# Time the beats

> Place the hook, the name, the proof and the endcard at the moments real launch films use, and know which of three name modes you are in.

Module: Launch films · Level: beginner · 7 min · https://school.agents.org.in/media/film/beats

Drag the playhead. This is a 60-second film for a made-up product called Relay, timed to the measured medians. Every frame in the preview is drawn from the time alone.

*[Interactive demo: Scrub, or tap a beat. The blue ticks mark the first word, the name and the final hold.]*

A launch film's structure is not a matter of taste. Across 47 measured films, the same moments land in the same places. Each section is a beat (A stretch of a film with one job: the hook, the problem, the name, the product, the proof, the endcard): a stretch of the film with one job.

## The first two seconds

Put a readable word on screen by **0.2 to 0.7 seconds**. Skale's films median 0.2 s; the acclaimed films 0.68 s, and six of them show a word on frame zero. The first scene change, the first seam (Any change from one scene to the next, whether a cut, a fill or a morph. A good seam reads as one continuous move), lands by about **2 seconds**.

That opening is the hook (The first two or three seconds of a film, which decide whether anyone keeps watching. A readable word should be on screen by 0.2 to 0.7 seconds). In the acclaimed films it is usually the product already working (five films), a claim or question (seven), or the brand mark (three).

> **The poster frame trick.** 9 of Skale's 29 films bake 1 to 4 frames of the finished title at t = 0, then cut. That frame becomes the autoplay thumbnail, at a cost of about a tenth of a second. It is called a poster frame (The frame shown before a video plays, as its thumbnail. Some films bake 1 to 4 frames of the finished title at the very start so the thumbnail names the product).

## When to say the name

This is the beat people get wrong most. There are three measured modes. Pick one and commit.

| Mode | When the name lands | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Early | by 11 % of the runtime | brand-first films, either corpus |
| End of the problem act | median 29 % (6-51 %) | problem-first films |
| Late | around 70 %, after the demo | known brands only: Apple, Arc, Anthropic, Figma, Raycast |

**Five of the six late-name films come from brands the audience already knew.** Holding an unknown product's name back for 70 % of the film means most viewers leave without hearing it.

*(Don't time a problem act to 15 %. That number mixes all the films that were not brand-first. A problem act runs to the name: median 29 %, never much past half.)*

The music agrees with the name. The **low end** (the bass) lands on the first reveal: in 12 of 18 Skale music films and 10 of 18 acclaimed ones.

## The body: show, or prove

Problem-first films tend to prove: 9 of Skale's 13 carry a proof beat, usually a counter rolling up to one number. Product-first films tend to show the product working instead.

Five acclaimed films land a **payoff** just before the endcard: the finished result or the user's reaction, 0.1 to 1.2 seconds before the cut. Cursor 2.0's hot reload lands 1.2 s before; Notion Mail ends on Send.

  **Before (avoid):**

The demo ends mid-task, then the logo fades up over a blank frame.

  **After (do this):**

The pull request merges, a beat later the mark grows from a dot, the wordmark lands, the last two seconds hold still.

## The endcard

The endcard (The closing frame of a film with the mark, the name and maybe a URL. In measured films it runs 4.4 to 6.3 seconds and its last 2 seconds hold still) is the closing frame: the mark, the name, maybe a URL. It runs longer than people expect.

- **Length:** 4.4 s (Skale) to 6.3 s (acclaimed).
- **Final hold:** about 2 seconds where nothing changes, so it can be read and screenshotted.
- **A URL only with a verb**, and only when there is somewhere to go. "Try it at relay.dev", not a bare address. Only about half of Skale's endcards carry a URL at all.
- **Build the mark** from a primitive or the film's own objects. Five acclaimed films grow it from a single dot; Claude Cowork blooms its mark out of the button the user just clicked.
- **Bookend:** repeat the opening move at the end (7 of 29 Skale, 10 of 18 acclaimed).

## A series is a template

Replit shipped three films in a month on one kit: red keywords, a cream canvas, named cursors, the same lockup hold. To make the next film in a series, write the new product into the slots and keep every frame number, ease and cut.

**Storyboard to measured beats (paste into your agent):**

```text
Storyboard this launch film (register: <name it>) with timestamps:
- a readable word by 0.7 s, the first seam by about 2 s
- the name in ONE mode: early (by 11 % of runtime), at the end of the
  problem act (about 29 %), or late (~70 %, only for a known brand)
- the music's low end on the first reveal
- a payoff just before the endcard
- an endcard of 4.4-6.3 s that holds still for the last ~2 s;
  a URL only with a verb ("Try it at ...")
Show the name time as a percentage of the runtime.
```

**Check yourself:** A 60-second film for a product nobody has heard of names itself at 42 seconds. What is wrong?

- [ ] Nothing, late names build suspense
- [x] 42 s is 70 %: the late mode is only seen from brands people already know
- [ ] The name should be at exactly 15 %
- [ ] It should never name the product before the endcard

*Why:* The late-name mode (~70 %) comes almost entirely from known brands. An unknown product should name itself early or where its problem act ends, around 29 %.

## In the skill

- https://school.agents.org.in/skill/launch-video/launch-video-structure.md