Build a ceremony or speeches film

The film builder is the screen you use to turn a set of ceremony or reception cameras plus a recorder into a synced timeline. It is the same screen for both films. The only differences are the title, one switch, and what Hailo looks for in the footage.

Open the film builder

There are two ways in:

1. On the Edit launchpad, click Make ceremony film ("Multi-cam, audio-synced ceremony edit.") or Make speeches film ("One synced, trimmed film per toast.").
2. On a couple's Edit hub, use the Make rail: Ceremony film ("A timeline built from the ceremony cameras.") or Speeches film ("Every toast, cut from the speech audio.").

The screen opens with the title Build the Ceremony Film (or Build the Speeches Film) and the line "Say what you want back, then point at your cameras and audio."

Pick the couple

The first field is Couple. Click Who is this film for? to open the list, or type in Search couples… to filter it. If nobody matches you see "No couples match your search."

To add a couple on the spot, fill in Partner 1 (e.g. Sarah) and Partner 2 (e.g. Ben) and click Add.

The couple is recorded the moment you click Build the film, so the film shows on their record even if you walk away mid-build.

Choose what you want back

Under What do you want back? there are three options. Stack and Multicam run the same sync. They differ only in what lands in your editor.

Option	What you get	Hint shown under the toggle
Stack the angles (default)	Every camera on its own video track, lined up to the recorder, with the good audio underneath. You do the cutting.	"Every angle on its own track, synced, good audio underneath. You cut it."
Multicam	A real multicam clip you can switch between live in your editor.	"A real multicam clip - switch angles live in your NLE."
One camera	A single-camera finished cut with fades, synced to the good audio. Hailo finds the ceremony (or each toast) inside the footage for you.	"One angle, synced to the good audio."

If you pick Multicam and your editor is Premiere Pro, a panel titled Let Hailo build your multicam appears under the toggle. See Multicam permission for Premiere Pro for the steps. Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve never show it.

Add your cameras

1. Under Cameras, click Add a folder for each camera…. The picker takes folders or individual clips, whichever you have.
2. Once Hailo has read the pick, the picker is replaced by the camera roster: one row per camera it found. Each row is one track that will land in your editor.
3. Click Add a camera to add another folder or more clips. Adding grows the list; the first picker replaces it.

Under the roster a scan line reports anything that blocks the build:

Message	Meaning
"No video files in this folder."	The folder you picked has no clips. Pick the camera folder itself.
"Only one camera here. Stacking needs at least two - add another camera, or switch to One camera."	Stack and Multicam need two or more cameras.

Add your audio

1. Under Audio, click Choose the audio folder, or the recorder files…. You can point at the recorder's folder or at the recorder files themselves.
2. Hailo shows the files it found as chips, with a line like "3 audio files: ZOOM0001.WAV, ZOOM0002.WAV, ZOOM0003.WAV". If it found none you see "No audio files in this folder."
3. Click Add more audio to add a second recorder or more files.

No separate recorder

If you ran wireless transmitters straight into the cameras and have no recorder, turn on the No separate recorder switch. Hailo then uses the cameras' own audio to line them up, so it works best when every camera heard the room.

With the switch on:

• The Audio field is no longer required.
• Each camera row gets a marker you can click to say which camera's own audio should play. Click it again to unmark. Nothing is chosen for you; unmarked means the first camera.

Use it when every camera heard the room. A camera parked far from the action may not line up, and Hailo will tell you which one.

Choose where to save

Under Save to, click Choose where to save the film… and pick a folder. The film lands in one place, so this is a single folder. This is separate from the "Where finished files go" preference used by analysis runs. See Where files land.

Normalize audio (ceremony only)

The Normalize audio switch appears for the ceremony film only. It is off by default. The hint reads "Even out the loudness so quiet vows and loud claps sit together. Off keeps the untouched recorder file."

Switch	What lands on the audio tracks
Off (default)	The untouched recorder file on A1, full quality.
On	A levelled copy of the recorder on A1, with the raw recorder muted on A2 as a reference.

The speeches film always normalises, so the switch is hidden there.

Build the film

Click Build the film. It is greyed out until every required field is filled, and the line under it says what is still missing, for example "Still needs a couple, cameras and somewhere to save it."

