Product narration helps viewers connect the action on screen to the idea it demonstrates. A routing rule can visibly change a ticket's team, while the narrator explains why that condition selected that team. We establish the concept and visual sequence before writing those words, then produce the audio.
Before writing, collect the storyboard, the product facts it depends on, and the question each scene answers. A list of features is insufficient. You need to know what appears, what changes, and what the viewer should understand after that change.
Write from the screen's evidence
The fictional support application DispatchDesk receives a checkout ticket without an owner. A rule matches its category and assigns it to Payments while preserving its urgent label.
One possible line is, “Bring intelligence and efficiency to every customer interaction.” The scene cannot prove either claim, and the sentence could accompany almost any business software.
A more useful line is, “This rule sends checkout issues to Payments, with the urgency still attached.” The viewer can compare the named rule with the team and priority fields. A reviewer can also check that the product preserves priority during assignment.
A reviewer should be able to identify the visible evidence or verified background fact behind each line. An unsupported claim needs a product check before it belongs in the narration.
Assign one job to each paragraph
A scene can contain several movements while explaining one idea. The arrival, matching rule, and assignment may all serve the idea that routing preserves the ticket's useful context. A paragraph about routing does not also need to explain reporting, permissions, and pricing.
Write a brief narration card for each scene:
| Field | DispatchDesk example |
|---|---|
| Viewer question | Where does this urgent checkout issue go? |
| Visible action | The matching rule assigns the ticket to Payments. |
| Meaning to explain | Assignment keeps the urgency attached. |
| Spoken line | This rule sends checkout issues to Payments, with the urgency still attached. |
| Key landing | The team changes when the read reaches “Payments.” |
This card separates a concept from its wording. If the paragraph becomes long, inspect the concept first. Two independent viewer questions may need two scenes.
Condense without losing the sentence
Shorter prose should retain the relationships that make it intelligible. “Checkout. Routed. Urgent.” names three things but leaves the viewer to connect them. Complete sentences can still be compact.
| Draft | Revision | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| The system performs the process of assigning the ticket to the appropriate team. | The rule assigns this ticket to Payments. | Names the mechanism and the actual destination. |
| Context retained. Nobody misses anything. | The ticket keeps its urgent label after assignment. | Replaces fragments and an unsupported guarantee with visible behavior. |
| As you can see here, we are now going to click the button that says Run. | Run the rule to assign the matching ticket. | Connects the action to its purpose. |
Avoid describing every cursor movement. The viewer can see a click; explain why that click matters when it is not already clear. Keep useful product terms consistent across the film so the audience does not have to infer that “queue,” “inbox,” and “workspace” refer to the same place.
Prepare a speakable version
Read the draft aloud before making audio. Resolve ambiguous pronouns, dense noun strings, acronyms, and code tokens. Put pronunciation notes beside the script: a field called ticket.priority might be read as “ticket dot priority” if its exact identifier matters, or simply “the ticket's priority” if it does not.
Keep narration separate from production notes. “Highlight the urgent badge” tells the animator what to do; it should not accidentally become spoken text. If using speech synthesis, listen to punctuation and pronunciation in that particular voice. A dash or abbreviation does not sound identical across voices and tools.
Use word count only for an early estimate. A sentence that fits on paper may need a slower read because the viewer is inspecting an unfamiliar interface.
Draft with the storyboard beside the prompt
Use the supplied storyboard and verified product facts.
For each scene, write a complete, speakable sentence or short paragraph.
Explain the visible action and why it matters to this viewer.
Keep product labels consistent. Do not invent features, outcomes, or metrics.
Return: scene name, narration, key phrase and its visual partner,
pronunciation notes, and any claim the supplied material cannot support.
If a scene needs another concept to make sense, flag it before adding prose.
Revise a complete scene card
A useful narration draft separates spoken words from animator notes and records any unresolved product claim. For the routing scene, a completed card could read:
Scene: routing
Visual evidence: The Checkout condition matches DD-1042.
The rule changes Team from Unassigned to Payments and retains Priority Urgent.
Spoken draft: This rule sends checkout issues to Payments,
with the urgency still attached.
Pronunciation: Read Payments as the team name. No special pronunciation.
Event to review: The team changes during “to Payments.”
Product check: Confirm that this assignment preserves priority.
Read the draft while watching the visual sequence. If “this rule” refers to a rule the viewer has not seen, bring its condition into view before the line or name the condition explicitly. If the picture spends the entire sentence on the ticket alone, the narrator is explaining a mechanism the visual draft still needs to show.
A second draft could say, “The Checkout rule assigns this ticket to Payments and keeps its urgent priority.” Compare the reads against the same scene. Choose the wording that identifies the mechanism clearly without making the viewer switch attention between too many fields.
For your own exercise, complete one card from an existing storyboard and read it aloud twice. The card is ready for an audio take when a reviewer can connect its claim to the visible behavior and no production instruction remains inside the spoken text.
The downloadable narration prompt includes a filled example and fields for your own brief. Evaluate its output against the storyboard; fluent wording can still explain the wrong product.
After recording, measure the actual read and check its phrase landings. Approve the words, delivery, and picture together, then retain that exact take for the finished cut.