How To Use AI To Make Shortform Video Clips From Longform Content in Premiere Pro

TLDR: Long videos can be automatically turned into short-form clips inside Premiere Pro using Premiere Assistant's Create Shorts feature, which identifies the strongest segments based on your prompt and exports them at the correct dimensions for each platform.

Short-form videos have become a crucial aspect of content creation and content monetization. However, despite the shorter length, the amount of effort that goes into making these videos is anything but small.

Creating short-form content like TikToks, Instagram Reels, Reddit Story Videos, and YouTube Shorts doesn’t have to take hours, whether you're a creator, marketer, or video agency editor.

With Premiere Assistant’s AI-powered short video generator, you can turn a long video into high-performing clips in just a few clicks, directly inside Adobe Premiere Pro. You can even delve into automated series creation, if you want to. It’s that easy!

Selects by Cutback offers just as intuitive a solution. For a look at how high-output studios build the full workflow that makes this possible at scale, see how top video agencies use AI to stay ahead.

For editors starting from raw multicam rather than a finished cut, Selects vs Opus Clip covers where each tool actually saves time in the workflow.

Let’s dive in.

The Importance of Short Viral Videos: Why Shortform Content Matters

Short-form video content is the most engaging format on social platforms today. But repurposing your long video footage into short clips can be time-consuming, unless you use the right AI tools. Premiere Assistant simplifies the entire workflow so you can scale faster without editing fatigue.

Step-by-Step: How to Make Smart Shorts in Premiere Pro Using Short Video AI Generator

1. Start a New Project and Load Your Files

In Premiere Pro, open a new project and import your longform content (dialogue videos + audio) into a timeline sequence.

2. Open Premiere Assistant

From the top menu, go to: Window > Extensions > Cutback

This opens the AI Assistant panel.

3. Select Auto Rough Cut

Click Auto Rough Cut to begin transcript generation. This is required for identifying shortform-worthy content.

Configure your transcription settings:

• Range Selection: Full, In/Out, or Clip

• Language: One language per project

• Preview Mode: Optional (turn off for faster results)

• Speakers: Identify how many speakers and assign audio tracks if needed

Click the [Transcribe video for auto rough cut] button to begin.

4. Use the Shortform Generator in Chat UI

Once transcription is complete, click the Assistant button (top right).

In the chat window, type or select:

“Create shortform clips”

The AI will analyze your video’s transcript, content flow, speaker changes, and context to detect the best shortform moments.

5. Select Layout & Create the New Sequence

You’ll be able to:

• Preview the suggested short clips

• Choose one or more segments

• Click Select Layout to apply a vertical video frame and choose a mobile-optimized format

• Hit Create Shortform Sequence to generate your clips

6. Add Animated Captions (Optional but Highly Recommended)

Retention starts with subtitles. You can:

• Add Animated Captions using the Caption Edit tab

• Translate subtitles for multilingual viewers using the Translate Captions feature

• Export for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, or download as text/SRT files

7. Finalize the Edit

Once you're happy with the short clip:

• Click Apply to sequence to:

  • Save as a new sequence

  • Or update your current one

This AI short video generator workflow will make it that much easier to turn long videos into shorts instantly, letting you auto-generate shorts with AI-generated hooks and viral content titles that will reflect results in your video analytics. This will give you a full social media scheduler that will get you hitting your content monetization goals in no time.

Pro Tips for Viral Shorts

• Use titles or hook captions in the first 3 seconds

• Select moments with emotional expression, humor, or strong visual payoff

• Use layout selection to match platform dimensions (9:16 for Shorts/TikTok)

• Batch export multiple short clips at once

Other AI Editing Features You Can Use In Your Short-form Video Editing Workflow

Premiere Assistant offers several AI rough cut tools that work perfectly with the shortform generator:

• Remove Silence: Get rid of awkward pauses and silences in your footage to boost video engagement and retention.

• Edit With Script: The ability to add your script to the AI Assistant for reference when making video edits based on your transcription.

• Animated captions: An AI caption generator and subtitle generator that will give you trendy social media captions and the option to auto-translate captions.

These help you refine your raw video into a polished short in one session.

Frequently Asked Questions About Premiere Assistant’s AI Shorts Generator

Q: What platforms can I export the shortform clips for?

A: You can export clips in vertical format for TikTok, YT Shorts, IG Reels, and more.

