then move the clip with `move_clip`. |
| `retime` refused | Looping clips are refused. Place the clip again without the loop. |
| `add_transition` refused | The two clips must touch on one track with no gap and no transition. |
| Meme text sits under the app buttons | Move it inside the guides with `set_position`, and `capture` again. |
| Exit code 6, or `status` is `held` | A safety review, not a refusal. Wait, then run `invideo status --wait` again. Do not resend. If it ends `failed`, change the input the review flagged. |
| CLI exit 3 | The timeline changed since your read. Run `invideo edit show` and rebuild the ops. |
| Avoid: guessing the drop by ear | Instead: read `audio.markers` and `audio.beats` and use their times. |
| Avoid: saying done without looking | Instead: `capture` before, on and after the drop. |
## Prompts to try
Each prompt is a different trend.
```text
Make a meme edit from ./cat.mp4: top text "me at 3 am", bottom text
"one more episode", freeze on his face, then reverse the last second.
Vertical.
```
```text
Make a 20 second velocity edit from my gym clips in ./gym to this
song. Speed up between beats, slow down on every fourth beat, and a
flash transition on each slow-down.
```
```text
Make a glitch edit of my outfit clips in ./fits. A glitch transition on
every beat, pixel glitch on the drop, and my handle at the end.
```
## When to use something else
invideo does not open CapCut templates or use trending sounds from inside TikTok or Instagram. Make the edit here with your own or stock music, then post it and add the trending sound in the app if you want it.
invideo does not track a face to zoom on it. For a face-locked zoom, the agent keys the zoom by hand with `add_keyframe_lane` and `add_keyframes`, or you use an app with face tracking.
## Related
- [Make Reels and Shorts from your footage: hook, captions, transitions, sound effects](/how-to/creators/reels-and-shorts-from-your-footage)
- [Make a birthday montage from photos and clips](/how-to/personal/birthday-montage)
- [Make a vertical travel video from phone clips](/how-to/personal/travel-video)
- [When to use CapCut vs invideo](/compare/capcut)
- [Timeline edit operations](/reference/edit-operations)