# Checklist with a counter

Edit / Edit effect / Overlays and inserts. Checked 2026-11-13.

The viewer watches the promise being kept item by item and stays to the end of the list.

- Use when: List videos: N tips, N tools, N effects.
- Phrase: a checklist panel fills the right third from the first frame: numbered items, the current one highlighted in white, a counter 01 of 18 on top
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/effect/checklist-tracker
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/effect/checklist-tracker.json

## Watch out

- Measured on the reference: 18 items in 20.5 seconds, 6.83 visual changes per 10 seconds, 8.3 percent of plays saved, 12 times the median of the account's other clips. The checklist is on screen from frame 0 and ticks on every item. (measured; Director Chair measurement of a published short, 22 Oct 2026)
- No more items than seconds allow; faster than one item per second is the listed failure. (practitioner; Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026)

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Give me an edit brief: where it goes on the timeline, the exact settings, and what to check before export, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is checklist with a counter: the viewer watches the promise being kept item by item and stays to the end of the list. How it works: a checklist panel fills the right third from the first frame: numbered items, the current one highlighted in white, a counter 01 of 18 on top. It is right for: list videos: N tips, N tools, N effects. Measured on the reference: 18 items in 20.5 seconds, 6.83 visual changes per 10 seconds, 8.3 percent of plays saved, 12 times the median of the account's other clips. No more items than seconds allow; faster than one item per second is the listed failure. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- A finite promise with a counter: https://directorchair.ai/hook/visible-counter
- Ticking effects list: https://directorchair.ai/preset/edit-ticking-effects-list
- The whole list as a map in frame 0: https://directorchair.ai/hook/map-in-frame-zero

## Source

Own words from Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.