Narrative structure and pacing

This skill owns the shape of the whole video -- what happens when, and why a viewer keeps watching. video-cinematography owns what one shot looks like once a beat is decided. Get the structure right first; a beautifully shot sequence in the wrong place in the arc still loses viewers.

The guidance here scales with duration -- rules for a 2-minute explainer and a 12-minute video differ in scope but not in kind. Apply the arc template for short pieces, add chapters and retention management for anything genuinely long-form.

The explainer arc

For a single-arc piece (roughly under 5 minutes), structure the narrative in this order, scaling section lengths proportionally to total duration: