Creating Shorts

Starting a New Short

Shorts and Videos share the same creation surface: a Short is simply a Video created from the Home page's short mode or from the Shorts page, and it's saved to your Shorts Library instead of your Videos Library. Everything below applies equally to a Short started either way.

1. Navigate to Home (the studio home page) or Shorts in the studio sidebar.
2. If you're on the home page, switch the composer to short mode first. On the Shorts page, the Short controls are already showing.
3. Type a prompt describing what you want the Short to be about, or attach a source (a file, link, or pasted text) using the sources button.
4. Pick a host to narrate the Short.
5. Pick a language for the narration from the language dropdown beside the host picker. It defaults to a language based on your region and browser, falling back to English; see Choosing a Narration Language.
6. Pick a video style from the scrollable style rail below the prompt (or use the arrow buttons beside it) and click a card. Each style is described under Choosing a Visual Style.
7. Choose a duration and orientation, and use the settings icon to add a watermark or logo, or turn off Background music (on by default). See Choosing an Orientation below for how duration and orientation interact.
8. If your organization has any Brand Kits, a Brand control appears below the prompt box, preset to your Organization default. Click it (or Change on the Shorts page) to pick a different kit or turn it off for this Short.
9. Click Generate.

If you leave the prompt empty but attach a source, Jellypod creates a Short from that source automatically. Either starting point creates the same kind of Short; once generation starts, Jellypod takes you to the Shorts page to watch its progress.

Your host, video style, duration, orientation, language, background music, and watermark start pre-filled from your saved defaults; see Setting Defaults for New Shorts and Videos below to change them.

What Jellypod Generates

A Short is a fully produced video in your chosen orientation, built automatically from your prompt:

• Narration, written and performed in your chosen host's voice
• Animated visuals, in your chosen style, generated shot by shot to match the narration
• An original instrumental score, composed for the Short and ducked under the narration (on by default; turn it off in the settings menu before generating)
• Word-synced captions, on by default

Generation runs in the background and can take a few minutes. While it's running, the Short's card in the Shorts Library isn't clickable yet; see The Shorts Library for what its status labels mean. Jellypod opens the Short's editable workspace as soon as its first render is ready.

Choosing a Visual Style

Every Short is visualized shot by shot to match your narration, in a style you pick before you generate:

• Paper Mache: an animated paper-craft style built to stand out in a vertical feed. It layers cut-paper shapes, printed textures, and tactile, hand-made detail into one coherent scene per shot, with a single strong focal point that reads instantly at thumbnail size.
• Pixel Art: bright three-quarter adventure dioramas with crisp square pixels, layered tiled environments, warm daylight, and short stepped character actions supported by a whole-pixel camera track.
• Retro Comics: freshly printed 1980s newsstand panels with heavy black ink, flat CMYK color, Ben-Day dots, dramatic foreshortening, and one bold limited-animation action.
• Whiteboard Explainer: hand-drawn whiteboard scenes with confident dry-erase marker linework and sparse flat color accents that draw in stroke by stroke on a clean white whiteboard, then hold the finished scene.
• Watercolor: bold hand-drawn editorial illustrations with thick ink outlines, loose watercolor fills, and warm paper texture.
• Sketch: quiet storybook illustrations in fine dark pen and graphite that normally draw in from left to right, fill with muted colored pencil, then hold the finished scene.
• Stickman: deadpan stickman cartoons with thick black ink outlines and flat muted color fills, simple round-headed stick figures, and calm, single-element motion over a fixed camera.
• Almanac: hand-drawn paper cutouts with crisp cut edges, white keylines, and soft drop shadows, placed on an aged parchment background, in an earthy documentary palette with a calm historical-explainer tone.
• Claymation: handcrafted plasticine caricatures acting silently in warm mixed-material miniature sets, photographed with practical lighting, gentle depth falloff, and restrained stop-motion imperfections.
• Toy Bricks: cinematic miniature dioramas built entirely from interlocking toy bricks and classic blocky figures, with feature-film lighting, full-scale miniature compositions, and polished stop-motion energy.
• Crayon: deliberately clumsy child-drawn wax-crayon pictures on a pure-white canvas, revealed once in their finished full color before holding on the completed picture.
• Flat: warm modern picture-book scenes built from bold rounded geometry, elongated or capsule-shaped figures, a strict navy-blue-coral-orange palette, and one restrained pose or prop action.
• Atomic Age: flat mid-century gouache and screen-print scenes with clean geometric masses, long angular shadows, deep cobalt skies over warm bone modernist forms, burnt-orange accents, and one locked-camera focal action.

Jellypod picks the art direction within your style, including palette, composition, and treatment, to fit your topic and tone. You never write image prompts or configure motion, so every Short stays visually consistent from the first shot to the last. The style can't be changed once generation starts; create a new Short to try a different one.

