Video Storytelling
port.
cover
eow crit 03
svsd
2025
democratizing storytelling
01
team 1
SEPTEMBER
8 WEEKS
OCTOBER
Lowering the Barrier for Video Creation
TEam
[1]
Justin Kim
→
Piper YU
→
Amy la
→
Maya Partharsay
→
Skills
[2]
Generative ai
→
prompt engineering
→
rapid prototyping
→
systems design thinking
→
The Problem
Watching videos are easy.
Creating videos are not.
Today’s tools are built for editors, not for people who just want to share a story. Beginners open a timeline and feel overwhelmed.
insight 01
Apps like Tik Tok and Instagram tried
to simplify the editing timeline.
We found most video-storytelling apps try to simplify by stripping down the UI for simplicity.
insight 02
Emerging AI video editors focused solely on automating editing.
Automation helped with cuts and clips, but left the process of storytelling to the user.
insight 03
The best videos weren’t based on editing skills. It was based on the story.
What matters at the core of a video isn't the flashy edits or camera equipment. It was the story.
THE hypothesis
The real barrier isn’t learning editing tools.
It’s helping people find a story worth telling.
Below is an animatic visualizing the hypothesis.
We asked ourselves...
“What if you could edit the video - by editing the story?”
THE SOLUTION
Stitch - A new way of generative video editing.
We decided that editing a narrative felt more natural for beginners
to direct their story rather than complex editing flows.
Core Flow
Add a quick note + preview video
To create a new project, the user adds notes, photos, videos, and then selects a title that best represents the story they want to tell.
Editing and Navigating "Chapters"
By breaking down the video into "chapters" we allow the user to glance the story structure at a high level and change minute details if needed.
We also added the option to generate b-roll from images to account for a lack of media for beginners.
Non-Linear Editing + AI Conversation
You can add media and change the story structure by simply conversing with our LLM to update the story
Edge Case: Lack of Media
Before exporting the finished video - users are able to record themselves narrating the story to fill in missing gaps of the story.
If you're curious to learn more about the details of this project and where it landed, please reach out to juk034@ucsd.edu for more :)
A Reflection
Staying organized isn't a suggestion.
Our team went through 40+ pages on Figma to rapidly reserach, ideate, and prototype ideas to life. I learned a key lesson in clearly marking and labeling screens not just for myself, but for the team.
