short-form-video

Short-Form Video Engineer a 9:16 video that survives the swipe. Short-form is not a small launch film — it is a retention machine: a hook that earns the first second, pattern interrupts that reset attention every few seconds, and often a loop that buys watch-time past 100%. The craft is timing, not polish. When to use Reels / TikTok / YouTube Shorts (7–60s, vertical 9:16). Retention editing: fixing drop-off, adding pattern interrupts, tightening pacing. Hooks, seamless loops, repeatable short-form templates (one design, many topics). Story structure (the retention contract) Short-form storytelling is a contract with the viewer's thumb: every second must re-earn the next one. The narrative is shaped backwards from the retention curve , not forwards from an intro. Lock these before touching the timeline. One idea per video. A short carries exactly one payoff. A second idea splits attention and the curve sags in the middle — make it a second video instead. If you can't name the single takeaway in a sentence, you don't have a short yet. Open a loop in the first ~3s, close it last. The hook poses a question or gap (the open loop); the payoff answers it. The viewer stays because the loop is open — so never answer it early, and never bury the payoff under setup. No dead air. Every beat either advances the idea or resets attention. Cut anything that does neither. Silence, slow ramps, throat-clearing intros ("hey guys, in this video…") are where viewers swipe. Why the curve, not the cut, is the unit of work. The algorithm distributes whatever holds the per-second retention curve flat; a "good" edit that flattens the curve loses to an ugly one that keeps it up. You are editing the curve , and the hook gates everything after it — fix it first. Show more Installs 1.4K Repository iart-ai/tiktok-…o-skills GitHub Stars 14 First Seen Jun 22, 2026 Security Audits Gen Agent Trust Hub Pass Socket Pass Snyk Pass