Choose an idea that moves

The film is the reason someone remembers the site, so the idea matters more than any prompt. A good idea for a motion site is not "something cool". It is a movement that shows the visitor something true about the business that a still photo cannot.

The test

Before you make anything, finish this sentence:

As the visitor [hovers / scrolls], the camera [one movement] so they see [the thing that matters].

If you can say it in one sentence with one camera movement, it will work. If you need the word "then" more than twice, or the scene jumps to a different place, it will not. Video tools are good at one continuous movement and bad at scene changes.

Some sentences that work:

• As the visitor scrolls, the camera circles a camper van while its roof lifts and its sides fold out, so they see how much room is inside.
• As the visitor hovers, the boot turns a quarter turn and the light slides along the lacquer, so they see the finish.
• As the visitor scrolls, the camera follows a lorry through the night from the depot to the delivery, so they see the whole journey is covered.
• As the visitor scrolls, the camera pushes through the front door of an empty house and the rooms fill with furniture, so they see what it could be.

Six movements that always work

Almost every good motion site uses one of these. Pick one.

1. Assemble or take apart. A product comes together from its parts, or opens out so you see inside. Great for products, engineering, food made from ingredients, furniture.
2. Travel through. The camera moves forward through a space: down a street, through a building, along a production line. Great for property, venues, hotels, factories, logistics.
3. Orbit. The camera circles the subject so the visitor sees every side. Great for cars, shoes, watches, sculpture, buildings.
4. Transform. The same place changes state: day to night, empty to furnished, raw to finished, before to after. Great for trades, renovation, salons, landscaping.
5. Reveal. Something covers the subject and moves away: a sheet lifts, fog clears, doors open, a curtain parts. Great for launches and anything with a "ta-da" moment.
6. Scale. The camera starts very close on a detail and pulls back to show the whole thing, or the reverse. Great for craft, materials, maps and anything where detail is the selling point.

Hover or scroll?

Hover suits a single object and a single moment: a product that turns, a lid that opens, a light that comes on. It is one clip, so it is the quickest way to start. Use it in the top section of the page, or on cards in a grid where each card has its own little film.

Scroll suits a story with stages: a journey, a build, a transformation. It is four clips joined into one shot, and the page tells the story in four or five headlines that appear as the film reaches each stage.

If this is your first one, make a hover film. You will learn how the frames and clips behave with a fifth of the work, and the hover build prompt in chapter 7 gets you a finished page quickly. Then make a scroll film.

Plan the stages

For a scroll film you need five key moments, one for each frame. Write them down as a short list before you open ChatGPT. Each one should be a picture you could describe to a photographer.

Here is the plan for a removals company:

Notice what makes this plan work:

• One camera, one direction. The camera moves backwards out of the room, out of the house and follows the van. It never jumps.
• Something carries through. The sofa appears in every frame, which ties the story together and gives the video tool something to track.
• Calm moments for words. Each frame is a resting point where a headline can sit without fighting the movement.
• Small steps. Each frame is only one change away from the last. Big jumps between frames make the video tool invent too much, and that is where it goes wrong.

For a hover film you need one key moment plus its resting state. The plan is two lines: what it looks like still, and what it looks like at the peak of the movement. Chapter 4 explains how to turn that into a clip that loops.

Things to avoid

• Faces and hands up close. Video tools still distort faces and fingers when they move. Keep people small in the frame, seen from behind or busy with something.
• Readable text and logos. Signs, labels and logos come out garbled and change from frame to frame. Leave them out of the pictures; your page adds real text on top.
• Fast action. Explosions, splashes and quick spins look smeared when scrubbed slowly. Slow, steady movement looks expensive.
• Real brands. Do not put someone else's logo or product in your film. Make something in the style of what you like, never a copy of it.
• Too many things at once. One subject, one movement. A busy scene turns to mush in motion.

Your worksheet

Write these down before chapter 2. The coach in chapter 9 asks you the same questions if you would rather talk it through.

1. Who is the site for, and what do they sell?
2. What should the visitor feel or understand in the first five seconds?
3. Which of the six movements fits best?
4. Hover or scroll?
5. Your one sentence from the test at the top of this chapter.
6. For scroll: your five frames and the headline for each. For hover: the resting picture and the peak picture.
7. The look: three or four words for the mood (for example: warm, early morning, quiet, premium) and two or three colours you want to see.