# Deadpan spec ad

Recipes / Preset / Edit styles. Checked 2026-11-13.

The scenes never wink, so two quiet title cards land the whole joke.

- Use when: Spec ads, portfolio pieces, reacting to a launch everyone knows.
- Phrase: a product ad played completely straight in full-frame scenes with hard cuts on the action, no captions, a claim on a title card on black after the stunt and a payoff card on black at the very end
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/preset/edit-deadpan-spec-ad
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/preset/edit-deadpan-spec-ad.json

## Watch out

- A scene that winks at the joke, a caption or a logo over the scenes, or the payoff card before the visual punchline: each is a listed failure. (practitioner; Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026)
- Our export ran at -8.2 LUFS with a true peak of +0.4 dBTP, which clips. Export at -14 LUFS with the peak at or under -1 dBTP. (measured; Director Chair measurement of a published short, 22 Oct 2026)
- A real brand needs parody framing and a trademark check before the film is used in anything sold. (practitioner; Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026)

## Measured on the reference

| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 25.0 s |
| Aspect | 16:9 |
| Visual changes per 10 s | 2.4 |
| Median segment | 2.57 s |
| First visual change | 3.1 s |
| First spoken word | 2.7 s (the only spoken line, two words) |
| Spoken words per second | 1.19 |
| Loudness, integrated | -8.2 LUFS (too hot) |
| True peak | +0.4 dBTP (clips) |
| Sound floor | -35.5 dBFS (music-led) |
| Face in sampled frames | 30 percent, middle third |

## The recipe

1. Full-frame scenes in the target ratio, no captions and no overlays.
2. Open on the problem in one static shot, 0 to 3 seconds.
3. Then the product moment and the stunt in two or three shots, cut hard on the action: 2 to 3 visual changes per 10 seconds, shots of 2.5 to 3 seconds.
4. Put the claim on a title card on black right after the stunt: small white sans, centred, one line.
5. Show the consequence in one shot.
6. End on the payoff card on black in the same type, held at least 3 seconds. In our film it reads: Landing sold separately.
7. One spoken line at most. Music-led, with a hit on the stunt.

## Not for

Explainers, tutorials, a real brand without parody framing.

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Give me a production plan: the shots or scenes in order, what each one needs, and the edit settings, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is deadpan spec ad: the scenes never wink, so two quiet title cards land the whole joke. How it works: a product ad played completely straight in full-frame scenes with hard cuts on the action, no captions, a claim on a title card on black after the stunt and a payoff card on black at the very end. It is right for: spec ads, portfolio pieces, reacting to a launch everyone knows. A scene that winks at the joke, a caption or a logo over the scenes, or the payoff card before the visual punchline: each is a listed failure. Our export ran at -8.2 LUFS with a true peak of +0.4 dBTP, which clips. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- Title card on black: https://directorchair.ai/transition/title-card-on-black
- Hard cut: https://directorchair.ai/transition/hard-cut
- The commercial for a fear: https://directorchair.ai/preset/preset-spec-commercial
- Commercial: https://directorchair.ai/look/look-commercial
- Generated scenes cut to sound: https://directorchair.ai/format/format-generated-scenes
- 16:9 landscape: https://directorchair.ai/ratio/ratio-16-9

## Source

Our own film (generated with reference images, cut by hand, Oct 2026), measured by us. No clip is attached: it parodies a real brand.

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