Choosing a Narration Language

The language dropdown beside the host picker sets the language the narration is written and performed in. It defaults to a language based on your region and browser, the same signal used to pick your starter podcast's language, and falls back to English when neither points to one of Jellypod's supported languages.

If your prompt explicitly asks for a different language than the one selected, that request wins and Jellypod writes the narration in the language your prompt names instead.

Choosing an Orientation

The duration menu matches the page you're on: 30 seconds and 1 minute on the Shorts page and in the Home page's short mode, or 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 minutes on the Videos page and in the Home page's video mode. Picking a duration doesn't change whether Jellypod saves the result as a Short or a Video; that's decided by which page or composer mode you started from.

Orientation follows the duration you pick, unless you set it manually:

• Portrait (9:16): best for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Automatic below 3 minutes.
• Landscape (16:9): best for YouTube and desktop viewing. Automatic at 3 minutes and above.
• Square (1:1): best for Instagram feed and other square-friendly placements. Never chosen automatically; pick it yourself.

To choose an orientation manually: on desktop, use the aspect ratio button next to the duration control, on the Home page or the Shorts and Videos pages alike. On mobile, click the settings icon and select Orientation instead. Either way you get a picker with the three options above.

Adding a Watermark or Logo

Click the settings icon and select Add Watermark/Logo to overlay a logo on the Short's preview and final video. Upload a PNG, JPG, or WebP image up to 5 MB (any aspect ratio; it's scaled to fit), then pick which corner it appears in.

Setting Defaults for New Shorts and Videos

Click Settings beside the page title on the Shorts or Videos page to open Video defaults: one shared set of starting values, Voice, Style, Duration, Orientation, Language, Background music, and Watermark/Logo, for your whole organization. These defaults pre-fill the composer on the Shorts page, the Videos page, and the Home page alike, adjusting duration automatically to a Short-length or Video-length preset depending on where you're creating from. Changing them here changes what every new Short and Video starts with; you can still override any individual value before generating a specific Short.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a Short without writing a prompt?

Yes. Attach a source (a file, link, or pasted text) without typing a prompt, and Jellypod generates a Short summarizing that source.

What video styles do Shorts use?

Shorts can use any of Jellypod's 13 styles. Pick a card from the style rail before generating; the same rail appears on the Shorts page, the Videos page, and the Home page.

What is the Paper Mache style in Jellypod Shorts?

Paper Mache is Jellypod's animated paper-craft visual style. It layers cut-paper shapes, printed textures, and hand-made detail into one focal scene per shot, generated automatically to match your narration.

Can I change or customize a Short's visual style?

You pick the style before generating, but Jellypod chooses the art direction (palette, composition, and treatment) automatically to fit your topic, so you do not configure it further. The style can't be changed after generation starts; create a new Short to try a different one.

Where can I preview all the video styles before choosing one?

Each card in the style rail shows the style's name; hover a card to see a short description of the style before you pick it.

What aspect ratio can a Short use?

Portrait (9:16), Landscape (16:9), or Square (1:1). Portrait is automatic for durations under 3 minutes and Landscape for 3 minutes and above, unless you choose one manually from the aspect ratio button beside the duration control (or the settings icon on mobile). It can't be changed once generation starts.

How long can a Short be?

Choose 30 seconds or 1 minute, from the Shorts page or the Home page's short mode. The final render may vary slightly to match the narration.

Can I generate a Short without background music?

Yes. Click the settings icon in the Shorts intake bar and turn off Background music before clicking Generate. It's on by default.

Can I create a Short from the studio home page?

Yes. Switch the Home page composer to short mode to show the same host, style, duration, orientation, and background music choices available on the Shorts page.

Can I add a watermark or logo to a Short?

Yes. Click the settings icon and select Add Watermark/Logo to upload a PNG, JPG, or WebP image (5 MB maximum, any aspect ratio) and choose a corner for it. This is available on the Creator plan and above.

Can I apply my brand colors and logo to a Short?

Yes, if your organization has at least one Brand Kit. A Brand control appears below the prompt box, preset to your Organization default kit; click Change to pick another kit or turn it off. Not every video style uses the full Brand Kit palette; see Brand Kits.

Can I set a default voice, style, duration, orientation, and watermark for new Shorts?

Yes. Click Settings beside the Shorts or Videos page title to open Video defaults and save a default voice, style, duration, orientation, language, background music setting, and watermark. These defaults are shared with Videos and the Home page composer. You can still change any of them before generating a specific Short.

What language is a Short's narration written in?

Whatever you pick from the language dropdown beside the host picker, which defaults to a language based on your region and browser, falling back to English. If your prompt explicitly asks for a different language, that request wins over the dropdown.