Short-form video glossary
The vocabulary behind faceless video, defined in plain language. For how-to playbooks, see the creator guides.
- Short-form video
- A vertical video, usually under a minute, made for feed-style platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. It is watched on a phone, often with the sound off.
- Faceless channel
- A short-video channel that never shows the creator on camera. Narration, visuals, and captions carry each video instead of a presenter.
- Vertical video
- Video shot or rendered in portrait orientation, taller than it is wide. Short-form platforms display vertical video full-screen.
- Aspect ratio (9:16)
- The width-to-height ratio of vertical short-form video: nine units wide for every sixteen tall. TikTok, Reels, and Shorts are all 9:16.
- Hook
- The first line or opening seconds of a short that decides whether a viewer keeps watching. On short-form, the hook usually carries more weight than the ending.
- Voiceover (VO)
- The spoken narration over a video. On a faceless channel it carries the story when no one appears on camera, and it can be generated from the script.
- Burned-in captions
- Subtitles rendered directly into the video image rather than as a separate track, so they show on every platform even when the video is muted.
- AI video generator
- A tool that turns a text idea or script into a finished video, producing the script, voiceover, visuals, and captions without a camera or a manual edit.
- B-roll
- Supplementary footage shown while narration continues, used to keep the picture moving and illustrate the point being made.
- Call to action (CTA)
- The line that tells the viewer what to do next, such as follow, comment, or tap a link. A short usually carries one.
- Posting cadence
- How often videos are published. A steady cadence, such as three times a week or daily, is easier to sustain than irregular bursts.
- Series
- In Reeloop, a saved setup that generates a new narrated vertical video on a recurring schedule until you pause it.
- Approve-before-post
- The Reeloop default where every finished video waits for your decision before it posts. A rejected video posts nothing at all.
- Auto-approve
- A series option that posts new videos without a manual review step. Recommended only once a format has proven itself.
- Credit
- The unit Reeloop charges per video. A video costs 2 credits up to 30 seconds or 4 credits up to 60 seconds, and the estimate shown before Generate is exactly what gets charged.
- Top-up
- Extra credits added to your balance mid-cycle, priced at $0.60 per credit.