The first three seconds

The short version

Say the most interesting true thing first, and say it in words on the screen. Everything else in the video is only there for the people who stayed.

Two real openings

The Club Studio reel opened on a walk through the front door with one line of text over it: a new premium gym just opened in Metro Detroit. That is the news, delivered before the viewer has decided whether to keep watching.

The Stillwater Stables film opened with the distance: less than an hour from Detroit. Not the name of the stable, not its history. The one fact that turns a pretty video into a plan for Saturday.

The rules I actually follow

1. Lead with the news, not the logo. Nobody stays for a logo.
2. Put the hook in text. Most people are watching with the sound off, and the ones with sound on can read too.
3. Open on your best shot. The establishing shot can wait, or go.
4. One idea. If the opening needs the word "and", it is two videos.
5. No greeting, no "so today", no throat clearing. Start in the middle.
6. Cut anything that delays the point. Then cut one more thing.

The mute test

Before you post, watch the first three seconds with the sound off. Then ask whether a stranger could say what the video is about and why they should care. If the answer is no, the fix is almost never a better edit. It is a better first line.

Where people go wrong

1. Saving the best moment for the end, where a fraction of the audience will ever see it.
2. Opening on the brand instead of the reason to care about the brand.
3. Writing the hook for the client instead of for the person scrolling past.
4. A title card. It is a video, not a film festival.