git:20260619.e84def4 to git:20260704.b0a8f98

+ description: Writes the spoken line plus visual frame combination for the first 3 seconds of a short-form video, delivering labeled variants built from six proven hook formulas and matched to TikTok, Reels, or Shorts. Use when someone says "write a hook for this video", "my Shorts die in the first seconds", "give me openers for this TikTok", or "how should this Reel start". Do NOT use for the first line of a written post, thread, or caption — use social-hook-generator instead; do NOT use to build the full thread after the opener — use tweet-thread-builder instead; do NOT use for the 30-second intro of a long-form YouTube video — use youtube-script-writer instead; do NOT use to design the clickable image for a video — use thumbnail-concept instead.

+ On short-form video, the first three seconds are the entire audition: the platform decides distribution from early retention, and the viewer decides everything from the first frame and first spoken words. This skill produces hook combinations — what the viewer hears plus what the viewer sees — that arrest the scroll and open a question the video must answer. The costly mistake it prevents is a strong video that never gets watched because seconds one through three were setup instead of signal.

+ ## Operating procedure

+ ### Step 1: gather inputs

+ 1. The video's payoff: the one thing the viewer knows or can do at the end. If the creator cannot state it in one sentence, stop — the problem is upstream of the hook.

+ 2. Target platform: TikTok, Reels, or Shorts. Default to producing for the creator's primary platform and noting adjustments for the others.

+ 3. The creator's on-camera register (raw and conversational vs. polished and produced). If unknown, guess from their niche and label the guess.

+ 4. Any concrete assets in the content: numbers, timeframes, named results, a visible transformation. Hooks built on specifics beat hooks built on adjectives.

+ ### Step 2: write both channels of every hook

+ A hook has two components and both must deliver signal, not setup. The spoken line must be complete enough to create a question in the viewer's mind. The visual frame must be unexpected, specific, or slightly unresolved — because autoplay may be muted, frame one has to work silently. Specify both for every variant: never hand back a spoken line with no visual direction. Ban from frame one: black frames, slow zooms, logo stings, and a talking head with no context.

+ ### Step 3: generate variants across the six formulas

+ Produce at least three variants per video concept, each from a different formula, each labeled by formula name so the creator can A/B test and build pattern intuition. The highest-performing hook is almost never the first draft.

+ 1. **Callout** — addresses the viewer directly: "If you do X, stop right now."

+ 2. **Curiosity Gap** — "The reason most people fail at X is not what you think."

+ 3. **Transformation Promise** — "I went from X to Y in Z days — here's how."

+ 4. **Controversy Opener** — "Unpopular opinion: X is actually killing your Y." Only when the take is genuinely contested.

+ 5. **List Tease** — "Three things I wish I knew before starting X."

+ 6. **Visual-First** — the action or result is shown before a word is spoken; the caption or voiceover then names it.

+ ### Step 4: enforce the hard limits

+ - Spoken hook line under 12 words. Longer lines outrun the 3-second window at speaking pace.

+ - The line makes a specific claim, not a vague one: "I doubled my open rate in 14 days" beats "this changed my email game."

+ - No pleasantries, no context, no backstory, and never "In this video I will show you." The viewer owes nothing; every word must earn its place.

+ - The hook must be a promise the video actually pays off. A hook the payoff cannot cash trains the audience to skip the creator.

+

+ ### Step 5: calibrate to the platform

+

+ - **TikTok** rewards raw authenticity: start mid-sentence or mid-action, as if the viewer walked in on something already happening.

+ - **Reels** rewards a polished first frame with a text overlay that reinforces (not repeats) the spoken hook.

+ - **Shorts** rewards the Curiosity Gap most reliably because the audience skews information-seeking.

+

+ ### Step 6: pair each spoken line with an on-screen text overlay

+

+ The overlay is a second hook for muted viewers. Keep it to 5–7 words, and make it complement the spoken line — same promise, different words — so sound-on and sound-off viewers each get a complete hook.

+

+ ## Good/bad hook pairs

+

+ **Talking-head advice video (topic: freelance pricing):**

+ - Bad: "Hey guys, today I want to talk about something a lot of freelancers struggle with — pricing." (Greeting, throat-clearing, no claim, 17 words before any signal. Visual: neutral talking head.)

+ - Good: Spoken — "Your rate is a filter, not a price." (8 words, Controversy Opener.) Visual — creator mid-gesture, overlay reads "raising rates LOSES clients. good." First frame already in motion.

+

+ **Transformation/result video (topic: 30-day desk setup):**

+ - Bad: "So about a month ago I decided I wanted to redo my desk setup, and…" (Backstory-first; the result is the hook and it is nowhere on screen.)

+ - Good: Visual-First — frame one is the finished setup, camera already moving across it; spoken at second one: "This cost me $212 and 30 days." Overlay: "the $212 setup." The result opens, the number creates the question.

+

+ ## Deliverable

+

+ Produce a hook sheet containing: at least three variants per video concept, each with (1) the formula label, (2) the exact spoken line under 12 words, (3) the frame-one visual direction, (4) the on-screen text overlay, and (5) a one-line note on which variant best fits the creator's register and platform.

+

+ ## Do NOT

+

+ - Do not open with greetings, channel intros, or "in this video" — they spend the only seconds that matter on nothing.

+ - Do not write a spoken line without its visual; half a hook fails on muted autoplay.

+ - Do not make vague claims; specificity is the difference between curiosity and scroll.

+ - Do not use hollow shock ("you won't BELIEVE") or promise what the video does not deliver — one bait cycle costs more retention than ten weak hooks.

+ - Do not exceed 12 spoken words or 7 overlay words.

+ - Do not deliver one hook; the winning variant is found by testing, not guessing.

+

+ ## Quality bar

+

+ - Every variant names its formula, and no two variants use the same formula.

+ - Every spoken line is under 12 words, makes a specific claim, and opens a question the video closes.

+ - Every variant specifies frame one, and frame one works with the sound off.

+ - The set spans at least one curiosity-driven and one result-driven variant so the creator can test contrast, not shades of one idea.

+

+ For the retention structure after the hook lands, pair with youtube-script-writer (long-form) or hand the finished clip to social-video-formatter for export.