Q: Can I create more than one short per video?

A: Yes! Premiere Assistant lets you generate multiple clips per project. Just select different segments and repeat the workflow.

Q: Does it work without a transcript?

A: No. You need to generate a transcript using Auto Rough Cut for the AI Assistant to analyze and detect clip-worthy moments.

Q: Will it overwrite my current sequence?

A: Not unless you click “Apply to current sequence.” You can safely choose “Create new sequence” to keep your original untouched.

Final Thoughts

Premiere Assistant makes it ridiculously easy to transform long videos into viral-ready short-form content. Whether you’re a solo creator who posts UGC videos, a marketer who posts explainer videos, or an agency editor, generating AI video shorts means you get more content, more reach, and more time saved.

For more in-depth knowledge about the ins and outs of video editing, check out our latest posts on the Cutback blog or our YouTube channel.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: How do you create animated captions in Premiere Pro?

A: Premiere Assistant handles animated captions inside Premiere Pro in four steps. Open the plugin (Window > Extension > Cutback), select Edit Captions, and run Transcribe Video to Edit Caption to generate AI subtitles. Click Apply to Sequence and choose Animated Captions. Select a preset from the style library, word-by-word highlight, karaoke-style progression, pop, bounce, or fade animations, preview it with the watermarked preview, then click Apply. Captions are added directly to your timeline as native Premiere Pro graphic clips, no After Effects or external tools required.

Q: What is the best animated captions plugin for Premiere Pro?

A: Premiere Assistant is the most comprehensive animated captions plugin for Premiere Pro, offering karaoke-style word-by-word highlights, spoken-word style differentiation (current vs. already-spoken words), custom font and color control, animation styles including fade, pop, slide, scale, and bounce, and a safe zone guide for vertical short-form content. Unlike MOGRT-based caption templates which render in 10-12 minutes, Premiere Assistant uses native Premiere Pro graphic clips that render approximately 20-40x faster, which matters significantly on long caption-heavy projects.

Q: Are there free animated caption presets for Premiere Pro?

A: Premiere Assistant requires a paid plan after a trial period with limited usage before converting to paid, it is not a free plan. Free caption animation options within Premiere Pro include building custom animated titles using the Essential Graphics panel and keyframing motion properties manually, or using free MOGRT templates from Adobe Stock's free tier. Full-featured animated caption presets with automatic word-level timing, karaoke progression, and style customization require a paid plugin.

Q: Do you need After Effects to make animated captions in Premiere Pro?

A: No. Premiere Assistant creates animated captions entirely inside Premiere Pro using native graphic clips, no After Effects roundtrip, no MOGRT export, and no external design tools. The older workflow for animated captions did require After Effects to build or edit MOGRT templates, which also resulted in slow render times. Premiere Assistant's graphic clip approach eliminates both the After Effects dependency and the render performance penalty.

Q: How do you make CapCut-style animated captions in Premiere Pro?

A: CapCut's animated captions use a word-by-word highlight style where each spoken word appears with a color pop or scale animation as it is spoken. This is directly replicable in Premiere Assistant, the word-by-word highlight preset and karaoke-style progression preset both produce the same visual pattern inside Premiere Pro with customizable fonts, colors, and animation styles. The advantage of doing this in Premiere Pro rather than CapCut is that you keep the full NLE environment for compositing, color, and multi-track editing rather than switching tools.

Q: Can animated captions be exported correctly from Premiere Pro?

A: Yes. Because Premiere Assistant's animated captions are added as native Premiere Pro graphic clips rather than as a separate subtitle track, they export embedded in the video file by default and appear on any platform or player without needing a separate subtitle file. If you need a standalone subtitle file for accessibility or multilingual distribution, export the text transcript separately as SRT or VTT from Premiere Pro's caption export dialog. The graphic clip captions are burned in; the SRT/VTT file is a clean text version.

Q: What is the difference between animated captions and subtitles in Premiere Pro?

A: Subtitles in Premiere Pro are typically plain-text timed overlays, managed through the Captions track in the Text panel, that display static text synchronized to audio. They are functional for accessibility and multilingual support but have no motion or visual styling. Animated captions (as created by Premiere Assistant) are native graphic clips on a video track with full motion, color, font, and timing customization, they are designed for visual retention in short-form content where engagement with the caption style itself is part of the viewer experience. The two formats serve different purposes and can coexist in the same project.