Write the first thirty seconds of a video.
This is a separate skill from /record because it is a separate job. The body of a lesson explains. The intro's only task is to make someone stay, and the techniques do not overlap. Most openings are written last, in a hurry, by someone who is now bored of the topic, which is why most openings are bad.
Thirty seconds is about seventy spoken words. It is a small budget and almost all of it gets wasted on channel throat clearing.
Steps
- [ ] 1. Find the source
- [ ] 2. Find the promise
- [ ] 3. Pick the hook
- [ ] 4. Write three versions
- [ ] 5. Hand it back
1. Find the source
Usually a lesson in docs/lessons/. If none exists, ask what the video covers, or scope the change with references/shared/change-analysis.md.
2. Find the promise
One sentence. What the viewer can do at the end that they could not do at the start.
Not the topic. "This video is about threaded replies" is a topic and it promises nothing. Here is a promise. "By the end you will know which sentence stops the agent from rewriting files you did not name."
If the promise cannot be stated in one sentence, the video does not have one, and no opening will rescue that. Say so.
I cannot find a single promise in this lesson. It covers four loosely related things. An opening can only sell one. Which one is the video actually about, or should this be two videos?
3. Pick the hook
Read references/hook-patterns.md. Pick the pattern that fits the material, not the one that sounds strongest. A hook the video does not pay off costs more than a flat one. A viewer who feels sold to leaves at forty seconds and does not come back for the next video.
4. Write three versions
Three, because the first is always the obvious one and the creator needs a choice.
Make them different in kind, not in wording. A result-first open, a problem-first open, and a specific-number open are three options. Three rewordings of the same sentence are one option.
Each version has.
Hook, one or two sentences. What is on screen matters as much as what is said, so give the bracketed direction with it.
Promise, one sentence. What they will be able to do.
Demo beat, five to ten seconds of the thing working. Non-negotiable for a build video. Talking about a feature that has not been shown is asking for trust before earning it.
Use the lesson format from record: bracketed directions on their own line, spoken prose everywhere else. That way it drops into the lesson file unchanged.
5. Hand it back
Output inline in chat, not as a file. The creator picks one, then pastes it into the lesson.
Say which one you would use and why, in one line. A recommendation is more useful than three neutral options.
What does not go in the first thirty seconds
Channel introductions. The name is on screen already.
Subscribe requests. Asking before delivering anything is the clearest signal that nothing is coming.
Sponsor reads. Move them to the first natural break, after the promise is paid.
Agenda lists. "First we'll look at, then we'll cover" is a table of contents read aloud, and it delays the thing that would have made them stay.
Apologies for the gap since the last video. Nobody noticed.
Reference files
references/hook-patterns.md: hook types, when each fits, and what each costsreferences/shared/simplified-english.md: ASD-STE100, the sentence and vocabulary rulesreferences/shared/voice.md: house style, all mediumsreferences/shared/change-analysis.md: scoping a diff when no lesson exists