Charles, this is how the sermon reel setup works, start to finish: the app that finds the clips, the DaVinci Resolve project you edit in, and what happens after you're done. The card below shows whether the PC is free right now.
Checking the PC…
Reading the last key press or mouse click.
The big picture
Every Sunday the service is recorded on this PC. An app Brian built, Sermon Clips, works like Opus Clip but runs entirely on this PC: it listens to the sermon, picks the strongest moments, and builds each one into a vertical reel. Each reel then lands in DaVinci Resolve as a timeline you can edit like normal.
1
Service is recorded automaticOBS saves the full service to B:\2026\Livestream, and short replay saves to B:\2026\Livestream clips.
2
Sermon Clips finds the moments appIt transcribes the sermon on the graphics card, picks and scores moments that work on their own, trims stumbles, and makes a preview of each reel with captions.
3
Pick the good ones you or BrianApprove or reject each reel in the app, and nudge where it starts or ends.
4
Send to Resolve appThe app builds each approved reel as its own timeline in the Sermon Reels project, with the moving crop and live captions already on it.
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Edit the reel youThis is the main job: tighten cuts, fix captions, add music, get the sound right.
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Finish and post BrianCaptions get relaid to match your cuts, then the reel is sharpened, rendered, given a cover and a description, and posted to the church Facebook and Instagram.
Getting on the PC
Check the card at the top of this page first. Green means nobody has touched the keyboard or mouse in a while.
Connect remotely the way Brian set you up. Once you're on, the card will show In use, because your own clicks count too.
If Resolve is already open in another project, Brian may be mid edit. Leave it and text him before switching.
When you're done, save in Resolve (Ctrl+S) and leave Resolve open or closed as you found it.
The card only knows about keys and clicks on Brian's signed in session. A long render or export can be running while nobody touches anything, so take a quick look at the screen before you start something heavy. After a restart it shows offline until Brian signs back in.
The Sermon Clips app
Open it from B:\2026\Claude\sermon-clips\Sermon Clips.cmd. It opens in the browser on the PC at http://127.0.0.1:8793. It only works on the PC itself, which is fine because you're remoted in.
Sermons tab
Check for new videos looks in the livestream folders for anything new.
Process everything new transcribes, finds moments, and makes previews. A full service takes a while on the graphics card, so let it run.
To make a reel from a spot the app missed, select the words in the transcript and press Make a reel from the selection.
Reels tab
Each card is one reel with a score, a hook title, and a preview with captions burned in.
Approve or Reject. Open a reel to read it, and use Earlier and Later to move the start or end by whole sentences.
Run the editor lets the AI clean up misheard caption words and cut stumbles. It's held back on purpose and never touches a reel whose words were changed by hand.
Send to Resolve (or Send approved to Resolve for all of them) builds the timelines. Resolve has to be open.
Rebuild in Resolve replaces a reel's timeline. Don't use it on a reel someone has already edited, because the edits go with it.
Settings tab
Caption style and other choices. Brian's pick for sermons is the Line style. Leave it unless he says otherwise.
In DaVinci Resolve
All reel work happens in the project called Sermon Reels (vertical, 29.97 fps). Each reel is its own timeline, named with the sermon date and title. Brian's other projects are his. Stay out of them.
What's on a reel's timeline
Track
What it holds
V1 footage
The sermon camera. The camera pans with the preacher, so each clip has a moving crop keyed in a Fusion Transform, plus a zoom in the Inspector to fill the vertical frame.
Captions
One small clip of live Text+ per phrase. You can retype, move, and restyle each one.
V2 overlay
The hook title at the top of the reel.
Subtitles
A hidden subtitle track with the same words, kept as a backup.
A1 / A2
Camera sound on A1. If a recording came in too quiet, a lifted copy sits on A2 and A1 is switched off.
Editing tips for this footage
Cuts are already close. The app puts each cut right at the edge of the speech, the way Brian trims by hand. Expect to fine tune, not redo.
Keep the speaker framed. If you move or extend a clip, scrub through it and check the crop still follows him. The crop lives in the clip's Fusion page, not the Inspector.
Sound effects live on the tracks. Brian's sound setup sits in the Fairlight track effects. Don't clear them. New reels are built as copies of the last finished one so they keep that sound.
Music goes on its own audio track under the voice. Meta checks copyright when it's posted.
Crackly playback? Usually the monitor frame rate doesn't match the project frame rate. Check that before chasing an audio problem.
Save often. Resolve keeps the project in its database, so there's no file to hunt for.
Captions
The look is one small white condensed line, a few words at a time, all capitals, sitting a bit below the middle. Two tools are built into Resolve for this, under Workspace › Scripts › Edit:
Sermon Caption Style opens a panel that moves, resizes, and adds a stroke or a drop shadow. Select some caption clips to change just those, or select none to change them all. Save as my default changes the look for every future reel, so ask Brian first.
Sermon Captions lays fresh captions on whatever timeline is open by listening to the sound. Use it for a timeline that has none.
To fix a word, select that caption clip and retype it in the Inspector. If you cut a lot, don't fix every caption by hand. Brian has a recaption tool that listens to the timeline as you cut it and relays the captions to match.
Captions and titles never use dashes. That's Brian's standing rule for anything written for the church.
When a reel is done
Tell Brian which timeline is finished. From there he runs the finishing steps:
Recaption so the captions match your final cuts exactly.
Sharpen. The camera shoots a wide 4K shot at a low bit rate, and a reel blows part of it up nearly twice, so a light sharpen is added to each footage clip once cuts are final.
Render at 2160 by 3840, about 21 Mbps. Brian sets the Deliver page himself, so leave those settings alone.
Description and cover, three cover options for him to pick from.
Post through Meta Business Suite to the church page and Instagram together, plus the stories. Auto captions are always off, since the captions are already in the video.
House rules
Work only in the Sermon Reels project.
Don't change the Deliver page settings or the saved caption default without asking Brian.
Don't rebuild a timeline someone has edited.
Only use public church videos. An unlisted video is never used, not even for a single frame.
Nothing gets posted without Brian's okay.
No dashes in captions, titles, or descriptions.
Words you'll see
Service
A full recording of a Sunday from the livestream folder.
Clip
A five minute replay save from OBS.
Reel
One picked moment with its title, caption, and approve or reject status.
Draft
The quick preview the app makes, with captions burned in. Not the final.
Handoff
The app building a reel's timeline inside Resolve.
Hook title
The short line at the top that makes someone stop scrolling.