Writing
On making films
worth finishing.
What we have learned building brand films at volume — the craft rules, the format decisions, and the distribution work that decides whether any of it matters.
Best website-to-video AI tools in 2026: turn a URL into a video
URL to video means at least four different products. Decide which video you want before you paste the link.
Read the articleThe product video playbook
Your codebase is the best brief for a product video
The website is what you say about the product. The codebase is the product. Here is how to use it as the brief, and the screens, for a demo film.
23 September 2026Can Claude Code, Codex or Cursor make a product video?
Coding agents can make product videos now. The real question is how much of the directing you want to do yourself.
23 September 2026What a product video actually costs in 2026
Five routes, from $0 to $50,000, and what each one actually buys. Plus the three costs that never appear in a quote and usually decide the annual bill.
21 September 2026The six videos every software company needs
Most teams start by picking a video tool. Start by naming the job instead: these six cover almost every request a software company gets.
21 September 2026Why a complex product needs a video to be understood
A feature list is a set of nouns. A complex product is a set of relationships between them — and relationships are what video shows and prose has to describe.
21 September 2026How long should a product demo video be
The product decides what to show. The placement decides how long you have to show it — and those are two different questions most teams answer with one number.
21 September 2026What makes someone finish a product video
Nobody finishes a video because it stayed interesting. They finish it because the opening told them exactly what they'd get for staying.
21 September 2026Product demo video examples, annotated
Four finished films, and the one decision behind each that's worth copying — rather than a highlight reel with no explanation of why any of it works.
21 September 2026Video, interactive demo or docs — which one the job actually needs
"Should we make a video or an interactive demo" is usually the wrong question — most teams need both, aimed at two different moments in the funnel.
21 September 2026Showing your product with no budget and no crew
A zero-budget demo doesn't fail because it's cheap. It fails because it tries to do too much with the cheapness — narrow the story instead, and cheap stops mattering.
21 September 2026
How to turn a website into a video
Your website already contains the raw material. Here is how to extract the story, choose the right screens and turn it into a film people finish.
14 September 2026
How to turn a pitch deck or sales proposal into a video
A deck is reference material; a video is a directed argument. Use this workflow to turn slides into a story without filming a presentation.
13 September 2026
How to make a brand video without an agency
You can skip the agency without skipping direction. This is the small-team workflow that keeps quality high and revisions under control.
12 September 2026
How to make a product demo video
The best demo is not a tour. It is proof that one important job becomes easier. Here is how to script and show that proof.
11 September 2026
How to edit a screen recording with AI
AI can accelerate the mechanical edit, but it still needs a clear job and a review pass. This workflow keeps the result accurate and human.
10 September 2026Why brand films outperform everything else you publish
Motion does three things text cannot. Here is what they are, and when a film is still the wrong answer.
14 July 2026What makes a good brand film
Most weak brand films fail in the same five ways. Each one is fixable before you shoot a frame.
27 June 2026Best website-to-video AI tools in 2026: turn a URL into a video
URL to video means at least four different products. Decide which video you want before you paste the link.
28 October 2026Best Screen Studio alternatives for AI product demo videos in 2026
Most people leave Screen Studio for one of three reasons: Windows, the narration, or the whole film. Each has a different answer.
12 October 2026Best AI explainer video generators for startups in 2026
An explainer about a process and an explainer about your product are different videos. Pick the tool for the one you need.
12 October 2026Best AI video generators for B2B SaaS marketing teams in 2026
A B2B marketing team needs video that looks like the brand and shows the product. Most AI video tools do one of the two.
12 October 2026Best tools to turn a document into a video in 2026
"Document to video" means different things to different tools — an avatar reading your slides is not the same job as narrating a sales pitch over your real product.
11 October 2026Best screen recording tools for product demos in 2026
The recorder decides how clean the raw footage is. It doesn't decide whether the demo is any good — that's still a scripting and editing problem.
12 October 2026Best Loom alternatives for polished product demos in 2026
Loom's whole appeal is speed. The moment a recording needs to look finished rather than fast, that same design starts working against you.
12 October 2026Best AI product demo video tools in 2026, compared
Six categories, not one list. Work out which kind of demo you are making before you compare features.
