Methods/Writing the opening
Writing the opening
Seven opening mechanisms, labelled on every line
The hook is the highest-leverage part of a video: however good the body is, none of it is watched if the viewer leaves in the first five seconds. Rather than generating lines that merely sound good, the hook writer labels every line it returns with the mechanism it used — one of seven — so you can judge the mechanism rather than the vibe, and deliberately test a different one next time.
How the method runs
- Open loopStart something the viewer needs the rest of the video to finish.
- ContradictionState the opposite of what the audience expects, then owe them the reason.
- StakesName what is lost by getting this wrong, before explaining anything.
- DemonstrationShow the result first. The claim is the thing on screen, not a sentence about it.
- Direct promiseSay plainly what the viewer will be able to do by the end.
- SpecificityLead with the one concrete number or detail that proves this is not generic.
- QuestionAsk the thing the viewer already half-wonders, so the video becomes the answer.
What it cannot do
A hook cannot rescue a video the viewer never wanted, and a strong opening on a weak promise costs you more than a dull one — it raises the drop-off that follows. Which mechanism suits your audience is a judgement the method does not make for you.
The other methods
Six in total, one per stage between the idea and the upload button.