Give the AI useful direction Fictional AI presenter; AI-generated narration. Give the AI useful direction Welcome to module 2. I'm Alex, a fictional AI presenter for Vidmoat Learning. In this lesson, we will write specific briefs, use references correctly and revise edits without losing the parts that work. Let's work through a practical example. Turn a vague request into an editing brief “Make it engaging” is a feeling. An editor still needs to know what would produce that feeling. For a review, it might mean starting with the verdict, showing the feature while you mention it, and removing the time spent sitting down. For a calm tutorial, the same request might mean longer holds and fewer distractions. Turn a vague request into an editing brief A useful brief contains the audience, the message, the available sources, the target length and the boundaries. Boundaries protect what matters: keep the full warning, do not invent a price, preserve the speaker’s meaning, or use only uploaded music. Add one or two style choices, not a shopping list of effects. Turn a vague request into an editing brief Give the agent a manageable first pass. Ask for structure before polishing every caption. When the first pass is ready, play it. If it missed the point, changing the font will not solve the underlying problem. Separate the story decision from the decorative decision and your feedback becomes much easier to act on. Try it in Vidmoat Here is a way to try this. Open the project that contains your intended sources. Name the source files or selected clips so the scope is clear. Write the target audience, message, length and frame shape. List what must stay and what should be removed. Request a rough cut first, then review it before adding finishing work. Make the decision yourself Now pause the lesson and make your own version. Rewrite “Make this exciting” for a podcast clip and for a quiet cooking tutorial. Give each a different pacing instruction. When you are ready, compare your result with this standard. Podcast example: remove repeated setup, retain the full argument and a natural breath. Cooking example: keep the safety instruction and hold each step long enough to follow. Use a style reference without copying everything A reference works best when you can name what you like. You might admire the large opening title, the space around the subject, or the way a review uses a brief close-up to support a claim. Those are decisions you can describe and adapt. “Do exactly this” often imports details that do not fit your footage. Use a style reference without copying everything Use Style reference for an image or video that guides the edit. Use Add footage for material that should appear in the finished video. These are separate actions. In this course edition, style references support images and videos, with up to four attached references. Video inspection covers the first two minutes. If the useful moment is later, supply a short excerpt you are entitled to use. Use a style reference without copying everything A style reference is also different from a character or product reference used during generation. The first guides an edit’s look; the second guides the appearance of newly generated media. Neither guarantees an exact copy. The agent may fail to inspect a reference, in which case you should retry or describe it yourself rather than assume it was understood. Try it in Vidmoat Here is a way to try this. Open Style reference in the dashboard or project chat. Attach resources/style-layout.png, or your own permitted example. Wait for upload and inspection. Read any failure message. Describe two qualities to borrow and one quality to avoid. Check the next edit against those specific qualities, not against an imagined perfect match. Make the decision yourself Now pause the lesson and make your own version. Attach one example. Write “Borrow…” and “Keep…” statements. If attachment access is unavailable, write the same guidance in plain text and complete the exercise without it. When you are ready, compare your result with this standard. You can point to the borrowed layout decision in your result while the content remains yours. Revise one thing and protect the rest A first pass is something to respond to. Watch it as a viewer and name the moment that fails: “The title covers the lamp at six seconds” is actionable. “It is still bad” gives the agent no useful location or criterion. Revise one thing and protect the rest Make revision requests small enough to inspect. If you like the cuts but dislike the sound, say so and limit the next change to sound. Distinguish source time from timeline time. Source time is a position in the original file; timeline time is a position in your edited sequence. A cut changes the relationship between them. Revise one thing and protect the rest Use Undo promptly when a change damages the edit. Stop a running edit before making competing changes yourself. Keep a written brief and revision notes for important projects; do not rely on chat memory as the only record of the intended result. A useful revision log says what changed, why and whether the change survived review. Try it in Vidmoat Here is a way to try this. Play the saved result and identify one specific problem. Write its timeline time and the affected clip or text. Ask for one change while naming what should stay. Review that moment plus the joins before and after it. Accept the result, or stop further work and use Undo to recover. Make the decision yourself Now pause the lesson and make your own version. Make a title deliberately too large, then correct only its placement and size. Record the before and after decision in one sentence. When you are ready, compare your result with this standard. Only the requested title changes, and it remains visible long enough to read. If other parts changed, you notice and restore them. Keep one useful decision Before moving on, write down one edit you made, why you chose it, and what changed for the viewer. The course workbook and practice files are available with this lesson. Continue when you can explain your decision in your own words.