How do I create recap videos?

Thrillify can create polished recap videos of your event in two ways: automatically, using the highest-engagement moments, or manually, using the Backstage Recap Studio where you hand-pick every submission.

Automatic Recap Videos

Thrillify automatically generates two types of recap videos for your event without any action required from you:

• Daily Recap — Generated at the end of each event day. Highlights the challenge submissions with the most reactions and comments from that day.
• Overall Recap — Generated when the event ends. Showcases the top-engaged submissions across the entire event.

These videos are created in the background and will appear in the Recap Videos tab of your event once they are ready.

Auto-generation is enabled by default. You can control this and automatic sharing to participants via the Event Settings — see Event Settings for Recap Videos below.

Custom Recap Videos

You can create your own fully custom recap videos using the Backstage Recap Studio. This lets you choose exactly which submissions to feature, set the order, add music, and render a downloadable video.

Step 1: Open the Recap Videos Tab

In Thrillify Backstage, open your event and select the Recap Videos tab. You’ll see a list of existing recaps (including any automatically generated ones) and a New Recap button.

Step 2: Create a New Recap

Click New Recap to open the Recap Studio. Give your recap a name using the title field at the top.

Step 3: Choose a Recap Type

Use the Type selector to choose between:

• Overall Recap — Covers the full event with no date restriction. Best for a closing highlight reel.
• Daily Recap — Covers a single event day. Use the date picker to select which day to recap.

Step 4: Build Your Storyboard

The right panel shows your storyboard — the ordered list of segments that will appear in the video.

Click Add Segment to add a new slide. Segment types include:

• Photo Submission — A photo challenge submission with participant name and reactions.
• Video Submission — A video challenge submission.
• Trivia Results — Results for a trivia challenge.
• Survey Results — Results for a survey challenge.
• Challenge Participation — Participation stats for a specific challenge.
• Leaderboard — Team or individual leaderboard standings.
• Title Card — A custom title or text slide with an optional subtitle.

For submission-based segments, click Pick Submission to search and select the specific submission you want to feature.

Use the drag handles to reorder segments, or click the trash icon to remove one.

Step 5: Choose a Music Track (optional)

Use the Music selector to pick a background music track for your video. Click the play button next to the selector to preview the track before committing.

Step 6: Save Your Recap

Click Save to save your recap. You must save before you can render.

Step 7: Render the Video

Once saved, click 🎬 Render to queue the video for generation. Rendering happens in the background — the video preview panel on the left will update automatically when the render is complete.

If any segments have issues (e.g. a submission is missing), they will be highlighted with an error message explaining what needs to be fixed before rendering.

Step 8: Download and Share

When the render finishes, a Download button will appear in the action bar. Click it to save the .mp4 video to your device. You can then share it on social media, include it in post-event communications, or add it to your event page.

Step 9: Share with Participants in the App

You can push a recap video directly to your event participants so it appears in the Event tab of the Thrillify mobile app. To share a recap:

1. In the Recap Videos tab, find the recap you want to share.
2. Toggle the Shared switch on the recap card to on.

Once shared, the recap video will be visible to all participants in the Event tab. Only one recap can be displayed at a time — toggling a new recap as shared will replace the previously shared one.

Event Settings for Recap Videos

Two settings in your event control how recap videos are generated and shared automatically. To find them, open your event in Thrillify Backstage, go to Event Settings, and look for the Recap Videos section.

• Auto-generate recap videos — When enabled, Thrillify automatically generates daily and overall recap videos as described above. This is on by default. Disable it if you prefer to create only custom recaps.
• Auto-share recaps with participants — When enabled, automatically generated recap videos are pushed to the Event tab in the Thrillify app as soon as they are ready, so participants see them without any action from you. Requires Auto-generate recap videos to be enabled.

Tips

• Reactions and comments drive automatic recaps. Encourage participants to react to and comment on submissions throughout the event to ensure the best moments surface automatically.
• Custom recaps are great for award ceremonies. Build a focused highlight reel for a specific award category or sponsor deliverable.
• You can have multiple recaps per event. Create separate daily recaps in addition to a final overall recap.
• Use Auto-share to delight participants hands-free. Enable Auto-share recaps with participants in Event Settings and your generated recaps will appear in the app automatically — great for multi-day events where you want participants to see daily highlights each morning.
• The Shared toggle works on custom recaps too. You don’t have to use an auto-generated recap — render your own custom recap and then toggle it as Shared to push your hand-crafted highlight reel directly to participants.