Case study · Short-form video ad

A vertical ad for a made-up training studio: hook in the first second, captions you can read without sound, and one clear offer at the end.

RoleScript, edit, captions, motion text

Format9:16 · 1080×1920 · 30 fps

Length15.6 s

Year2026

01 · The brief

Studio North is a concept boutique studio (strength, boxing, Pilates) that I also made a calm homepage promo for. This time the job was the opposite: a paid-social ad for Reels and TikTok that stops the scroll, makes sense with the sound off, and ends on one action.

02 · The approach

Hook (0–3 s): a close-up looking straight at the viewer, with “You don’t need a gym. You need a coach.” A contrarian line that makes people pause.

Proof (3–10 s): four quick shots, one per beat group, each showing a coach doing something specific: fixing form, counting reps, holding pads, adjusting a Pilates reformer.

Offer (10–15 s): a calm end card with the name, the three disciplines, “Your first class is free.” and a “Book in bio” button.

Hook and proof shots: captions build word by word, and the current word is highlighted.

03 · The craft

Word-by-word captions in a heavy condensed type with a stroke and shadow, readable on any footage. The newest word pops in and turns yellow, so the eye always knows where to look.

Safe zones: text sits in the middle of the frame, clear of the Reels/TikTok buttons on the right and the caption area at the bottom.

Vertical crops chosen shot by shot from landscape stock footage, so faces and hands stay in frame.

Every cut lands on a beat of the track (beats detected in code, cuts placed to the frame), with one colour grade across five different shoots.

Loudness levelled to −14 LUFS, the level social platforms play at.

The last proof shot, then the end card builds up line by line on the beat.

04 · Takeaway

Most people watch ads muted and decide in a second whether to keep watching. So the whole edit is built around that: the strongest line comes first, every word is on screen, and there is only one thing to do at the end.

Concept project: Studio North is made up. Stock footage via Pexels.