Prequel

What is Prequel?

Prequel is a macOS screen recorder that doesn't just capture your screen — it hands back a finished video. Instead of raw footage that needs hours in a separate editor, Prequel watches where you click and type while recording, then opens an editor with zooms already placed, the camera framed, and a background applied. The result is a polished, directed-looking video exported as a single MP4 at up to 4K, rendered on your Mac's own media engine.

Who it's for

• Solo creators — anyone producing tutorials, walkthroughs, or demos who wants a professional look without learning a full video editor.
• Product teams — developers, designers, and PMs who need to share crisp, focused screen recordings with colleagues or customers, fast.
• Social media managers — people repurposing content across YouTube, Shorts, TikTok, Reels, X, and LinkedIn who need one recording to fit every format.

Key features

Automatic zooms that follow the work

Prequel records your clicks and typing bursts while it captures. When the editor opens, those moments are already clustered into zooms — pushed in on what you were doing, pulled back when you moved on. Every generated zoom is an ordinary slice on the timeline, so you can move, retime, or delete it freely.

A camera you frame afterwards

Your webcam is never burned into the recording. After you stop, you can shape it as a circle, squircle, rounded rectangle, or wide frame, place it in any corner, and resize it. Nothing about the camera is decided while you record.

Backgrounds worth shipping

Your own wallpaper is the default, with seven bundled presets, gradients, and solids on top. Padding, radius, border, and shadow are all adjustable, so the final frame looks intentional rather than accidental.

Cuts on a real timeline

Trim dead air and slice clips on a timeline with a waveform under every segment and a scrubbing playhead. Layout, background, and audio can all change mid-take, and the preview matches the export exactly.

What stands out

Prequel hands back a directed video, not a recording.

The core idea is that the editing pass is already done when you stop recording. Zooms are placed, the camera is framed, the background is applied, and the cursor is cleaned up — all before you touch a single control. You're not assembling a video; you're approving one. That shift from "record then edit" to "record, review, export" is what separates Prequel from a plain screen capture tool.

Worth checking out if…

You're tired of flat, lifeless screen recordings that make your work look smaller than it is. If you regularly produce tutorials, demos, or product walkthroughs on a Mac and want zooms, a framed camera, and clean exports without a multi-hour post-production session, Prequel is worth a look. It's free for 14 days with no watermark and nothing held back, so you can test whether the automatic pass matches your workflow before committing.