How to make a brand film: notes from a 20-second teaser

Before our studio had a website, it needed one film: something that announced we exist without explaining what we do. The result was You Haven't Seen It, a twenty-second teaser. Here is what that short piece taught us about making a brand film, as questions and answers:

A film should say one thing

The most common mistake in a brand film is trying to say everything: history, products, team, values, contact details. Viewers remember none of it.

Before you start, settle on one sentence: what should someone think after watching? Ours was "announce without explaining". No line in the film says what we do. The emblem opens, catches the light and settles. Instead of explaining, the film leaves room for curiosity.

Image first, words later

People see before they read. So our films follow one order: a form enters from outside the frame, slows, settles, and only then does the message appear. When several things move at once, it's no longer clear which message comes first. The rule is short: one dominant gesture per scene.

Measure the rhythm

"A bit slower" means something different to everyone on a team. We tied our motion principles to numbers:

• Entrances: 900–1400 ms
• Settling: 300–500 ms
• Reading: at least 1500 ms. Every line of text stays on screen long enough to read.

These aren't laws, they're a starting measure. But once there is a measure, "why did that come in slowly?" has an answer.

Length: shorter wins

Our teaser runs twenty seconds and the reel on our homepage twenty-eight. A short film says less, but what it says is remembered. If you're making a longer brand film, you need a story that holds the viewer to the end: a problem, a turn, an outcome.

Horizontal or vertical? Both

Cut the film for where it will be watched:

• Horizontal (16:9): website, YouTube, presentations.
• Vertical (9:16): Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, stories.

We cut our reel as two separate edits; you see the vertical one on a phone and the horizontal one on a computer. Cropping a horizontal film to vertical usually throws the text and the main form out of frame. Plan both formats from the start, whether you're shooting or animating.

Design for watching without sound

Most people see a video muted first. On our site the reel plays as a silent loop; viewers turn on the sound version themselves. Sound that starts on its own is off-limits in our motion principles. So:

• Make the message clear without sound: through text, image and rhythm.
• Add subtitles if anyone speaks.
• Think of sound as a reward for people who choose to watch.

Live action or 3D?

If what you want to show exists and is about people, places or a product, shooting it is the most direct route. If the product isn't made yet or the idea is abstract, 3D and animation may fit better. In our teaser the emblem became a glass form whose layers open and catch the light, which no camera could have filmed. How that form behaves with light and material is something we test separately in Creaphic Lab.

The two can share one film: a real place with a 3D form settling into it.

Prepare before you start

Answering these before you talk to a studio speeds things up:

1. What is the one sentence the film should say?
2. Where will it be watched: web, social, a trade-fair screen, a presentation?
3. Who or what appears: team, place, product?
4. Will it be watched with sound or without?
5. When does it need to be out?

Brand films from Iğdır

Creaphic is a creative studio from Iğdır, Türkiye. Brand films, ads and product shoots happen in the same team as 3D and motion design. See brand film and photography for details, or write to info@creaphic.com if you have a film in mind.