The Frame-Zero Checklist.

Pause on the very first frame. If there is no readable hook yet, the thumb has already moved on.

“Not all roofs are the same” has none of the three. A date, a number or a threat does.

A punch-in, a title landing, a hand entering frame. A still talking head reads as a photo.

Listen for breaths and dead air between phrases. Each one is a place to leave.

No clipped first or last syllable anywhere. Tight is good, mutilated is not.

B-roll and graphics support the person selling. They don’t replace them.

If a price, saving or rating is only spoken, most viewers never register it.

Nothing under the caption area, the like buttons or the profile row of the app it runs on.

Check the whole path of every title, not only where it comes to rest.

A dip to black is a natural exit. Carry one element across the cut instead.

And it hits on the same frame the motion peaks. Silent motion looks cheap.

Effects and music stay well under it, and nothing distorts on a phone speaker.