Photographer highlight reel: trim three clips, render one timeline

A freelance photographer or videographer can build a highlight reel in two steps: cut the best seconds from three clips with POST /v1/video-trim, then join them over one soundtrack with POST /v1/timeline-1.0/render. The docs list video trim at $0.02 per job and Timeline at $0.10 per ceil(output minute), and neither uses provider inference, since both run ffmpeg on a worker.

This is editing, not generation. It works on footage you own and have already imported into your Sume workspace.

Step 1: trim the best seconds

Video trim takes a workspace media.sume.com clip, a start, and exactly one of end or duration. It returns a new MP4 with only that range and leaves the source unchanged. Import external files first with POST /v1/media-imports, because the API does not fetch from the open internet. An Idempotency-Key is required.

precision defaults to exact, a frame-accurate re-encode. keyframe is a stream copy, which can start a GOP early, so re-base your times against actual_start_seconds if you use it.

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-trim-ceremony-001" \
  -d '{
    "video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/ceremony.mp4",
    "start": 42,
    "duration": 6
  }'

Step 2: join them on a timeline

Timeline 1.0 takes audio.duration_seconds (1 to 1800), an audio spine or audio.mode: "silence", and 1 to 200 ordered video[] slots. Put each trimmed clip in a slot with source_in 0, and add a transition on slots after the first if you want one. A music bed goes in soundtrack, with an optional duck_db that needs a real audio spine.

Run POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan first. It is an unbilled compile preflight and returns the duration, segment count and an estimated cost.

Pick the music

A licensed track is the safest choice for client work. If you want a custom bed, Sume's Music Router generates one from a prompt, and the length goes in the prompt because duration is rejected. Measure the audio you get before you set the timeline's audio.duration_seconds.

Rights

Your clients may own or restrict their footage and likenesses. Get permission to show a ceremony or a portrait in your own marketing before the reel goes public. Sume does not check releases.