Short-form video guide

Film on a phone, keep member privacy, and send people to a real ask.

On this page

UnionOps makes stills and captions. The camera and a phone editor make the clip. Use this page after Brand Kit and a social graphic, not instead of boards, print, or a closed Facebook group.

Filming on a phone

Hold the phone upright for Reels, Stories, and Shorts. Face a window, not a ceiling light. Speak close to the mic, or record a voiceover later in a quiet room. Shop floors and picket lines are loud; a short clip with on-screen text often beats a long take.

Film tall unless you know the post is a Facebook landscape.
Put faces toward a window or open shade. Avoid backlight that turns a speaker into a silhouette.
If the floor is noisy, shoot silent footage and add a voiceover. Do not shout over machines.
Check who is behind the speaker. Faces, badges, and lanyards identify people too.
Do not film grievances, medical spaces, or papers on a desk. Run Photo Consent before any member is on camera.

9:16

1:1

16:9

Reels, Stories, and Shorts are tall. Graphic Maker exports square, landscape, and 9:16 portrait. Use Image Resizer when you need a one-off crop of an existing still.

Privacy is the same checklist as photos

Video is harder to crop after the fact. Get consent before you press record, including people clearly visible in the background.

Photo Consent

Edit on the phone you already have

Trim, captions on screen, and a voiceover belong in a phone editor. UnionOps does not edit video. Start with the camera app. Named apps below are common; none of them run inside this site, and some upload footage to a cloud.

Phone camera editor
Trim and titles without a new account. Prefer this when member footage should stay on the device.
- Cover or end card stills
- On-screen captions
Free · Stays on the phone unless you export
InShot
Common for on-screen captions and simple cuts. Check whether a clip uploads before you sign in.
- On-screen captions
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Stays on the phone unless you export
Canva
Handy if the local already uses Canva for stills. Video and photos go to a cloud account; skip confidential casework.
- Cover or end card stills
- On-screen captions
Free tier, then paid extras · Needs an account; files may upload
Descript
Uploads audio to make a transcript. Do not send grievance, medical, or bargaining talk.
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Needs an account; files may upload
CapCut
Widely used, and a cloud login. Do not treat it as the UnionOps default. Keep member faces and workplace audio off that account when you can.
- On-screen captions
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Cloud account; treat member footage as leaving the phone

What UnionOps stills are for

Download a 9:16 cover or end card from Graphic Maker (Portrait) or Image Resizer (Instagram Story is 1080×1920), then drop it on the first and last frames. Copy a caption from the library. Point a QR or link at an Action Card, meeting notice, or your local website.

One ask, then a place to go

Open with who, what, and when in the first second. Keep one action per clip and start on a platform members already use; many locals still work through a closed Facebook group. TikTok is optional. For setup steps, use the related guides linked at the end of this page. Skip weekly ranking tips because they go stale.

Put the ask on screen as well as in speech, so the clip works with the sound off.
One meeting, one petition, or one website. Not all three.
Send people to something you already made: a QR, an Action Card, Captions plus Graphic Maker, or the Website Template.
Do well on one channel before you split time across Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok.

Before you post

Run this check before you publish a clip: confirm the ask is clear, the people shown have agreed, and the caption works with sound off. Comms getting started helps coordinate the rest of the campaign.

Photo Consent is done, including background faces and location tags turned off.
A tall cover or end card is exported (Graphic Maker Portrait, Image Resizer Story size, or a 9:16 Solidarity Poster).
A caption is copied from the library and edited for this ask. Hashtags stay generic, without a union name.
Alt text is drafted in Alt-Text Assistant for the cover still, then pasted into the platform field.
The clip points at one action members can take this week.

Graphic Maker Image Resizer Captions Photo Consent

Also see

Sources & references

External resources cited in this guide. National and government URLs often move; if a link 404s, search from that organization’s home page. OPSEU / SEFPO pages on opseu.org may block automated checks — open those links in a browser before you share them in a workshop.

