# Pick the register first

> Name the kind of launch film you are making before anything else, so cut rate, stillness and loudness all have a target.

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

Here is one moment, "the agent opens a pull request", shot three ways. Same product, same beat. Flip between them.

*[Interactive demo: One beat in three registers. The numbers under the frame come with the register, not with the quality.]*

None of the three is better. They are different **kinds** of film, and each kind has its own measured habits: how often it cuts, how much of it sits still, how loud it is. That kind is called the register (The kind of launch film you are making, such as UI motion graphics, product camera or kinetic type. It sets the cut rate, stillness and loudness), and it is the first decision on any launch film (The short video, usually 30 to 90 seconds, a company posts when it ships a product or feature).

> **In plain words.** A **launch film** is the short video (usually 30 to 90 seconds) a company posts when it ships something. A **register** is its genre: a lively motion-graphics piece, a calm close-up of the real product, a film made of words. Pick the genre, and most of the numbers pick themselves.

## Why register comes before everything

Every number later in this module depends on it. Four cuts a minute is normal for one kind of film and sluggish for another. Half the frames sitting still is calm in one register and dead in the next.

The numbers here come from a measured set of 47 launch films: 29 made by the studio Skale, and 18 acclaimed films from 2024 to 2026 by Linear, Raycast, Anthropic, Figma, Apple, Notion, Google and others. Each was timed frame by frame at its own frame rate, with cuts counted by eye.

| Register | Typical films | Cuts a minute | Still share |
|---|---|---|---|
| UI motion graphics | Skale's Replit, Bolt, Aside films | 4 | 9 % |
| Product camera | Linear Agent, Raycast, Claude Cowork | 14 | 49 % |
| Keynote cards + demo | Cursor 2.0, Notion Mail, Granola 2.0 | 12 | 37 % |
| Kinetic type | Claude Opus 4.6, the Gemini app | 3.3 | 17 % |
| Beat-cut sizzle | Figma glass, Arc on Windows, Spline Hana | 31 | 29 % |
| Founder-led hybrid | Typesafe, Browserbase | ~13 or 0-4 | 18 % |

Cut rate (How many times a minute the picture jumps to a new shot. About 4 in UI motion films, 14 in product-camera films, 31 in beat-cut sizzles) is how many times a minute the picture jumps to a new shot. Still share (The fraction of a film's frames where nothing visible changes. A blinking caret or a moving cursor counts as motion) is the fraction of frames where nothing visible changes at all; even a blinking caret counts as motion.

*(Never average two rows into a target. Half UI motion, half product camera gives a film neither register makes.)*

## How to pick

You rarely need a long debate. The product and the brief decide it.

  **Step: A known brand, the product is the hero.** Product camera. If the demo needs chapters, keynote cards with demos between them.

  **Step: A feed sizzle under 40 seconds, every shot a live component.** Beat-cut sizzle. These are also the loudest films in the set.

  **Step: A founder explains the product or a raise.** Founder-led hybrid, carried by the voice.

  **Step: The words are the product, like a model launch.** Kinetic type.

  **Step: None of these: a new product, no founder on camera, no brief.** UI motion graphics, the biggest measured row (18 of Skale's 29), with the name said early.

A second register can ride inside the first, like a material act inside Framer 3.0's tagline. Take the numbers from the main one.

## What every register keeps

Some rules held across all 47 films, whatever the genre. These are your floor.

- **No dead cut (A cut from a settled frame to a new scene that just waits. Neither side is moving, so the film stalls. It fails in every register).** Never cut from a settled frame to a scene that just waits. One side of the cut should be moving.
- **Nothing decorative moves on UI.** No floating, pulsing or breathing cards in any of the 18 acclaimed films. A slow camera drift under a hold is fine.
- **Words are built, not faded in.** 27 of 29 Skale films build copy word by word or letter by letter.
- **The bass arrives on the first reveal.** The music's low end lands with the name or the first big reveal.
- **Silence punctuates.** A pulled bass or a gap before a reveal, in 23 of 28 Skale films with sound.

**Cut rate, stillness and loudness are properties of the register, not marks of quality.** A calm product-camera film judged against a lively motion-graphics one looks too still. It is not; it is a different film.

## The order of decisions

Once the register is named, the rest of a film is a chain of decisions, each with its own owner. This module walks it in order.

1. **Register** (this lesson).
2. **Beats:** when the first word, the name and the endcard land.
3. **Words and product:** type cadence, the cursor, typed prompts.
4. **Cuts, seams and motion:** how one shot hands over to the next.
5. **Sound:** covered in the Sound module.
6. **Review:** check the render against its own register, then ship the loop, sting and vertical cuts.

A tool such as HeyGen's HyperFrames builds the film from code. The design-engineering skill decides it: register, beats, words and sound.

**Start a launch film with the register (paste into your agent):**

```text
Before you storyboard, name the launch-film register for this product
(UI motion graphics, product camera, keynote cards + demo, kinetic type,
beat-cut sizzle or founder-led hybrid) and say why in one line.
Then state the target cut rate and still share from that register's row,
and keep every later decision inside it.
```

**Check yourself:** A brand-new developer tool, no founder on camera, no brief. Which register is the safe default?

- [ ] Product camera, because it is calm
- [x] UI motion graphics, with the name early
- [ ] Beat-cut sizzle, because feeds reward energy
- [ ] An average of all the registers

*Why:* With nothing else to go on, the largest measured row is UI motion graphics (18 of Skale's 29 films). An unknown product names itself early, not at 70 %.

## In the skill

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