One Brief, Three Rigs: A Practical Workflow for a 60-Second Vertical Explainer

The 60-second brief needs a production structure

Consider a simple brief: explain why a neighbourhood should collect rainwater, using one minute of vertical video for a general social media audience. The film needs an opening hook, three useful points and a closing instruction. This is enough information to begin production, but not enough to generate a coherent sequence. First, convert the brief into a timed script with a clear visual purpose for every passage.

A workable structure is 0-5 seconds for the hook, 5-17 seconds for the problem, 17-40 seconds for three practical points, 40-53 seconds for the benefit and 53-60 seconds for the closing instruction. These timings are a planning framework, not a fixed rule. The narration should communicate the essential information even if a viewer cannot see every image or read every caption.

Create a shot list alongside the script. Each shot should identify its duration, visual subject, camera movement, narration and any text that must appear on screen. A 60-second film might contain twelve five-second shots, although some establishing images can stay longer and explanatory inserts can be shorter. This breakdown gives the editor a defined assembly plan before opening a generation tool.

• Write one sentence describing the purpose of each scene.
• Allocate a duration to every shot.
• Identify essential information that must appear in narration or captions.
• Separate visual instructions from spoken dialogue.
• Choose a consistent aspect ratio of 9:16 for the production canvas.

Three production rigs solve different problems

Rig one is script-led. The narration is established first, then the visual sequence is built around its timing. Images, stock footage, generated inserts or simple motion graphics can fill the timeline. This is a sensible arrangement for educational explainers because the information determines the structure. If a sentence changes, the editor can adjust the corresponding visual section without rebuilding the entire film.

Rig two is image-led. Generate a planned collection of still images using the same visual direction, subject descriptions and composition rules. Add movement through keyframes, pans, crops and restrained transitions in the editor. This approach offers direct control over framing and the order in which information appears. It also creates additional editing work because still images need movement, depth or graphic treatment to avoid a sequence of static slides.

Rig three is scene-led. Generate individual video scenes from descriptions of the action, setting and camera behaviour. Assemble the resulting clips against the narration and adjust their lengths in the editing application. This can provide more immediate movement, but individual scenes may vary in subject appearance, camera direction or action. The editor must also consider whether the final moment of one clip connects naturally to the opening of the next.

• Script-led: prioritise information, narration timing and predictable revisions.
• Image-led: prioritise visual control, composition and repeatable graphic treatment.
• Scene-led: prioritise moving imagery and individual scene direction.

Build the assets around a common visual specification

All three rigs benefit from a shared visual specification. Define the subject, environment, lighting, colour palette, camera distance and intended mood before creating assets. For the rainwater explainer, the specification might call for a contemporary residential setting, natural daylight, realistic water textures and uncluttered compositions. Reusing these descriptions helps maintain a recognisable visual language across independently created scenes.

The 9:16 frame needs particular attention. A wide image cropped into a vertical canvas can lose important information at either edge. Keep faces, products and essential actions within the central composition, and leave room for captions where possible. A person standing beside a water butt may look balanced in a landscape image but become awkwardly cropped when converted to portrait.

Keep generated assets organised by scene number. Use names such as 01-opening, 02-problem and 03-collection-system. Store alternate images and clips separately from the selected assets. This simple discipline prevents the timeline from becoming a collection of vaguely named files and makes replacement work considerably easier.

Assembly is where the three rigs converge

Regardless of the generation method, the editing stage should begin with a vertical sequence and the complete narration. Place the voice track first, divide it into meaningful sections and fit the visuals to those sections. Add room for pauses at important transitions. A scene does not need to change every time the narration introduces a new sentence; excessive cutting can make a straightforward explainer difficult to follow.

Use separate tracks for narration, music, effects, visual footage and captions. Keep the original generated assets outside the active editing sequence. This arrangement makes it easier to replace a visual, lower music or revise a caption without affecting unrelated material. It also gives the editor a clear view of which elements are responsible for each part of the finished film.

A practical timing example is a five-second opening image followed by three explanatory sequences of approximately eight seconds each, with the remaining time allocated to context and the closing instruction. If the narration finishes early, extend a useful image or add a purposeful transition. Avoid slowing every clip simply to fill the minute.

The manual corrections that determine the finish

Generated material often needs editorial adjustment before it belongs in a finished sequence. Look for inconsistent objects, changing clothing, distorted hands, unnatural movement and backgrounds that change unexpectedly. In a scene-led workflow, a short replacement shot can be more efficient than attempting to repair a fundamentally unsuitable clip. In an image-led workflow, a revised crop or a replacement still may be sufficient.

Audio needs an independent pass. Check that narration is intelligible, music does not compete with speech and sound effects have a clear purpose. Remove unnecessary gaps and abrupt audio endings. If the video uses synthetic narration, confirm the pronunciation of names, technical terms and unusual place names before finalising the picture edit.

Captions should be checked as editorial content, not treated as an automatic finishing step. Correct spelling, punctuation, line breaks and timing. Keep each caption within a comfortable reading area and ensure it does not obscure the subject. A visually attractive subtitle style can still fail if its text occupies too much of a narrow mobile screen.

Export settings complete the production workflow

For a conventional social video, a useful delivery target is 1080 by 1920 pixels at a 9:16 aspect ratio. H.264 video in an MP4 container is a common starting point, while 25 or 30 frames per second may suit different source material and platform requirements. Match the project frame rate to the intended delivery wherever practical. These are general production settings, not universal platform rules.

Check the destination platform's current limits for duration, file size, supported codecs, frame rate and audio handling. Platform specifications and upload behaviour can change. A file that exports successfully from an editing application may still be processed differently after upload, so keep a clean master and retain the project files.

Before delivery, watch the entire film in portrait orientation. Check the opening, final frame, captions, audio levels and any transitions that look different at full playback speed. Confirm that the video does not contain accidental black frames, missing media or unexpected borders. Export a short draft first when a major project setting changes, then produce the full-resolution master.

Choose the rig before generating the first asset

The most efficient workflow is the one that matches the brief's principal difficulty. Information-heavy explainers generally benefit from script-led production because the narration controls the structure. Films built around a carefully designed visual sequence may benefit from image-led production. Action-focused pieces may justify scene generation, provided the editor has enough time to manage continuity and replace unsuitable footage.

A useful planning allowance for a small project is 20 minutes for the script and shot list, 30-60 minutes for initial asset preparation, 30-60 minutes for generation and selection, 45-90 minutes for editing, and 20-30 minutes for captions and delivery checks. These are planning estimates, not guaranteed processing times. Generation queues, revision requirements and project complexity can change the total substantially.

The production decision should be recorded before work begins: choose the rig, define the 9:16 canvas, lock the narration structure and establish a naming convention. Then create the first five seconds of the video as a complete sequence. That opening will expose framing, pacing and visual-direction problems before they spread across the full minute.

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