As I am fond of telling anyone who’ll listen, I started my path in video specifically when I was hired to write the scripts for training videos by Perth based Computer Television back in 1994.
My first attempt was mildly, a bloody disaster as I was looking at the software in question, AutoCAD Lite, from a reviewer’s point of view not a trainer’s. Once I worked that out, I was kept very busy with subsequent contracts to write scripts for Microsoft Windows and Office among others over the next few years.
Another major lesson I learnt is one I have noticed a lot of people seem to either ignore or not be aware of.
Next time you are watching a favourite TV show, especially dramas like the UK copper shows (Shetland, Midsomer Murders, Morse, Lewis etc) watch carefully and you’ll pick it quite quickly.
5 Seconds
Very few scenes last more than 5 seconds!
I did some research on this and apparently the average person will start to lose attention at around the 8 second mark if there is no camera movement, dialogue change or the scene itself doesn’t change.
Consequently, modern day directors like to do a shot length of a maximum 6 seconds before changing, and it can be as little as 2 seconds. To achieve audience attention, favourite tricks include cuts, motion, dialogue changes or composition changes.
Applies to YouTube, TikTok Too
Even on social media it seems, this rule applies, albeit not quite as short at between 5 and 12 seconds before attention drifts, and it is recommended for YouTube or TikTok clips to have an absolute maximum of 10 seconds before something changes.
In short, if there is no new information, emotional shift, or visual change occurring, you risk losing your audience very quickly.
Whilst this adds more time and effort into the editing workflow, the results are well worth it.