Instagram Reels templates need music and 3 clips: prepare them

Instagram's Reels page says "Templates are only available for reels that include music and at least 3 clips." So to offer a template-ready Reel you need three or more separate clips and a music track. A Sume Timeline render gives you one MP4, so the way to get three clips is to render a master and then cut it into three with video trim: each trim is a separate job at $0.02.

This post gives the prep recipe and the cost. It does not describe how Instagram's app builds a template, because the page does not.

What the page says

The Instagram Reels page covers creation basics: clips adding up to 20 minutes, the 3-minute recommendation to unconnected audiences, music and original audio, and the template rule above. It describes templates as being for reels that include music and at least 3 clips, and nothing more.

That sentence is the whole requirement stated on the page. It names two conditions (music, three clips) and no length, size or aspect ratio.

Step one: a master with a bed

Render one 30-second master with a music bed. The Timeline soundtrack field takes a url, loop, fade_out_seconds up to 10, and duck_db from 0 to 20 when there is a real spine. A 30-second render bills one minute: $0.10.

Keep the clip boundaries on natural cuts so the three pieces make sense on their own.

Step two: three trims

Video trim takes a video_url on media.sume.com, a start in seconds and one of end or duration. The default precision is exact, a frame-accurate re-encode, and audio defaults to keep. Each trim returns a new MP4 and costs $0.02 per job, so three trims are $0.06.

The loop below cuts a 30-second master into three 10-second clips. Each call has its own Idempotency-Key, and each returns a job to poll.

for i in 0 1 2; do
  curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-trim \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Idempotency-Key: reel-template-clip-$i" \
    -d "{
      \"video_url\": \"https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/master.mp4\",
      \"start\": $((i * 10)),
      \"duration\": 10
    }"
done

What to check

Read each job's result for duration_seconds and actual_start_seconds. With precision: "exact" the cut is frame-accurate; with keyframe the cut can start up to one GOP early, so re-base your times.

Then import the three clips and the music into the Instagram app yourself. The page does not describe an upload route for templates, so treat the app step as manual. Total spend for the media is $0.16 for the example, before any generation cost of the source clips.

Choosing clip boundaries

Three equal thirds is the easy cut but rarely the best one. Cut on a beat or a scene change, so each clip works alone when the template drops it into a slot. If your master has a voiceover, a trim that lands mid-sentence will leave a clip that starts or ends in the middle of a word; set start and duration to sentence boundaries, or use audio drop on the trims if the music will replace the sound anyway.

Video trim accepts audio: "drop" as well as keep, and a trimmed output can be at most 900 seconds, so a short-form master is far inside the limit. The source must be a clip you already own on media.sume.com, up to 1800 seconds.

Checking the pieces before upload

After each trim job completes, open the result and confirm the length against the end or duration you asked for. With the default precision: exact the cut is frame-accurate; keyframe is faster but may start earlier than requested. Name the three files by their order in the template so you can drop them in without guessing.

If one piece is short of the template slot, trim again with a longer duration from the same source. Each trim is a separate $0.02 job, so a redo costs two cents.