Your first film, start to finish

Here is the listing we will use. A 3 bed, 2 bath ranch in Austin, about 1,650 sq ft, listed at $485,000. The photographer delivered 22 photos: four exteriors, the living room from two corners, three of the kitchen, dining, all three bedrooms, both baths, the covered patio and a wide shot of the backyard with the live oak. Nothing unusual. That is the point: most first films come from a set like this.

Budget fifteen minutes the first time. Most of that is watching and deciding, not waiting.

What you need before you open the page

The address and the photos. Everything else is optional, but the narration can only be as specific as what you give it. For the ranch we pasted the MLS remarks into Listing description and added one line the remarks left out: "roof replaced 2024, HVAC 2022." That single line ended up in the script, and it is the kind of detail a buyer in that price band actually listens for.

You do not need an account to build the film. You sign in when you press Create film, and the free plan takes no card.

Step 1: get the photos in

Open the create page. If the listing is already live on a brokerage site, Redfin or Realtor.com, paste the link into Paste your listing link at the top and press Import. You will see what was found, untick anything you do not want, tick I have the right to use these photos, and press Add 22 photos and fill details (the number matches what you kept). The address, price, beds, baths and remarks are filled in from the page when they are there.

Zillow, Trulia, HotPads and StreetEasy links are refused because their terms do not allow it. For those, get the files from your photographer and drop them into Photos.

For the ranch we dragged in the 22 JPEGs. The limits: at least 3 photos, up to 40, JPEG, PNG or WebP, 25 MB each. Between 10 and 25 is where the film has enough choice without padding.

Leave the order alone

You can drag photos around, and the first one is taken as a hint. But the film plans its own walkthrough from what each photo shows. On the ranch it skipped one of the three kitchen frames as a near duplicate and the weaker of the two hall bath angles. Both stay with the listing, and you can put either back later from the editor.

Step 2: decide whether any photo needs help

Hover a photo and press Enhance to open the photo tools (this one asks you to sign in first, because edits are saved to your listing). The ranch was shot on a flat grey February afternoon, so we ran Blue sky on the front exterior and the backyard. That is two of the five edits the free plan gives per listing.

Edited photos carry a "Digitally enhanced" label in the film and on the listing website, and staged ones say "Virtually staged". You cannot turn the label off. Your original stays, and Use original puts it back.

Step 3: details, vibe and voice

Details is where price, beds, baths and size go, with a For sale or For rent switch. Then Vibe and voice, which is the choice that changes the film most:

We picked Bright family. Calm luxury on a $485,000 ranch tends to feel like it is trying too hard; buyers in that band want to see the yard and the bedrooms, not linger on a pendant light.

Leave Narration on and choose a voice and language. Every one of the 10 voices speaks all 10 languages, and the play button previews it. Turn Narration off if you want music only.

Step 4: branding

The Branding section is optional. Press Add branding. If you have saved a brand kit, you get a Use my brand kit switch. If you have not, you can type a name, brokerage, phone and email for this film; that is enough for the two second end card. Every film also gets an unbranded MLS cut whatever you choose here.

Step 5: create it

Press Create film. If you are not signed in, a box asks where to send it: Continue with Google, or type your email, press Email me a code and enter the 6 digit code. The film starts as soon as you are in.

The progress screen lists the real stages: analysing photos, planning the story, animating shots, scoring music, voice and captions, rendering cuts. A few minutes is normal. Close the tab if you like; the film will be in My films.

Step 6: watch it on your phone, with sound

Not on your laptop. Buyers meet this on a phone in a feed, so that is the only test that counts. We check three things:

1. Would the first two seconds stop you? On the ranch the film opened on the backyard oak, which was the right call; that tree is why people book showings on that street.
2. Is anything wrong? A misheard room, a claim that is not true, a bedroom count that does not match.
3. Does it end before you get bored? Ours came in at 38 seconds, which is comfortable for Reels and TikTok alike.

Step 7: the edits worth making

Press Edit film. Shots are listed down the left with the Live preview, Last render and Director tabs beside them. On a first film the edits that earn their time are usually these:

• Rewrite one narration line with something only you know. We changed the kitchen line to mention the gas range, which the photos could not show was gas.
• Shorten the slow middle. The secondary bedrooms on most ranches look alike; use − to trim each by half a second, or remove one with the ×.
• Try a different Mood under Music if the score feels wrong for the street. The film is rescored to the same length and the cuts move to the new beat.

If you would rather say it than click it, open Director and type something like "open on the backyard and keep it under 30 seconds". It lists what it would change; press Apply to timeline, check it, then press Apply changes. Only the parts you changed are rendered again, and editing never uses another listing.

Step 8: send each cut where it belongs

Back on the film page, Download vertical gets the 9:16 cut and Download all (ZIP) gets all five. Every cut lists them with a download button each.

For the seller, press Share link. It copies a link to a clean page with the film, which they can open without an account. For the MLS, press Listing website and copy the Unbranded MLS tour link; most MLS virtual tour fields want a link, not a file, and many do not allow agent branding there. Rules vary by MLS, so check yours.

Step 9: post it

Press Post. Pick the platforms, press the write button to draft a caption per platform (add anything it should mention, such as "open house Saturday 1 to 3"), and choose Post now or Schedule. Direct posting turns on platform by platform as each one approves our app. Where it is not on yet, the composer gives you the right cut to download and the caption to copy.