Social Shorts | The first three seconds decide whether anyone watches to the end

On social platforms, the viewer's thumb is always ready to scroll on. That means the first three seconds of a short decide almost everything: if you don't give people a reason to stay, no one sees the rest, however well it is cut.

Beyond that, shorts follow a whole set of different rules: vertical framing has to keep clear of the areas the interface covers, subtitles have to carry the message on their own with the sound off, and the pacing has to be tight enough to leave almost no dead air. None of this is solved by cropping a landscape video.

These situations are a good fit

• Brands or shops running IG and TikTok with no one to do the editing
• Existing long-form videos you want turned into several shorts, to get the most out of the footage
• Explainer content that needs one idea condensed into 60 seconds
• Product introductions that need a fast-paced, memorable treatment
• Personal brands that need to post consistently but do not have the time
• Ad creative that needs several versions to test

Common formats and lengths

• Vertical 1080×1920 is the main format
• 15–30 seconds: ad placements and fast-paced content
• 30–60 seconds: explainer and how-to content
• 60–90 seconds: story-led content that needs setting up
• Keep important text out of roughly the top and bottom 15% so the platform interface does not cover it
• The same piece can also be exported square at 1080×1080 for feed posts

Please have these ready

The rules for materials are simple. Just follow whichever one of the options below matches what you have:

1. You already have footage

• Upload the original files to Google Drive, then share the folder link with us
• Please put the files in order first — name them in the order you want them to appear (01, 02, 03…). This step saves a great deal of back-and-forth and makes the quote more accurate
• Please send the original files rather than sending them through a messaging app, which compresses them and costs you quality

2. You do not have footage yet

A simple script is enough. You only need to write down three things:

• From which second to which second
• What is on screen
• What text appears

For example:

It does not need to be beautifully written, just clear. We will use that script to assess how feasible it is and what the scope of work would be.

3. Other things we can look at (not required)

Below are the supporting materials people often have for this kind of video. They are only a reference, not a requirement. Providing your material in either of the two ways above is enough — having these lets us assess things faster, and not having them makes no difference.

• The core message of this video, in one sentence
• Any copy or piece-to-camera script you want included
• Brand fonts, colours and logo
• Reference accounts or videos, with a note on the pacing you are after

For anything else, just ask on our official LINE.

How we might approach it

Every project has a different set of materials and a different brief. What is listed below are the approaches commonly used for this kind of video; which of them we actually use, and how far we take them, depends on your material and what you need.

• Rebuilding the opening: the strongest shot or the most important line goes first
• Cutting filler and pauses: in pieces to camera we take out every “um” and “and then” and every empty patch — the difference in density is very noticeable
• Animated subtitles: subtitles appearing line by line or word by word, so the whole thing makes sense with the sound off
• Reframing: going from landscape to vertical, we reframe on the subject rather than simply cropping to the centre
• The closing call to action: the CTA goes where viewers are still watching, not in the final second