Director Chair
All groups

Camera

Shot sizes 16Angles 17Camera moves 43Rigs 6Lenses 10Focus and depth 4

Frame

Composition 14Aspect ratios 11

Light and look

Light 22Time of day 12Colour looks 14Film stock and texture 9Art styles 6

People and places

Characters 6Expressions 31Settings 6

Motion

Subject motion and speed 9

Edit

Transitions 21Edit effects 41Sound 14

Story

Hooks 46Script arcs 10Video formats 11Calls to action 5Test and publish 16

Recipes

Presets 28Prompt guides 11

Tools

BoardModelsGuidesAboutAgent skill

Open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene.

Transitions

Fade from black

A calm, film-like entry that costs the first frame.

Use when
Brand films and stories watched on purpose; not feed openers.

Prompt instructions

Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot. Cut: open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene

Seedance 2.5 reads labelled blocks with timecodes.

Watch out

Related

The hook line in large type behind the speaker's head, readable on the very first frame.

Frame 0 is the thumbnailPrompt

No greeting, no logo and no context: the first frame is the moment itself, with the first word on it.

Openings that lose the viewerPrompt

Sources

Own words from Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026 and the Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report) Checked 2026-11-13.

For agents: this card as markdown, as JSON.