UGC: advertising that does not look like advertising
UGC is a video shot as if a customer made it rather than a marketing department. The whole genre rests on one thing: the viewer must not identify an advert in the first second and a half. Identified means scrolled past.
Which leads to a conclusion that sounds wrong at first: in UGC a beautiful frame hurts. Even light, clean composition and perfect sharpness read as "somebody paid for this".
How a UGC frame differs from our usual one
| Ordinary clip scene | UGC scene |
|---|---|
| designed lighting | whatever is in the room: a window, a lamp, a screen |
| balanced composition | the object off-centre, the horizon slightly crooked |
| camera on a tripod | camera in a hand |
| subject looks past the lens | subject looks into the lens |
| beautiful | credible |
In practice this means deliberately spoiling half the habits from the earlier lessons. Our cards in this category are already written that way — not a word about perfect light in any of them.
The order of scenes
It is not creative, it is mechanical, and that is the point:
- The hook — 1.5 seconds. A face in frame, flash or screen light, eyes into the
lens. Nothing is sold, nothing is explained.
- In the hand. Silently answers "how big is it". Cards that skip this question
lose the sale on it.
- Lit by a screen. The "two in the morning, I ordered this" scene. Credibility.
- Product in a life. The object where it is used, with the mess of a real room
around it. The background sells, not the object.
- The still frame. A pause before the end. At this point the viewer either
scrolls or finishes — and a pause works here where another pretty scene does not.
A second and a half
This is the only number in the lesson worth memorising. Everything that has to happen to stop the video being scrolled past happens in the first second and a half: a face, eyes into the lens, movement.
Practical consequence for the storyboard: the first scene cannot be an establishing shot. An establishing shot says "let me explain the context", and there is no time for context. A wide shot goes third, or nowhere.
Five versions of one offer
Do not make one perfect video. Make five with different opening scenes and identical remainders.
This is cheaper than it sounds: scenes 2–5 are the same in all five, only the first is regenerated. And it is the only way to find out which hook works — nobody guesses that in advance.
Steps
- Create a project in UGC mode.
- Apply the pack. It lands on the first five scenes in the right order.
- Fill the slots: character, product, location. The location must be
lived-in: a kitchen, a hallway, a car — not a studio.
- Generate the frames and look at the first scene on its own, at feed size. If
it reads as an advert, rewrite it until it stops.
- Copy the project four times and change only the first scene.
What to look at
The first frame, shrunk to thumbnail size. Everything else is secondary. If an advert is visible at that size, the video will not be watched and the quality of scenes 2–5 no longer matters.
Hands. In UGC hands are in frame almost always, and that is where engines make the most mistakes. The "In the hand" device is written so that one hand holds one object — that sharply reduces the chance of a sixth finger.
The usual mistakes
Light that is too good. The most common one. Use window light or screen light, not studio light.
The product in the centre of the frame. The centre is a sign of staging. Move it.
On-screen text in the first scene. Reads as an advert instantly. If you need text, put it in the second scene, once the viewer has stayed.
An establishing shot first. See the second and a half above.
One video instead of five. A hook cannot be guessed. It can only be tested.
The artefact
Pack "UGC kit" (ugc_kit) — flash portrait, in the hand, lit by a screen, product in a life, the still frame. In the order short-form platforms reward. Slots: character, product, location. PRO plan: four of the five cards are open for free, one is gated.