Facebook Groups (local comms channel)
Many locals use a closed Facebook group as their primary member channel.
Record a Reel on Instagram
Official Instagram help for recording and sharing Reels. Length limits change; read the live page, not a blog recap.
Get started creating YouTube Shorts
Official YouTube Help for Shorts. Vertical clips; do not treat ranking tips from third-party blogs as durable.
WCAG 2.2 (W3C)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - contrast checker and alt-text guidance in this toolbox target Level AA.
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
Ontario accessibility hub (accessibility-laws redirects here). Referenced in the hub accessibility statement.

Filming on a phone

Film tall unless you know the post is a Facebook landscape.
Put faces toward a window or open shade. Avoid backlight that turns a speaker into a silhouette.
If the floor is noisy, shoot silent footage and add a voiceover. Do not shout over machines.
Check who is behind the speaker. Faces, badges, and lanyards identify people too.
Do not film grievances, medical spaces, or papers on a desk. Run Photo Consent before any member is on camera.

9:16

1:1

16:9

Reels, Stories, and Shorts are tall. Graphic Maker exports square, landscape, and 9:16 portrait. Use Image Resizer when you need a one-off crop of an existing still.

Privacy is the same checklist as photos

Video is harder to crop after the fact. Get consent before you press record, including people clearly visible in the background.

Photo Consent

Edit on the phone you already have

Phone camera editor
Trim and titles without a new account. Prefer this when member footage should stay on the device.
- Cover or end card stills
- On-screen captions
Free · Stays on the phone unless you export
InShot
Common for on-screen captions and simple cuts. Check whether a clip uploads before you sign in.
- On-screen captions
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Stays on the phone unless you export
Canva
Handy if the local already uses Canva for stills. Video and photos go to a cloud account; skip confidential casework.
- Cover or end card stills
- On-screen captions
Free tier, then paid extras · Needs an account; files may upload
Descript
Uploads audio to make a transcript. Do not send grievance, medical, or bargaining talk.
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Needs an account; files may upload
CapCut
Widely used, and a cloud login. Do not treat it as the UnionOps default. Keep member faces and workplace audio off that account when you can.
- On-screen captions
- Voiceover after a noisy shoot
Free tier, then paid extras · Cloud account; treat member footage as leaving the phone

What UnionOps stills are for

One ask, then a place to go

Put the ask on screen as well as in speech, so the clip works with the sound off.
One meeting, one petition, or one website. Not all three.
Send people to something you already made: a QR, an Action Card, Captions plus Graphic Maker, or the Website Template.
Do well on one channel before you split time across Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok.

Before you post

Photo Consent is done, including background faces and location tags turned off.
A tall cover or end card is exported (Graphic Maker Portrait, Image Resizer Story size, or a 9:16 Solidarity Poster).
A caption is copied from the library and edited for this ask. Hashtags stay generic, without a union name.
Alt text is drafted in Alt-Text Assistant for the cover still, then pasted into the platform field.
The clip points at one action members can take this week.

Sources & references

Facebook Groups (local comms channel)

Many locals use a closed Facebook group as their primary member channel.

Record a Reel on Instagram

Official Instagram help for recording and sharing Reels. Length limits change; read the live page, not a blog recap.

Get started creating YouTube Shorts

Official YouTube Help for Shorts. Vertical clips; do not treat ranking tips from third-party blogs as durable.

WCAG 2.2 (W3C)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - contrast checker and alt-text guidance in this toolbox target Level AA.

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

Ontario accessibility hub (accessibility-laws redirects here). Referenced in the hub accessibility statement.

Filming on a phone

Edit on the phone you already have

Phone camera editor

InShot

Canva

Descript

CapCut

One ask, then a place to go

Before you post

Sources & references

Filming on a phone

Edit on the phone you already have

Phone camera editor

InShot

Canva

Descript

CapCut

One ask, then a place to go

Before you post

Sources & references