Apps Python, DaVinci Resolve Studio API, whisper.cpp, ffmpeg, Remotion, 1 min read
Programmatic video editing in DaVinci Resolve
A pipeline that edits talking-head videos through Resolve's Python API: cuts from the transcript, graphics timed to speech, music, and word-timed captions.
Built with. Python, DaVinci Resolve Studio API, whisper.cpp, ffmpeg, Remotion
- 15
- versions of a sales video, each a re-render not a re-edit
- 20
- YouTube Shorts cut from two long-form videos in one pass
- 1
- script per video, so every edit is repeatable
Why I built it
Clients kept sending me hours of raw talking-head footage: teleprompter takes, webinar recordings, interviews. Editing by hand meant every round of feedback ("cut that stutter", "the music is too loud", "use the other take") cost an afternoon. I wanted feedback to cost a re-render instead.
How it works
DaVinci Resolve Studio ships a Python scripting API. I drive it from scripts I write with Claude Code:
- Transcribe the raw takes with whisper.cpp, with word-level timings.
- Cut from the transcript. The edit is a list of phrase ranges in a script, so swapping a take or trimming a sentence is a one-line change.
- Time the graphics to the words. Motion graphics (built in Remotion or rendered as overlays) appear on the exact word they illustrate.
- Mix the audio to a target loudness, with a music bed that ducks under speech and sound effects on the graphics.
- Burn in captions word by word, styled for each brand.
- Render and check. I re-transcribe the render to confirm every cut landed where the script says it should.
What it has produced
- A long-form sales video for a business coach, taken through 15 rounds of review notes.
- Long-form YouTube videos and 20 Shorts for an executive career coach, cut from two masters in one pass and scheduled straight to YouTube.
- Product reels for Kareera.
What I learned
Most of the work was in the edge cases the API doesn't document. Timeline frames are absolute, not relative to the start. Re-imported audio can play a cached old version. Keyframes can't be set by script at all. I wrote each one down as a rule, so the next video starts from everything the last one taught me.