Who this is for: Product marketers creating public product explanations and asynchronous evaluation material.
What to prepare
- One recurring viewer task
- Configured-account prerequisites
- Matched source states and actual interactions
- Exact labels and a next-step resource
Copyable creative brief
An authored planning example. Replace illustrative details with your approved product facts and assets.
Illustrative brief: create a 30-second explanation for an evaluator of a fictional request tool. In an already configured reviewer account, show how to filter for assigned requests, open R-041, “Sample booklet review,” and inspect its status and due date. Keep the reviewer and filter scope readable. End on the confirmed detail view and identify the next task as reviewing the request. Use only supplied product states, label the records illustrative and avoid claims about time saved or customer outcomes. This is a linear video, not an interactive sandbox.
When this format fits
Choose this format for a bounded recurring task whose start and finish can be shown clearly: finding an assigned request, inspecting a report or saving one configuration. It is especially useful when the surrounding page can answer deeper questions about setup and access.
Suitable inputs include a verified workflow, consistent sample data, exact product labels and screenshots for each consequential state. A feature list with no task, a collection of unrelated screens or an unverified prototype presented as shipping software is not enough.
Build a story that supplies its own context
Begin with the viewer’s question, then establish role and prerequisites. In the illustrative brief, the account already exists and requests are already assigned. State those conditions so the film does not imply it covers onboarding or creates the data automatically.
Connect each action to a visible response. Show the active reviewer filter, then the matching row, then the same identifier in the detail view. End when the promised inspection is possible, rather than continuing into approval and introducing a second task.
Choose the detail level deliberately
An evaluator needs enough explanation to understand the outcome. A user learning the exact clicks may need a longer training version. Keep essential controls and commitments in both; reduce routine navigation only when the route remains believable.
If the task depends on several branching decisions, split it into separate focused explanations or allow a longer runtime. A 30-second target is a planning constraint, not evidence that every task can be taught in that duration.
Review the result and plan maintenance
Ask a reviewer to identify the starting role, the reason the list changes and the final result using only the storyboard. Add context where they cannot. Later, inspect the produced video at its intended page size with captions and controls present.
Record source screenshots, product version and verification owner for each scene. A renamed filter or changed permission can invalidate the explanation even if the motion still looks polished. This illustrative brief has not been rendered or audience-tested.
Review checklist
- The story works without a presenter’s explanation.
- The starting role and prerequisites are explicit.
- The final state visibly answers the original question.
- The video is not described as an interactive product experience.