# Narration that follows the picture

Copy the prompt into your writing assistant after the producer and product
owner have reviewed the concept and visual sequence. Supply a sanitized storyboard and descriptions or
images of the actual visuals. A reviewer should read the draft aloud against the visuals before approving
the recording script.

## Copyable prompt

```text
Write narration for the reviewed visual sequence below.

Audience: [who is watching and what they already know]
Purpose: [what they should understand afterward]
Visual artifact and version: [reviewed storyboard / frames / animation]
Product evidence and approved claims: [paste relevant, sanitized material]
Voice: clear, conversational, precise; complete sentences; no slogan fragments.

Work beat by beat using the supplied stable beat ids.
1. Describe what the viewer can actually see in each beat before drafting its line.
2. Write one compact sentence for each small, coherent visual beat. If a beat
   contains several distinct explanations, propose a split for review.
3. Name the visible objects and explain the relationship or change that matters.
   Avoid reciting every click or adding capabilities the picture does not show.
4. Preserve the product's exact labels where changing them would alter meaning.
5. Do not invent statistics, customer outcomes, speed guarantees or product behavior.
6. Mark missing evidence and unclear referents as questions. Do not fill them in.
7. If the words require an unseen event, flag a visual revision rather than writing
   past the mismatch. Do not retrofit new narration onto unrelated fixed timing.
8. Do not assign final seconds from word count. Recording and playback determine
   timing; important word-to-event cues require a separate review.

Return a table: beat id | visible evidence | proposed sentence | key phrase and
visual event | open question or proposed revision.

Reviewed visual sequence:
[paste beat ids, entry states, actions, proof frames and exit states]
```

## Completed fictional example

DispatchDesk is an invented support-routing product. This exercise shows an
urgent checkout ticket, a matching rule, and an assignment to Payments. It does
not demonstrate a real customer's system or results.

| Beat       | Visible evidence                                                       | Proposed sentence                                            | Cue to review                                                                 |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| request    | DD-1042 is unassigned; subject, Checkout and Urgent are readable.      | This urgent checkout ticket is waiting for a team.           | “waiting for a team” refers to Unassigned.                                    |
| rule       | Category equals Checkout; destination is Team Payments is visible beside the ticket. | The routing rule sends checkout tickets to Payments.         | Keep the condition and destination legible through the line.                  |
| assignment | Team changes to Payments; Urgent remains.                              | The ticket reaches Payments with its urgent priority intact. | Assignment should land with “reaches Payments”; retain priority for the rest. |

An unsuitable line would be “Resolve every customer issue instantly.” The rule assigns a ticket in this example. The visuals supply no evidence
that assignment resolves the issue or happens instantly for every customer.

## Read-aloud and sync review

Read the lines while watching the visual draft. Listen for a subject that is
unclear, a term the viewer has not learned, or a sentence that continues after
its evidence has disappeared. Revise the words and, where necessary, the visual
beat before producing audio.

After recording, measure each clip. Let the scene duration accommodate both the
visual action and the actual recording. Locate the key phrase within the audio
and compare it with the corresponding event in playback. A clip fitting inside
a scene does not prove that the action lands on the right word.

Check captions against the final spoken words and product labels. Watch the full
cut again after a recording change; equal-length recordings can have different
internal phrasing and pauses.

[Read the full guide](https://20cuts.com/write-narration-for-product-videos).