SKILL.md
Short-Form Video
Engineer a 9:16 video that survives the swipe. Short-form is not a small launch film — it is a retention machine: a hook that earns the first second, pattern interrupts that reset attention every few seconds, and often a loop that buys watch-time past 100%. The craft is timing, not polish.
When to use
- Reels / TikTok / YouTube Shorts (7–60s, vertical 9:16).
- Retention editing: fixing drop-off, adding pattern interrupts, tightening pacing.
- Hooks, seamless loops, repeatable short-form templates (one design, many topics).
Story structure (the retention contract)
Short-form storytelling is a contract with the viewer's thumb: every second must re-earn the next one. The narrative is shaped backwards from the retention curve, not forwards from an intro. Lock these before touching the timeline.
- One idea per video. A short carries exactly one payoff. A second idea splits attention and the curve sags in the middle — make it a second video instead. If you can't name the single takeaway in a sentence, you don't have a short yet.
- Open a loop in the first ~3s, close it last. The hook poses a question or gap (the open loop); the payoff answers it. The viewer stays because the loop is open — so never answer it early, and never bury the payoff under setup.
- No dead air. Every beat either advances the idea or resets attention. Cut anything that does neither. Silence, slow ramps, throat-clearing intros ("hey guys, in this video…") are where viewers swipe.
- Why the curve, not the cut, is the unit of work. The algorithm distributes whatever holds the per-second retention curve flat; a "good" edit that flattens the curve loses to an ugly one that keeps it up. You are editing the curve, and the hook gates everything after it — fix it first.