unboxing_video_format v1.0.0

name: "unboxing_video_format" description: "Plan, shoot, and edit an unboxing video: the curiosity arc structure, camera angles that show product detail, honest-review credibility, and FTC affiliate disclosure done right. Triggers on 'unboxing video', 'unbox', 'product review video', 'review format', 'affiliate disclosure'."

Unboxing Video Format

Purpose

Produce an unboxing video that holds attention end to end. Covers three things: the curiosity arc (tease, anticipate, reveal, explore, verdict), camera work that shows real product detail, and honest-review credibility with legally correct affiliate disclosure.

Workflow

1. Define the video's job (before anything is filmed)

Answer four questions in writing:

• What product, and what's the one question a buyer has about it? The whole video exists to answer that question with evidence.
• Viewer intent: entertainment (watching the reveal), buying decision (should I buy this), or both. This sets how long the teardown runs and how deep the verdict goes.
• Format: short (under 90 seconds, 9:16) or long-form (YouTube, 16:9, 5-12 minutes). The arc scales, but it doesn't disappear.
• Connections to disclose: Did the brand pay you, send the product free, give you a discount, or do you earn affiliate commission on links? List every one now. See Step 5.

2. Build the curiosity arc

Structure every unboxing as five beats. Each beat ends with a reason to keep watching (an open loop), so viewers don't skip to the reveal.

1. Tease (5-10% of runtime). Open on the sealed box. Side angle, packaging in frame, a line that names the buyer's question: "Everyone says this is the best budget microphone. Let's find out if that's true." Do not show the product yet.
2. Anticipate (10-20%). Hands opening the box, over-shoulder or POV angle, product still hidden or blurred. Narrate expectations: what you hope to find, what would disappoint you. This is the open loop that carries the middle.
3. Reveal (10-15%). Top-down shot, full product out of the box, first genuine reaction on camera. This is the payoff viewers came for. Give it room: hold the shot at least 5 seconds before talking over it.
4. Explore (40-50%). Details and first use. Macro close-ups of build quality, ports, seams, materials, anything a buyer can't see in the listing photos. Then actual first use on camera, real time, uncut where possible. Cut to a different angle mid-motion to keep energy up.
5. Verdict (10-15%). Honest review, structured: what works, what doesn't, who it's for, who should skip it. Include one thing you didn't like. That one negative is the credibility move.

Retention detail: plant a mid-video loop ("there's one thing in this box that isn't supposed to be here, I'll get to it") and pay it off before the verdict.

3. Camera plan: angles that show detail

Minimum viable kit is a smartphone on a tripod plus a desk-clamped overhead arm. Compose before you care about gear.

| Beat | Angle | Why | |------|-------|-----| | Tease | Side angle, box centered | Hides contents, builds anticipation | | Anticipate | Over-shoulder / POV | Feels personal, hides product | | Reveal | Top-down (overhead arm) | Clean full-product view | | Explore | Macro close-ups | Build quality, details listing photos miss | | Verdict | Medium shot, face + product | Eye contact carries the opinion |

• Lighting: soft key light through a diffuser from the front-side, fill light at a diagonal corner to kill shadows the overhead rig casts. A bright window plus a white poster board as bounce works.
• Smartphone rule: move the phone closer instead of using digital zoom. Digital zoom softens detail, which defeats the point of a product video.
• Monitoring overhead shots: flip the camera's screen (or use a phone as monitor) so you can see framing while standing at the desk. Check framing before every take.
• Audio: turn off fans and music while filming. Record voice close to the mic; room echo kills credibility faster than bad lighting.
• Editing: jump cuts to compress dead air. Cut on motion: change angles mid-hand-movement so cuts feel continuous. Never leave a static angle running more than ~8 seconds.

4. Honest-review credibility

Viewers smell planted praise instantly. Earn trust with structure, not adjectives.

• Show, don't claim. "The hinge feels solid" is a claim. Tapping the hinge on mic, showing the seam in macro, and comparing it to the older model is evidence.
• Name one negative. Every product has a flaw. Say it plainly, early, and in the same tone as the praise. A review with no criticism reads as sponsored even when it isn't.
• Counter-evidence beat. If you opened with a strong opinion, show where it doesn't hold: "But if you need X, this isn't it."
• Ranged verdict, not absolute. "Best for desk streaming; skip it if you record in noisy rooms" beats "this is the best mic ever."
• Never claim what you didn't test. If you didn't try it outdoors, say so. One invented test destroys every future video.

5. Affiliate disclosure, done right (FTC rules)

This is law, not etiquette. The FTC Endorsement Guides (16 C.F.R. Part 255) require disclosure of any material connection between you and the brand: payment, free product, discount, affiliate commission, free access, perks. Knowing about the connection could change how a viewer weighs your words, so you must disclose it.

What counts: anything you got, including free products and affiliate commissions. Payment is enough to trigger disclosure, but never required; a gifted product with no cash changes hands still counts.

How to disclose (every platform, every time):

• Clear and conspicuous: plain words an ordinary viewer understands ("Paid partnership," "Ad," "I earn a commission," "Gifted by the brand"). No vague tags like "#sp," "#collab," or "thanks to my friends at..."
• Match the medium: a visual claim needs a visual disclosure (on-screen text), an audible claim needs an audible one (say it), a video with both needs both.
• Don't bury it: before the "more" cutoff on captions, at the start of YouTube descriptions (not just the end), in the first 3 seconds of spoken video. Never in a hashtag pile, never in a bio, never on a separate page.
• Every post, every video: one disclosure in your bio or an old video doesn't cover the new one.
• Platform tools are supplements, not enough on their own: YouTube's "includes paid promotion" checkbox and Instagram's Paid Partnership tag are expected on top, not instead of, explicit text and speech.
• Say it out loud in video: "This video is sponsored by [Brand]" or "I got this free from [Brand], and I earn commission on the link below" early in the video, plus text in the description.

Affiliate links specifically: any link or promo code that earns you commission needs disclosure next to the link and, if you mention the code in the video, in the video itself: "Use my code TENOFF for 10% off, which also gets me a commission."

For the full FTC disclosure checklist and copy-paste disclosure lines per platform, see references/ftc_disclosure.md.

6. Publish checklist

• [ ] One disclosure per required placement (spoken + written for video, caption + on-screen for short form)
• [ ] No unverified claims in the script (specs, prices, dates sourced or cut)
• [ ] At least one macro/detail shot in the edit
• [ ] One genuine negative in the verdict
• [ ] Chapters or timestamps on long-form (Tease, Reveal, First use, Verdict)

Output Contract

When this skill is used to plan an unboxing video, produce:

1. The four answers from Step 1 (product, buyer question, intent, format, connections list).
2. A beat sheet: the five beats with a one-line script hook and open loop per beat, scaled to the target runtime.
3. A shot list: numbered shots with beat, angle, framing, duration, and the spoken line or B-roll note.
4. Disclosure plan: exact spoken line and exact written lines, with placement (seconds in video, position in description/caption).

See references/worked_example.md for a complete worked example.

Operating Rules

1. Never invent product specs, prices, dates, or events. If you can't verify a fact, cut it or say so on camera.
2. Every factual claim about the product must be checked against the product page, manual, or the item in hand.
3. Disclosure is never optional when a material connection exists, and never buried. When in doubt, over-disclose.
4. One honest negative in every review. No exceptions, even for products you love.
5. The curiosity arc is structural, not cosmetic: skipping the tease and jumping to the reveal costs retention. Keep all five beats, scaled to runtime.
6. Follow the style law of the job this runs inside: no em dashes, no press-release phrasing, plain direct language.