Hook (First Seconds)

What this is about

Playback in a feed starts without a decision, usually muted and often mid-scroll, which means the opening has to work as an image rather than as a sentence. Movement in the first frame, a recognisable subject, a face, or legible text when the message is verbal — those are the levers available. A logo sting or a slow establishing shot asks for patience the viewer has not granted yet. In production terms the hook is a planned shot with its own setup, listed in the shot list, not whatever sits at the head of the timeline.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Assume muted playback: an opening that only works with sound does not work in a feed
• Plan the hook as its own setup in the shot list, with time budgeted for it on the day
• Logo stings and slow establishing shots spend attention the viewer has not yet given

With TillyGen

TillyGen puts the opening shot on the shot list as its own entry, so it gets planned rather than found in the edit.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.