Wrap a clipped moment in your own hook and takeaway as one Short

The simplest way to put original value around a clipped moment is a three-part Short: a hook you recorded, the moment itself, and a takeaway you recorded. In Sume, trim the moment with Video trim, then place your hook, the moment and your takeaway as ordered video slots in Timeline 1.0 over one audio spine. YouTube's October 2026 update said voice-over that only describes the screen, minor technical edits and template-based changes are not original value (Search Engine Journal, read 2026-10-03), so the recorded parts have to carry a real point.

The three slots

Timeline 1.0 takes one audio spine and an ordered video[] list. Each slot has source_url, start (the first must be 0), duration and an optional source_in into the file. Default output is 1080 by 1920 MP4, which is the Shorts shape, and fit defaults to cover.

Audio

The spine is one file. If your hook and takeaway are separate recordings, detach each audio with Audio detach, join them and the moment's sound with Timeline audio concat, and use that as audio.url; or use audio.parts[] inside the render for up to 20 gapless slices. Declared slot starts must match the spine, and coverage may trail it by at most 0.5 seconds, so measure your clip lengths with Video inspect first.

Check before paying

POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan is an unbilled preflight that returns duration_seconds, segment_count and an estimated cost without creating a job. The render itself is $0.10 per output minute rounded up, so a 45-second Short is one billable minute. Confirm in GET /v1/catalog.

This workflow does not film you and does not decide whether your hook is good. A hook that would work with the middle slot deleted is doing its job.