Your First Video

Step 1: Pick Your Format and Length

VidRush supports two core formats:

Documentary: Narrative-driven, story-based videos. Think history deep dives, true crime breakdowns, science explainers, or biographical profiles.

Listicle (Top 10): Structured countdown or list-based videos. Think “10 Most Dangerous Roads” or “7 Facts You Didn’t Know About Space.”

For either format, choose a target duration: 6–8, 10–12, 18–20, or 30–40 minutes.

If you’re creating a Listicle, the number of items in your list needs to match the video length for proper pacing:

Step 2: Choose Your Mode

This is the most important decision in your workflow. VidRush offers two creation modes:

Auto Mode: the fastest path. You provide a prompt, and the AI handles every creative decision from there: reference style, script structure, pacing. Best for rapid testing, exploring new niches, or when you’re using a Custom Script you’ve already written and Custom Voice.

Manual Mode: the precision path. You stay in the driver’s seat and guide the AI through specific choices at each stage. Best for when you want tight control over writing style, structure, and direction.

Both modes produce the same quality output. The difference is how much creative control you want along the way.

Each mode has dedicated features and strategic use cases. See Auto vs. Manual Mode for a full breakdown.

Step 3: Select Your Model and Reasoning Effort

Choose the AI engine that powers your video:

Deep Video v1 Mini: Well-suited for cheaper videos and rapid iteration. A strong choice when you’re testing topics or optimizing your workflow and want to save credits.

Deep Video v1 Pro: Videos and templates resulting in more nuanced storytelling and attention-capturing videos. Best for longer videos or content where quality and detail matter most.

For either model, you’ll also set a reasoning effort level:

Low: Quicker processing, solid output. Good for straightforward topics.

Medium: More deliberate, higher-quality results. Recommended for most videos.

Step 4: Write Your Prompt

Your prompt is the creative blueprint for the entire video. This is where you tell VidRush what to make.

Requirements: Minimum 200 characters, maximum 10,000 characters.

A strong prompt covers what VidRush calls the Four Pillars:

• Director’s Brief: What is this video about? Describe the core story, conflict, or angle in 2–3 sentences. Be specific: “The untold story of how a small Japanese town became the world’s denim capital” is far more useful than “A video about jeans.”
• Style Guide: How should it sound? Define the tone, energy, and any stylistic devices. Conversational and fast-paced? Slow-burn and cinematic? Dry humor? Say so here.
• Target Audience: Who is watching? Include the kind of YouTube titles they already click on. This helps the AI calibrate language, pacing, and complexity.
• Key Facts: The factual skeleton. Include specific dates, statistics, names, and details you want covered. The more concrete material you provide, the less the AI has to improvise.

You can also include research instructions with links to source material, specify exact hook content for the opening, describe visual planning notes for specific footage you want, and indicate template preferences if you have a proven structure.

Alternatively, you can paste a Custom Script you’ve written yourself (or generated with an external AI like Claude) or upload a Custom Voiceover audio file instead of using AI narration. These options are covered in their dedicated pages.

For a deep dive into prompt strategy, see the In-Depth Prompting Guide.

Step 4.1: Set a Reference Video (Manual Mode)

The reference video teaches VidRush how to write. The AI analyzes a YouTube video’s transcript to learn rhythm, sentence structure, vocabulary, and pacing, then applies that style to your script.

Important: The reference video only influences the writing style. It does not affect visuals, B-roll selection, editing, or anything else.

In Auto Mode: VidRush automatically selects a reference based on your topic.

In Manual Mode: You paste any YouTube URL. VidRush includes a built-in Reference Video Library with curated options for different genres: mystery, science, true crime, sports, economics, and more for Documentaries; facts, tips, comparisons, nostalgia, and more for Listicles.

The golden rule: Always reference a human-narrated video. If you link to an AI-voiced video, the script will sound robotic. AI mimicking AI produces flat, unnatural writing.

Step 4.2: Answer Follow-Up Questions (Manual Mode)

In Manual Mode, VidRush may ask you follow-up questions after processing your prompt. These questions help the AI narrow down your creative intent: specific angles to emphasize, details to include or exclude, or structural preferences.

Answer as specifically as you can. The more direction you give here, the closer the final video matches your vision.

This step is also skipped entirely in Auto Mode.

Step 5: Select a Voice

VidRush offers a large library of AI voices powered by ElevenLabs, including 25 voices built specifically for VidRush and optimized for different niches like Finance, Real Estate, True Crime, and more. Search for “VidRush” in the voice library to find them.

You can also look for over 100+ voices that ElevenLabs provides.

Tips for choosing a voice:

• Stick to natural, conversational voices. Slightly less polished voices often build more viewer trust than overly produced ones.
• Avoid voices labeled “Upbeat” or “Special.” These are more likely to produce glitches or unnatural speech.
• Once you find a voice that works for your niche, stay consistent across your channel. Viewers associate the voice with your brand.

See Voice Selection for the full voice library, recommended voices by niche, and tips for finding the right voice for your channel.

Step 6: Choose a Theme

Themes control the visual identity of your video: fonts, colors, animations, graphics, and transitions. Think of it as the “look and feel” layer on top of your content.

Match your theme to the mood of your topic:

• Dark or mysterious content (true crime, conspiracy, history) → Crime or History themes
• News, tech, and explainer content → Standard or Modern themes
• Nature, science, and environmental content → Modern theme
• Corporate, product, and clean educational content → Minimalist theme

You can preview themes before committing. Choose the one that best fits the emotional tone of your video.

Step 7: Set Background Theme

Choose a background picture that complements your video’s tone and pacing. You can adjust the background later in the editor using the Overlay slider.

Step 8: Select a Thumbnail

Choose a thumbnail that you want the AI to use as a template for your own custom thumbnail. If you don’t like the options given, you can implement a Custom YouTube URL.

Step 9: Generate

Once all your choices are set, hit the ⬆ (Upward Arrow) button to launch production.

VidRush processes your video in the cloud, which typically takes 50–60 minutes. You can close your browser. The generation continues in the background. When it’s done, your video will appear in My Videos, ready to review and edit.

What Happens Next

After your video generates, you’ll review it in VidRush’s built-in editor where you can replace footage, adjust timing, add text overlays, and fine-tune every element. See The Video Editor for a full guide.