THE FIRST SECOND OF A REEL

People decide whether to keep watching before they have consciously seen anything. On a reel, that decision takes about a second, and most of the reels we review spend that second on a logo or a slow fade in.

Open on the best frame

Look through the footage and find the shot that makes you stop. Put it first. A face mid-sentence, a hand doing something, a product doing what it does. The setup can come after, once you have their attention.

Say it on screen

Many people watch with the sound off. A short line of text in the first frame tells them what the reel is about and why it is for them. Keep it to a few words, and keep it away from the edges, where the app’s buttons sit.

Cut the warm-up

Most edits get better when you remove the first two seconds. Watch your reel with the opening trimmed and see if anything is lost. Usually nothing is, and the whole reel feels faster.