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Highlight reel

Reel styles, length, cover, and layout

Updated September 1, 2026 · 2 min read

In short

The Studio has a panel for each choice: 14 styles (eight moods that keep photos front and center, six designed treatments), Auto, 15s, 30s, or 60s, an opening shot, portrait or landscape. No music.

Every reel is the same list of moments; the style, length, and layout decide how it feels. All of them re-cut the reel instantly, and switching is free to try.

  1. Dashboard
  2. Your event
  3. Open studio

Style

The Style panel, in the Studio (the reel editor), holds 14 looks in two families.

Eight moods keep the photos front and center and change the grade and the motion:

StyleThe feel
CinematicClean, slow, widescreen. The default.
FilmWarm, grainy, a disposable-camera evening.
PulsePunchy cuts with a flash on the beat. Parties, DJ sets.
KineticFast whip-slides. Sports, runs, anything with energy.
EditorialA magazine spread: white space, considered pacing.
SunsetGolden light sweeping across. Outdoor, festivals.
NoirBlack and white, high contrast. Black tie, documentary.
FloatSoft, dreamy, a gentle bloom. Romantic, intimate.

Six treatments put the photos inside a designed frame: Polaroid stack, Film strip, Scattered prints, Framed gallery, Card deck, and Layered parallax.

Length

The Length panel offers Auto, 15s, 30s, and 60s. Auto fits the cut to the moments you picked, up to your plan's ceiling: 30 seconds on the free plan, 60 seconds with Pro & Event Pass. The 60-second option shows an upgrade link on the free plan. Longer isn't always better; a reel people watch to the end is the one they send on. The file you download is described in download the reel as a video.

Cover

Cover picks the opening shot, which is also the poster on the event page. Choose the photo that says the whole event in one frame. Which moments are in the reel, and their order, is pick the shots and put them in order.

Layout

Layout switches between portrait (9:16, for phones, Instagram Stories and Reels, and TikTok) and landscape (16:9, for a TV or a website). Every style adapts to both, and your moments are reframed to fit; a landscape photo in a portrait reel is framed on its center rather than squeezed.

No music

The reel is silent. Partyreel won't guess at a song for someone else's wedding, and a silent export is easy to score: lay any track under it in the app you post from.

Try three, keep one

Switching style costs nothing and nothing is made until you download. Flick through a few with the reel playing; the right one is usually obvious in ten seconds.

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