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Choose a border or shadow under Border style, and a corner shape under Shape, in the editor’s Style panel. The Snake style adds an animated streak around your camera frame.
This video was recorded in an older version of the editor, where borders had their own Border button in the toolbar. Border controls are now part of the Style sidebar, together with backgrounds and your logo. Follow the updated steps below.

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Where are the border settings?

  1. Open your video in the Tella editor.
  2. Click Style in the toolbar (or press B).
  3. Click the Border style row to open the border options. You can also press O to jump straight to it (as long as you’re not typing in a text field).

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Which border styles and shapes are there?

In the Border style panel, you’ll see two sets of options: Style
  • None: Removes any border or shadow styling from your video.
  • Subtle shadow: Adds a soft shadow, making your video pop against the background.
  • Deep shadow: A stronger version of the shadow effect.
  • Transparent: Introduces a semi-transparent border for subtle separation.
  • Solid shadow: Draws a solid black border around your video with a bold, offset black shadow. Select it, then use Direction to place the shadow on the left or right.
  • Snake: Sends a glowing streak around your camera frame over a muted ring. In a screen-and-camera layout, the streak follows the camera, while the screen keeps a subtle shadow. It also works on camera-only clips. On a screen-only clip, there is no camera to circle, so the clip keeps a subtle shadow instead.
Select Snake to open its controls: Color, Thickness, Glow, Pulse length (how much of the frame the streak covers), and Pulse lap time (how long it takes to circle the frame). The streak uses a lighter tint of the color you choose. Switching to another style and back restores your last Snake settings. The style thumbnails preview your selected shape and show how each border or shadow will look. Shape
  • Square: Hard angles, no corner rounding.
  • Round: Softly rounded corners.
  • Squircle: A smoother, iOS-style corner curve.
You can mix and match different styles and shapes to achieve the desired effect.
Tella remembers the last shape you selected and applies it to new layouts, including layouts that ask you to choose Media first. It also remembers your selected border style for new videos and recordings, including co-recordings. Existing videos keep their own settings.

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Use a different border on one clip

By default, the border style and shape you choose apply to every clip in your video. This keeps the video’s look consistent when you change either setting. To give one clip a different look, open the ⋯ menu beside the Border style or Shape heading and select Apply to this clip only. These options are independent, so a clip can have its own border style while still following the video’s shape, or the other way around. While it is on, an Apply to this clip only checkbox appears below that setting. Uncheck it to make the setting follow the rest of the video again. The option appears only when your video has more than one clip.
Last modified on September 28, 2026