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Front-Load a Video with a Preview of Its Own Best Moment

Grab attention in the first three seconds. Hook Teaser cuts a short preview from each clip's most engaging "hook moment" and prepends it to the very beginning of the video — the classic cold open trick used by TV shows, YouTube creators, TikTok / Reels editors, and trailer editors everywhere. Viewers see the payoff first, get hooked, and stay for the rest.

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What it does

Hook Teaser (Cold Open) takes a video clip (or a set of clips) plus a hook timestamp produced upstream by the Video Analysis node (Gemini-based LLM, hook_sec field), extracts a short teaser (default 3 seconds) starting from that hook moment, and prepends it to the front of the output video. The teaser plays first — cold-open style — then the full clip continues from the beginning. Audio and subtitle sync are preserved through the reassembly. Designed specifically to reduce the drop-off rate on short-form social platforms, where the first 2–3 seconds decide whether the viewer stays or scrolls away.

Problem it solves

• Beat the scroll – Social platforms (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) reward videos that hook viewers in the first ~3 seconds; leading with the payoff dramatically improves retention
• Automatic cold-open editing – The "start with the best moment" edit is one of the most common creator techniques; this tool automates it
• Trailer-style intros – Instantly turn any clip into a mini-trailer of itself
• YouTube retention curves – Front-loading the hook lifts the crucial first-30-seconds retention window
• Batch clip editing – Apply the same cold-open treatment across many clips at once ("each clip's hook moment") without hand-editing each one
• Ads and product demos – Lead with the "wow" so the viewer knows immediately what they're about to see
• Educational content – Preview the "aha" moment or the finished result at the start to set the payoff and pull viewers through the explanation

Input/Output

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• Input: Frame image list
  • Format: A list of image frames representing a clip (typically produced by Video Split, guided by hook timestamps from a Video Analysis JSON)
  • Content: All frames of the clip in chronological order
  • Source: Any list-producing upstream video decode / clip-selection flow. Video Analysis's JSON does not wire into Hook Teaser directly — it informs where the upstream Video Split cuts, so the frame list Hook Teaser sees is already the target highlight clip. </aside>

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• Output: Frame image list with a cold-open teaser prepended
  • Structure: [teaser frames from the clip's hook moment] + [full original frame list]
  • Length: Original list length + teaser length worth of frames (e.g., a 30-second clip at 30 fps produces a list of 900 frames; a 3-second teaser adds 90 more, giving 990 frames total)
  • Ordering: Teaser frames first (in their original chronological order), then the full original clip from its first frame
  • Downstream: Feed the output into Video Reassemble to encode it back into a playable video with the same fps as the source </aside>

Configuration Options

• Length of the cold-open teaser cut from the hook moment (seconds): How long the teaser at the front should be.
  • Default: 3 seconds
  • UI: Slider — drag to the desired teaser length; the current value is shown to the right
  • Reference points:
    • 1 – 2 s – Flash-cut, punchy hook (great for very short-form: 15 – 30 s clips)
    • 3 s (default) – The sweet spot for most short-form content (Reels, Shorts, TikTok)
    • 4 – 6 s – More context for the hook (better for mid-length YouTube content)
    • 7 – 10 s – Full "trailer moment" style — good for longer YouTube uploads or documentary-style clips

How to Use

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1. Run Video Analysis → Route your source video through the Video Analysis node. Its JSON output describes highlight clips (start_sec, end_sec, title, hook, hook_sec, score). This step powers the clip selection but does not wire directly into Hook Teaser.
2. Video Split guided by the JSON → Use Video Split (or another clip-selection step driven by the Video Analysis JSON) to produce a frame image list for the highlight clip you want to publish
3. Connect the frame list to Hook Teaser → Wire the frame image list into Hook Teaser
4. Set the teaser length → Drag the slider to how many seconds you want the cold-open teaser to be (default 3)
5. Reassemble to video → Feed the Hook Teaser output into Video Reassemble to encode the final cold-open-style video, ready to publish </aside>

Use Case Tips