// WORKSHEET · LESSON 04 OF 07

Pick Your Container

Choose the recipe that matches your length, beat it out, then decide whether you are running a Mystery Box or a Magic Show.

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01LENGTH AND RECIPE

Target running time

Recipe

02THE HIT — 60 TO 90 SECONDS

Best for simple ideas and sharp feelings. No setup, no breathing space. The rule: if a frame does not squeeze the question, cut it.

1 · Cold open

Start inside the pressure. No preamble.

2 · Context

One breath. Minimum facts required.

3 · Squeeze 1

Small reversal. The question gets tested.

4 · Squeeze 2

Escalation. Raise the cost or reveal a new truth.

5 · The sting

Answer the question cleanly, or end on a sharper version of it.

03THE TURN — 2 TO 4 MINUTES

Best for stories with a clear pivot. The rule: your turn should change the emotional temperature, not just deliver information.

1 · The question

Plant it early. Do not answer it.

2 · The contradiction

Two truths that cannot both be comfortable.

3 · Escalation

One to three beats that increase pressure.

4 · The turn

The moment the audience realizes what this is really about.

5 · The payoff

The emotional question lands. Facts can stay messy.

04THE THREE PRESSURES — 6 TO 10 MINUTES

Best for explainers, profiles, mini-docs, essay videos. The rule: the viewer keeps getting new angles on the same tension, not new topics.

1 · The question

State it, plus why it matters now.

2 · Orientation

The world and the rules. Keep it short.

3 · Pressure 1 — usually external

4 · Pressure 2 — usually social or relational

5 · Pressure 3 — usually internal

6 · The turn

The meaning reframes.

7 · Synthesis

What the viewer now understands or feels.

8 · The landing

A final image or line that echoes the question.

05THE ACTFUL VIDEO — 15 TO 30 MINUTES

Best for bigger emotional engines and longer commitments. The rule: keep the promise clean. One question, tested in stages, with breath between squeezes.

1 · Cold open

A promise of the emotional question.

2 · Setup

The baseline life, belief, or system.

3 · Inciting pressure

The situation starts forcing the need into the light.

4 · Act break

The cost is real. The path forward is locked.

5 · First run

The protagonist’s first strategy.

6 · Complications

The world pushes back.

7 · Midpoint reversal

New truth, new stakes. The piece changes shape.

8 · Second run

A new strategy, or an exposed flaw.

9 · Crisis

The question becomes unavoidable.

10 · The answer

The emotional question lands.

11 · Aftertaste

The implication. The last image. The final beat of feeling.

06PACKAGING THE QUESTION

Mystery Box says solve me and hooks the intellect. Magic Show says feel this and hooks the heart. Pick a primary.

Primary approach

Why that one for this story?

Can a new viewer understand the stakes in the first two minutes?

Write the simplest possible version of the setup. Save the mythology for after they care.

07THE SQUEEZE TEST

List everything in your outline that does not squeeze the emotional question.

This is your cut list. Every container holds together on the same rule.

Built from the Playbook’s four structure recipes and the Mystery Box vs. Magic Show section.

← Back to Lesson 04: Choose Your Container: Four Proven Templates and How to Frame Your Story