Video is a powerful medium for communication and storytelling, yet reauthoring existing footage remains challenging. Even simple edits often demand expertise, time, and careful planning, constraining how creators envision and shape their narratives. Recent advances in generative AI suggest a new paradigm: what if editing a video were as straightforward as rewriting text? To investigate this, we present a tech probe and a study on text-driven video reauthoring. Our approach involves two technical contributions: (1) a generative reconstruction algorithm that reverse-engineers video into an editable text prompt, and (2) an interactive probe, Rewrite Kit, that allows creators to manipulate these prompts. A technical evaluation of the algorithm reveals a critical human-AI perceptual gap. A probe study with 12 creators surfaced novel use cases such as virtual reshooting, synthetic continuity, and aesthetic restyling. It also highlighted key tensions around coherence, control, and creative alignment in this new paradigm. Our work contributes empirical insights into the opportunities and challenges of text-driven video reauthoring, offering design implications for future co-creative video tools.

翻译：视频作为一种强大的传播与叙事媒介，其现有素材的再创作仍具挑战性。即便是简单的编辑也常需专业知识、时间投入与周密规划，限制了创作者对叙事构想的塑造空间。生成式人工智能的最新进展提出了新的范式：若视频编辑能如文本改写般直接会如何？为探索此问题，我们提出一项技术探针及关于文本驱动视频再创作的研究。我们的方法包含两项技术贡献：（1）通过生成式重建算法将视频逆向解析为可编辑的文本提示；（2）交互式探针工具 Rewrite Kit，使创作者能够操控这些提示。算法技术评估揭示了关键的人机感知差异。一项包含12位创作者的探针研究揭示了虚拟重拍、合成连续性、美学风格重塑等新颖用例，同时凸显了该新范式中关于连贯性、可控性与创作对齐的核心矛盾。本研究通过实证视角揭示了文本驱动视频再创作的机遇与挑战，为未来协同创作视频工具的设计提供了启示。