Give it what the video is about (the facts, the story, or the clip it opens), who is
watching, and the picture you can put on screen. You get three candidate openers, each
with the line, the picture under it and what happens by second 3, and the one you
recommend. The rest of the script is llm-write-an-ad-script (ads) or
guide-make-a-script-from-source (a story retold); the picture's world is
llm-pick-a-visual-metaphor.
Inputs
- The facts (
source/facts.md) or the story's source: the hook must be true. - Who watches: a cold social viewer scrolling, a customer who knows the brand, a viewer who chose to open it (a help page, a launch email).
- What can be on screen in the first second: the product, a generated scene, a presenter, the moment from a long recording.
Patterns that worked
| Pattern | Use it for | Example (invented) | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict, then the counter | News and story explainers | "This city wants a stadium by 2030. Its own budget says: not before 2040." The conflict in the first 3 s, the counter in the next 3 | A model stadium slams onto a desk; a budget scale tips |
| Orientation, then the clever line | A clip cut from a long recording, for a cold viewer | "What you're looking at here is my new planner. It wrote this week for me." | The screen, already on the thing being named |
| The customer's own mess, one turn word | Faceless explainers and ads | "Your lists end up buried in the group chat." Bubbles pile up, then blur out on "buried" | The real clutter this product's customers juggle: tabs, sticky notes, unread emails, receipts |
| The pain, with a number | Short ads | "You've bookmarked fifty recipes. You still order takeout." | The hero at a table under a tower of bookmarks |
| The result before the explanation | Feature guides and demos | "Here's a shot with no sound." … "Now listen." … the same shot with it, no narration | The same shot twice, so the only difference is the feature |
| The product in seconds | Screen walkthroughs and webcam pieces | Cut to the UI on the presenter's first gesture ("this") | The screen flies in from the side they point to |
Rules
- By second 3 the viewer knows the conflict or the pain. The counter, the turn or the product lands by second 6.
- A cold viewer needs orientation first: what they're looking at, in plain words, then the clever line. A clever line with no context reads as noise.
- The mess is this product's customers', taken from the source's own description of the problem. Chat bubbles fit a lists app whose lists got lost in group chats and are wrong for most products: pick the clutter, never by habit.
- One number, from the facts, said the way people say it ("fifty", "2040").
- Short spoken first line: about 7–8 words fills 3 s at a quick 2.5 words/s.
- The payoff late in the script must not repeat the hook's wording; it answers it.
- True: a hook the facts don't support is an invented claim.
- The picture moves at once in a generated social hook. Use a fast push-in "with
large amplitude" and a shudder on arrival, or a sudden action in the first second
(
h3-max-image-to-video). This is the default for the short-form ad and news hooks here. Reusing the ending's still for the hook sets up the payoff.
Run it
Write three candidates from different patterns. For each: the line, the picture, and what the viewer knows at 1 s, 3 s and 6 s. Test each against the checks below and recommend one; show all three to the person with the script.
Tips and traps
- A slow scene-setter ("A company most people have never heard of…") over a 6 s tilt read as dead air on social.
- A 15 s full-frame webcam opening before the screen: too long. Get to the UI within seconds.
- A question the video never answers, or "In this video I'll…": both spend the 3 s on nothing.
- A pain headline instead of the mess itself: show the clutter; the person called the shown mess the beat they remembered.
Check it
- Read the first line aloud with a timer: the conflict or pain is out by 3 s.
- Would it make sense to someone who has never heard of the brand?
- Is every word of it in the facts?
- For a generated social hook, does its picture move in the first second?
- Does the payoff land somewhere new rather than repeat it?
