One short visual, one spoken sentence and one line on screen in the first three seconds, all saying the same thing to one kind of viewer.

A hook has three jobs

The right viewer feels seen and stays; the wrong one leaves early.

Use when: Writing and judging any hook.

Prompt instructions

ProductAudience

Write five opening lines for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. Use the a hook has three jobs pattern: the right viewer feels seen and stays; the wrong one leaves early. The three jobs: stop the scroll, filter the audience, earn the next five seconds. When picture and text disagree, the picture wins the memory. Example: one short visual, one spoken sentence and one line on screen in the first three seconds, all saying the same thing to one kind of viewer. Plain spoken language, no hashtags, no emoji. Tell me which one you would post first and why, in one line.

The same prompt works in Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini.

Watch out

The three jobs: stop the scroll, filter the audience, earn the next five seconds. Without the filter it is clickbait; without the third it does not convert.practitioner: Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas (Motion's hook guide and 2026 creative benchmark, vendor data)
When picture and text disagree, the picture wins the memory.practitioner: Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas (Motion's hook guide and 2026 creative benchmark, vendor data)

In the first second: something moves toward the camera, a bold line of at most six words appears above the head before the first word is spoken, and one sound effect hits.

Three-layer hookPrompt

Frame the speaker wide enough to show the edit desk: two monitors with a timeline, a control surface, headphones on a hook.

The setting does the targetingPrompt

Point at the lens: if you run a shop with fewer than five people, this is for you.