What can be missing:

• "a couple" (in the Hailo app)
• "cameras", or "a camera" in One camera mode
• "audio" (unless No separate recorder is on)
• "somewhere to save it"
• "permission to build the multicam" (Multicam in Premiere Pro without Accessibility)

If a build fails, the error shows above the button. Click Show details for the full text. "Pick the couple this film is for first." means the couple field is empty.

While the film builds

The title changes to Building Your Ceremony Film with the line "Leave anytime - the build keeps running, and this screen picks up where it left off." The build runs in the Hailo engine on your Mac, so you can switch to Manage or Deliver and come back. Reopening the ceremony or speeches card returns you to this screen.

What you see:

• A progress bar. Until the engine reports its first real number the bar sweeps and the line under it shows elapsed time, for example "2m 10s elapsed". After that it shows the percent and a time estimate, for example "42% · about 12 min left".
• A phase headline in plain words: "Reading your footage", "Syncing your angles", "Finding the ceremony in your footage", "Listening for who's speaking", "Planning the cuts around each speaker", "Writing your timeline", "Rendering the film", or "Converting older clips so Premiere can link them".
• Cancel. Cancelling returns you to the form with the note "Cancelled." and clears the couple's "Building" tile.

The background is a dot grid that reacts to your cursor. If you press an arrow key while a build is running, a small Snake game starts on the grid. Escape returns it to the ambient view.

Closing Hailo entirely while a film builds prompts you first, since the build stops with it.

When it is done

The title reads Your Ceremony Film Is Ready and the card shows Done in 14m 3s with a summary line like "3 cameras synced. Saved to /Volumes/Weddings/Sarah and Ben/Ceremony film". If an angle did not match you see "2 of 3 cameras synced. C80 could not be matched." An angle Hailo could not line up with confidence still lands on the stacked timeline, and the line tells you which one, so you can place it by hand.

Four buttons:

Button	What it does
Open in Premiere / Open in Final Cut / Open for Resolve	Opens the film in the editor you chose in Settings. The label follows your editor setting.
Preview the film	Plays a 720p preview of the cut inside Hailo. The button appears once the preview has rendered, usually a minute or two after the build finishes.
Reveal in Finder	Opens the folder you chose under Save to.
Build another	Clears this build and returns to the form.

Under the buttons, a note describes what your editor will show:

• Final Cut Pro: "Open in Final Cut loads a true multicam clip with every angle synced."
• DaVinci Resolve: "Open for Resolve loads a true multicam clip with every angle synced. Switch angles from the multicam view in the viewer."
• Premiere Pro: "Open in Premiere loads your synced angles, each camera on its own track." With one-click multicam on, the message instead reads "In Premiere: a real multicam clip, angles synced, already on a timeline. Press 1, 2, 3 to cut between them."

The done screen stays put. Reopening the card later shows it again with working buttons until you click Build another.

Where the film shows in Manage

Film builds show on the couple's record and on the Edit launchpad tile:

Status	On the launchpad tile	On the couple's Edit hub
Building	Chip Building film	"Building now - reopen the ceremony card in Edit to watch progress." with a Watch progress button
Interrupted (Hailo was closed mid-build, or the build stopped)	Chip Build interrupted	"Hailo was closed before this build finished. Open the ceremony card to start it again." with a Build again button
Built	Chip Ceremony film built, Speeches film built, or Films built	"Built Sep 2, 2026 · /Volumes/…" with Open in editor

Each film row on the hub has an overflow menu with Reveal in Finder and Delete this film. Deleting the row does not delete the files on disk.

If it didn't work

What you see	What to do
"Could not reach the engine: …"	The Edit engine on your Mac is not answering. Quit and reopen Hailo, then try again.
"The engine is running an older build - quit and reopen Hailo, then try again."	Hailo updated while the engine was still running. Quit and reopen.
"Could not reach Resolve: …"	DaVinci Resolve is not open or its scripting is off. See Open in DaVinci Resolve.
"Your synced angles are open in Premiere. To have Hailo build the multicam clip for you, it needs permission to click one menu item in Premiere."	Click Turn on one-click multicam, add Hailo in the window that opens, then rebuild. See Multicam permission for Premiere Pro.
"One click in Premiere finishes this: in its dialog, check "Create single multicam source sequence" (sync stays on Timecode), then click Create. Hailo takes it from there."	Premiere's multicam dialog is open with the clips staged. Tick that box and click Create.
The build failed with a long error	Click Show details and send the text to support.