AI video editing in Nepal: what to know before you hire an editor

Hire a video editor in Nepal who plans your video for a phone screen with the sound off and who uses AI for the slow parts while a person makes every creative call. Get a written quote in NPR, and ask to see samples that look like your video before you decide anything else. I say this as an editor in Kathmandu who has cut event promos, a club introduction and a game short here in Nepal.

Plan for a phone screen with the sound off

In my experience, most people in Nepal watch video on a phone. They scroll Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube on a bus or in a room where someone is sleeping, so the sound is often off. That changes how a video should be made.

• Open with a hook in the first seconds. The opening line or image has to give people a reason to stay, so skip the long logo animation.
• Write captions that read without sound. Make them large, with strong contrast, and keep them away from the bottom edge, where the app puts its own buttons and text.
• Choose the size to match the screen. A vertical 9:16 video fills the phone on Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. A widescreen 16:9 video suits YouTube and a screen at a venue.

You can see the difference in my own work. The two event promos, one for HYPERCE x BEAMSTART (an entrepreneurs’ meetup) and one for Code Camp 2024 (made for LOCUS at IOE Pulchowk), are widescreen and run around half a minute each. The IT Club introduction and a short for Rhino Dash, a game set in Sauraha that we built at Appynox, are vertical and run about twenty seconds. The right shape depends on where people will see the video, so decide that before the editor starts.

Choose the caption language, then check the Nepali

Captions can be in Nepali, English or both on the same video. Ask who will watch and which language they read most easily, and let that decide. If the speaker switches between Nepali and English inside one sentence, as people in Nepal often do, the captions should follow what was said.

Now the part that needs care. Speech-to-text tools are fast, and in English they are usually accurate. In Nepali they give you a draft. In my own tests, the Nepali text came back with Hindi-style spellings and some misheard words. It was readable but not ready to post. So someone who reads Nepali has to go through every caption, line by line. When I edit in Nepali, that is part of the job.

There is a second problem, and it hides well. Some caption tools draw the Nepali script wrongly. The short i sign is written before its letter, and these tools put it after, so a word looks almost right but is wrong. An editor who does not read Nepali will not see it, because to them the video looks finished. You will see it. So ask for a short Nepali caption test before you hire anyone, and read it on your phone.

What AI speeds up and what still needs a person

When I say AI video editing, I mean that software handles the slow, mechanical jobs and a person handles the rest. The software writes a first transcript, times the captions to the speech and makes a rough first cut of a long recording. That saves the editor from typing out every line and searching through a long take by hand, so more of the time goes into the edit itself.

That person decides what stays in and what goes, writes or sharpens the opening line, and sets the pace, the music and the final look. The same person reads the Nepali captions and checks every fact on screen. In an event promo, for example, the date, the venue and the registration link must be right, and a tool cannot check them. A transcript tool writes down whatever the speaker said, including a wrong date.

Brief the editor in half a page

A good brief is short. It answers five things:

1. What the video is for: to get people to register for an event, to introduce a club, to show a product.
2. Where it will be posted: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or a screen at the venue.
3. How long it should be, and in which sizes.
4. The original files, plus your logo, any text that must appear on screen and any music you have the right to use.
5. The date you need the final video.

For an event, add the venue, the speakers and the registration link. For a club introduction, add who you are and how people can join. For a creator, add a link to your channel and one video whose style you like.

When the first cut arrives, watch it on your phone with the sound off. Then give your notes with timestamps, like “0:12, cut this line”. The editor can go straight to that spot. A note like “make it more exciting” leaves the editor guessing.

Phone footage is fine to start with. Most reels start that way, and you don’t need a professional camera. Film in the shape of the final video, use daylight where you can, hold the phone still and keep it close to the speaker. Clear speech also gives cleaner captions. If the footage limits what the edit can do, I tell you before I start.

Send the original files. WhatsApp and Viber usually compress video, so a copy forwarded on chat is already worse than the file on your phone. Put the originals in a shared folder, such as Google Drive, and use WhatsApp or Viber for quick messages and for your timestamped notes on each cut. That is how I work with clients in Nepal.

How to judge a video editor in Nepal

Three questions tell you most of what you need to know.

1. Can I see real samples like mine? An editor with a great wedding reel may never have cut an event promo or a club introduction. Watch the samples on a phone, the way your audience will.
2. Who makes the creative calls? A person should decide what stays in, the pace and the opening. If the answer is “the software decides”, ask what the editor does.
3. What will I receive, and in which sizes? Get the list before work starts: for example a vertical file for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, a widescreen file for YouTube or the venue screen, and the captions. Ask who owns the finished files too. They should be yours to post anywhere.

If your video has Nepali text, add the caption test from above as a fourth check.

Not every sample has to be client work. I document Bhailo nights in Chitwan on my own YouTube channel. I also run Dimension, a channel that helps Nepali students get into engineering colleges and find scholarships, with videos such as how to study for +2 and the IOE entrance. Both are public, so you can judge the editing yourself.

How pricing works

I do not publish prices, because the number depends on how long the video is and how many videos you need. One event promo is one job. A few reels every week is another, and it is planned as a batch, with a posting calendar and automatic checks on every video before a person reviews it. At Appynox we made 65 shorts for WideMath, a free math tool built in Nepal, that way.

So ask for a written quote in NPR. After a short call, I send one. A useful quote says what is included: how many videos, how long, which sizes, which caption languages and how many rounds of notes. If an editor names a price before asking about your length, your platforms and your volume, the number is a guess.

See samples that look like yours

You can watch the videos I mentioned on my AI video editing in Nepal page, and message me on WhatsApp or Viber from there. If you have a video in mind, book a 30-minute call and bring your footage, or just the idea.