# Interface as teacher

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

The viewer hears the promise in the hook, then learns one concept per beat from the product's own screens.

- Use when: Product explainers and feature education for software with a visual interface.
- Phrase: the face only in the first six seconds with an audible before and after, then the product's own interface on black teaching one concept per beat, a numbered list filling slot by slot, the defined term coloured in the caption
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/preset/edit-interface-as-teacher
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/preset/edit-interface-as-teacher.json

## Watch out

- The face does not return after the hook, and no stock or generated imagery replaces the product's own interface. (practitioner; Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026)
- Measured: 2.0 visual changes per 10 seconds and a median segment of 2.93 seconds, slow on purpose against 3.57 spoken words per second. Faster than about one cut per two seconds and the components cannot be read. (measured; Director Chair measurement of a published short, 22 Oct 2026)
- The reference runs at -18.7 LUFS; aim for -14. (measured; Director Chair measurement of a published short, 22 Oct 2026)

## Measured on the reference

| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 100.1 s |
| Aspect | 9:16 |
| Visual changes per 10 s | 2.0 |
| Median segment | 2.93 s |
| First visual change | 1.63 s |
| First spoken word | 0.0 s |
| Spoken words per second | 3.57 |
| Loudness, integrated | -18.7 LUFS |
| True peak | -1.2 dBTP |
| Sound floor | -34.4 dBFS (something under everything) |
| Face in sampled frames | 6 percent, top third |
| Plays, saves | 791,000 plays, 5.0 percent saved (read 22 Oct 2026) |
| Against the account's median | about 50 times, measured on 13 Oct 2026 |

## The recipe

1. Hook, 0 to 6 seconds: the speaker in the top 45 percent, black below with an empty numbered list of the steps to come. The voice starts on frame 0 with the bare version of the thing, then the processed one.
2. After 6 seconds the face is gone: full-frame black, the product's own interface components in a band across the middle of the frame, one concept per beat.
3. Light the active component and dim the rest; fill one slot of the numbered list per step.
4. Captions of about three words, white bold sans, sentence case, no box, under the interface, with the term being defined in the accent colour.
5. Hold each visual 2.5 to 3.5 seconds while the voice runs at about 3.5 words per second.
6. Close on the full list and name the product once.

## Not for

Products without a visual interface, testimonials, emotional stories, anything under 30 seconds.

## 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 interface as teacher: the viewer hears the promise in the hook, then learns one concept per beat from the product's own screens. How it works: the face only in the first six seconds with an audible before and after, then the product's own interface on black teaching one concept per beat, a numbered list filling slot by slot, the defined term coloured in the caption. It is right for: product explainers and feature education for software with a visual interface. The face does not return after the hook, and no stock or generated imagery replaces the product's own interface. Measured: 2.0 visual changes per 10 seconds and a median segment of 2.93 seconds, slow on purpose against 3.57 spoken words per second. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- Face only in the hook: https://directorchair.ai/effect/face-only-in-hook
- The result in the hook: https://directorchair.ai/hook/demonstration-hook
- Coloured keyword in the caption: https://directorchair.ai/effect/caption-keyword-colour
- Definition card: https://directorchair.ai/effect/definition-card
- The interface carries it: https://directorchair.ai/format/format-screen-led
- Six-stage voice chain: https://directorchair.ai/sound/voice-chain

## Source

Our own reading and measurement of a TikTok by @thefranswah, posted 8 Oct 2026. The clip is a third-party reference and is not shown; the words here are ours https://www.tiktok.com/@thefranswah/video/7694150430359702797

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