How to Make an Instagram Reel
An Instagram Reel is a vertical 9:16 video, usually 15 to 60 seconds. Pick one idea, put a title in the first three seconds, then export and post.
An Instagram Reel is a vertical video, usually 15 to 60 seconds, that plays in the Reels feed. To make one, choose a single idea, put a short title on screen in the first three seconds, build the pictures, and export a 9:16 file you can upload.
Give the Reel one job
Write one sentence before you open any tool: what should the viewer know or do by the last second? That sentence is the video. A Reel that tries to teach, sell, and introduce your brand in the same breath gets skipped, because the viewer cannot tell what to remember.
Keep the cut under about 45 seconds when you can. If the sentence needs more time, split it into a series and give each part its own title. A music intro or a logo sting spends the only seconds people are sure to see.
Put a title in the first three seconds
Use about two to six English words, large enough to read on a phone without pausing. Then show the problem, a picture of the fix, and one ask. "Stop rewriting the caption" is a title. "Welcome to my channel, today I will share some tips" is not.
The cover frame should repeat that same title. The cover is what people see on your profile grid after the Reel leaves the feed.
Build the pictures, then approve them
Scro turns the sentence into a storyboard. You approve the still frames before any motion is generated, so a wrong layout never becomes a finished clip. A concept becomes a whiteboard explainer or a paper-cutout scene. A host becomes a talking-head. A product starts from the real photos.
When on-screen text is on, the opening of an explainer carries a large title in the language you set. Turn on-screen text off and the clip stays free of writing. After the clips land, the built-in editor trims leading and trailing silence, styles captions, and can add sound effects and music. Export the Reel at 9:16. Finished samples are on the examples page.
A 30-second example
- Title, on screen: "Stop rewriting the caption."
- Problem: a founder staring at a blank note.
- The fix, in four drawn beats: hook, pain, one step, one ask.
- Ask: save this Reel and make the next one the same way.
Four beats, one idea, one file. The caption under the post repeats the title in plain words so someone who watches on mute still gets the point.
Make a whiteboard explainer Reel. If the pictures should be cartoon scenes, read how to generate cartoon clips for a Reel.