28 October 2026Best software demo video tools for SaaS in 2026, and how to choose
The value in software is usually invisible. That single fact rules out most of the tool categories.
11 October 2026The distribution playbook
The Product Hunt launch video
It plays muted, small, in a gallery, to someone who has never heard of you. Here is what that constraint actually demands of the film.
21 September 2026Where product videos actually get watched
A product video is not a channel strategy. Put the right cut where the viewer already has the question.
21 September 2026Does a video on your landing page convert?
A landing-page video does not convert by existing. It converts when it answers the objection the page leaves unresolved.
21 September 2026The two-week launch sequence
The launch asset is the start of the sequence. Give each cut a different job and publish it when the question is live.
21 September 2026The LinkedIn product video playbook
LinkedIn is a feed, not a screening room. Make the product legible before asking anyone to stop scrolling.
21 September 2026YouTube for B2B software
A small channel can still be useful when each video owns a question people will ask again.
21 September 2026Send a film instead of a deck
A sales film should answer the question in the thread, not replay the entire pitch deck with music.
21 September 2026One film, ten assets
Repurposing is not exporting ten sizes. It is giving the same proof ten different jobs.
21 September 2026Video in onboarding and activation
The best onboarding video appears at the moment of friction and leaves the user with a next action.
21 September 2026What to measure, and what to ignore
A view is evidence that a player started. It is not evidence that the product became clearer or the buyer moved.
21 September 2026Choosing the right video format for every platform
Cropping a widescreen film for Reels is why it underperforms. What each platform actually needs.
8 July 2026How to actually reach your audience with video
A great film nobody sees loses to an average one placed well. A distribution plan you can run in a week.
19 June 2026Eight ways companies actually use brand films
The homepage film is the obvious one. These are the seven that usually pay for themselves faster.
5 June 2026Best product launch video tools in 2026
The best launch tool depends on the proof you need: real product UI, a presenter, a recording, or complete editorial control.
12 October 2026How the big software companies make their videos
How Figma makes a launch feel like an event — and how to copy it
A pause, then the product. Figma's launches borrow keynote pacing rather than tutorial pacing — and the pause is the only part that actually matters.
21 September 2026How Notion explains a complicated product simply — and how to copy it
Notion can do almost anything, which is exactly the problem its videos have to solve. The fix is narrowing to one task — and it is copyable by any product with too many features to list.
21 September 2026How Stripe films something you cannot see — and how to copy it
Payment infrastructure has no interface. Stripe's videos solve that by drawing one — and the technique generalises to any product whose real work happens off screen.
21 September 2026How Vercel ships a video with almost every release — and how to copy it
Fewer words, more terminal, almost every release. Vercel's ship videos are built for a cadence most companies could actually sustain — if they made the same trade-offs.
21 September 2026How Superhuman sells speed with a demo — and how to copy it
One claim, shown, not told. Superhuman's demos sell speed by removing everything from the frame that isn't speed — including the mouse.
21 September 2026How Raycast announces features to developers — and how to copy it
No voiceover, no persuasion, no cropping. Raycast's feature clips are built for an audience that just wants to see the shortcut — and the format is cheap enough to use for everything.
21 September 2026What Apple keynotes teach about product video — even at a tenth the budget
Apple's product films are not expensive because of the camera equipment. They are expensive because someone was disciplined enough to cut every shot down to one idea — and that discipline is free.
21 September 2026How Linear makes its launch videos — and how to copy it
No presenters, no stock, no explaining. The most copyable film style in B2B software, taken apart — and rebuilt at a fraction of the effort.
20 September 2026Best AI video tools for startups in 2026
There is no single best AI video tool for a startup. There is a best one for a product demo, a different one for a presenter-led pitch, and a different one again for a quick recording.
28 October 2026Best HeyGen alternatives for product demo videos in 2026
If you are looking for an alternative, the real question is usually whether you wanted an avatar at all.
12 October 2026Best Synthesia alternatives without avatars in 2026
Synthesia is excellent at training video. Marketing video without a presenter is a different category.
12 October 2026Stop reading. Start rendering.
Paste a URL and see what your first film looks like.
Create your first film