The person gives you a URL. First question: what should this video help its audience
understand, feel or do? Read the brief and enough of the site's promise, copy and
imagery to recommend a creative approach. Use the brand's established direction and
assets (guide-capture-a-brand), distinguishing that evidence from your proposal.
The URL is a source, not a genre. Clean product screens can support a demo, but their availability does not decide the video's purpose. A presenter, mascot, visual style or camera move is a choice within an approach, not a competing kind of job.
Routes
| Creative approach | Pick it when | Cost and time | What you get | Workflow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conceptual product or brand film | The promise, benefit or feeling is best expressed through a visual concept, story or metaphor | Depends on the treatment and generated seconds; worked stylized ads were about $5–10 | A film built around an idea, with real product evidence wherever needed | workflow-website-to-claymation-ad for a toy-world story; workflow-mascot-product-ad for the brand's character; workflow-3d-animated-product-ad for the product as a character; workflow-multi-style-video-ad-for-social-media for a story-led look change |
| Product demonstration | The viewer needs to see the product doing something valuable | Existing footage can be edited locally; a presenter with reconstructed UI adds model spend and screen-building time | A real operation or result made easy to follow | workflow-website-link-to-product-walkthrough for a product journey; workflow-screen-recording-video when recordings exist; workflow-product-ui-ad for a presenter-led UI ad |
| Product explainer | The viewer needs to understand what it is, who it helps and why it matters | The worked faceless explainer was under $1 and took an hour or two; other treatments differ | A clear argument supported by product images, type, diagrams and narration | workflow-product-explainer-video for the faceless screen-and-type recipe; workflow-product-ui-ad when a presenter and moving UI serve the brief |
A piece may combine approaches. Choose the dominant one to own the job, and use its workflow's shared guides for supporting shots. These are starting recipes with stated inputs: if the demo needs recordings the person has not supplied, resolve that source before promising the recording workflow.
Choosing
- Purpose before treatment. Within a conceptual film, choose what makes the promise visible before choosing how it looks. It might use abstract shapes, a transformation, a character story, photography or a mix. Claymation and 3D animation are possible treatments when the brand and concept support them.
- Presentation is another choice. A narrator, a presenter, a mascot or the product as a character can support the approach. Use the available brand assets and the audience's needs; the presence of a mascot does not require a mascot film.
- Use real evidence for demonstrations. Show actual product screens or operations; if a screen is reconstructed for clarity, keep its claims and behaviour faithful. Illustrative scenes should be recognizable as illustrations.
- Respect the brief's facts and brand rules. The selected workflow captures the
sources and assets through their guides. A real person or place follows
guide-depict-real-people-and-places. - Use the person's existing choices. Recommend a direction when needed; do not reopen a chosen format, treatment or cast just because this menu offers others.
For an announcement, workflow-launch-video supplies a presenter-led recipe within
the explainer approach. For a physical product, workflow-realistic-product-ad or
workflow-product-ad-from-product-photos can execute a product-focused concept with
photographic imagery and exact product details. Choose these when their inputs and
production needs fit; photography is a treatment within the chosen approach.
Choose and hand off
Recommend an approach with a short reason tied to the audience, promise and brand. Resolve only missing choices that change the route or estimate: the intended result, available sources, length, aspects and budget. Discuss these together with the workflow's brief or concept review rather than adding a separate approval for each.
Load the selected workflow and follow its Steps. It owns the production order, review gates and deliverables, calling shared guides and leaves where needed. This guide ends at that handoff; there is no common still-generation, animation or assembly sequence for all three approaches.
Avoid
- Offering visual styles before understanding the promise and audience.
- Inferring a playful, premium or technical personality from colours alone.
- Treating an illustrative metaphor as evidence of an actual product result.
- Starting several complete workflows for one film and duplicating their reviews.
Related
guide-capture-a-brand: creative direction and usable assets.
