Video Production

Video Production

Video is the most expensive asset per unit of information. It is worth it only when motion, sequence, or a human voice carries something text cannot — a workflow, a proof of function, or trust in a person.

If a screenshot or a paragraph would do the job, do that instead. Most "we need a video" asks are actually "our positioning is unclear," and a video built on unclear positioning is an expensive way to be vague. Fix business/offer-design first.

Step 1 — format follows goal

The most effective business video is almost always an unglamorous screen recording of the real product solving the real problem. Production value is not the variable that moves conversion; clarity and proof are.

Step 2 — script structure

Short-form (<60s) — the hook dominates everything

0:00–0:03  HOOK      state the problem or the outcome. No logo, no intro, no "hey guys"
0:03–0:10  STAKES    why it matters / what it costs them
0:10–0:45  PAYOFF    the thing itself — show, don't tell
0:45–0:60  ACTION    one specific next step

The first 3 seconds decide the video's fate. Retention graphs are brutally consistent on this. An intro animation before the hook is the single most common self-inflicted wound — cut every logo sting, every "welcome back," every slow establishing shot.

Demo (45–90s)

1. "Here's the problem" — show the painful current state (the spreadsheet, the whiteboard)
2. "Here's the fix"     — do the task in the product, in real time, unedited if possible
3. "Here's the result"  — the after-state, concretely
4. One CTA

Rules: real data (plausible and anonymized, never obviously fake Test Test / asdf), real speed — if it takes 8 seconds to load, either show the 8 seconds or say you cut them. Silently cutting latency is a claim about performance you can't keep.

Writing rules

• Write the script as spoken language, then read it aloud and cut ~30%. Written-to-be-read prose sounds robotic aloud.
• One idea per sentence. Short sentences.
• Second person. "You'll see" not "the user can observe."
• No jargon the customer doesn't already use.
• Storyboard as a two-column table (what's on screen | what's said) before recording. This is where you catch that 20 seconds of the video show nothing.

Step 3 — production paths

Quality floor (in priority order — this order is not negotiable)

1. Audio. Bad audio kills a video faster than bad video. A cheap lav mic in a quiet room beats any camera upgrade. Record in the smallest carpeted room available.
2. Captions, burned in. The majority of social video is watched muted. Captions are also accessibility. Non-optional.
3. Legibility. If it's a screen recording, zoom in — text readable on a phone. Full-desktop captures are unreadable on mobile, which is where it will be watched.
4. Pacing. Cut every pause, every "um," every dead frame. Aim for no shot longer than 4 seconds without a change.
5. Resolution/lighting last. 1080p is plenty. A window is free lighting.

Technical specs

• Aspect: 9:16 vertical for social shorts, 16:9 for YouTube/embeds/demos, 1:1 acceptable for feed. Shoot/compose for the destination — cropping 16:9 to 9:16 destroys framing.
• H.264 MP4 for compatibility; 1080p; ~8–12 Mbps; AAC audio at −14 LUFS.
• First frame must work as a thumbnail (it's the poster by default).
• Hero loops: silent, muted-autoplay, <video muted loop playsinline> + poster, under ~2MB, or the page performance budget in design/web-page-build is blown.

Step 4 — distribution (decide before producing)

A video with no distribution plan is a hobby. Decide up front where it goes, because the format depends on it:

• Landing page → silent loop or 60s demo above the fold
• Cold outreach → <45s, personal, hosted with a thumbnail preview; never an attachment
• Paid social → 3 hook variants of the same body, test the hooks (business/experiment-engine)
• YouTube → searchable title, real description, chapters; it's a search engine, not a feed
• Sales follow-up → short, specific to the objection raised

Repurpose deliberately: one 90s demo → 3 shorts (one per feature) + a hero loop + 5 stills. Plan the repurposing before shooting so you capture the coverage you'll need.

Measurement

Kill criteria up front (thinking/decision-quality): if 3-second retention is below ~50% across two hook variants, the problem is the hook or the audience — do not re-edit the body.

Failure modes

Boundaries

• I cannot record, render, or edit video. No camera, no microphone, no ffmpeg, no node runtime in my toolset — verified: my kit is web access plus repo writes. What I produce is scripts, storyboards, shot lists, specs, captions, and Remotion source code committed to a repo; a human or a station box with node+ffmpeg does the render. Never describe a video as produced when only the script exists.
• No fabricated demos — no fake UI, no invented metrics on screen, no testimonial performed by someone who isn't a customer, no cutting latency while implying speed.
• No generated video of real people, no voice cloning of anyone without their explicit consent, no copyrighted music (use licensed or silence — silence with captions is fine and common).
• Check commercial-use terms on any generative model or stock asset at the time of use.
• Disclose AI-generated video where the platform requires it.