Hook ideas: 30 video hooks for TikTok, Reels, and YouTube, with edit prompts

"This took 40 hours. Here's hour one."

Open on the shot of the finished piece for 1.5 seconds, then hard cut to the very first clip. Put "40 hours, start to finish" in the top third over the opening shot.

"About time I actually painted something."

Make the first two seconds a two-clip reveal. The blank canvas for 1 second, then a hard cut on the beat to the finished painting. Then play the process clips in order.

"She hasn't seen it yet."

Find the clip where the client sees the piece for the first time and open on their reaction. Hold it for 2 seconds before cutting back to the start of the process.

"28 by 37 inches, acrylic and oil."

Put the size of the piece as large text over the first shot, centered, for 1.5 seconds. No music for the first second, then bring the track in on the first cut.

"Sketch vs final."

Open with a side-by-side split screen. The sketch on the left, the final piece on the right, for 2 seconds. Then go full screen on the sketch and continue.

"My first solo show is in 10 hours."

Open on me saying "my first solo show is in 10 hours". Cut every pause in that line. Then add a small timer in the corner that counts down at each new clip using the clip timestamps.

"10 ink paintings due in 10 hours."

Open on the line where I say how many pieces are due. Then show one 1-second shot of each piece in order, cut to the beat, before going back to the start of the night.

"This is the moment I ruined the whole canvas."

Find the clip where the mistake happens and put it first, with a short freeze frame at the worst moment. Then cut to the beginning of the session.

"If this doesn't sell, I'm stopping prints."

Open on my line about the bet. Captions on, 3 to 5 words, bold. Cut straight into the first action shot with no pause.

"Launch is Friday. Nothing works."

Open on the line about the launch date. Add "Friday" as large text that pops in on the word. Then cut to the messiest shot of the workspace.

"I just spent 6 hours editing this and got zero views."

Open on the complaint line. Cut every pause and breath before it so it starts in the first frame. Then punch in 10 percent on the next sentence.

"POV: your crush's favorite color is blue."

Add the POV line as text in the top third for the first 3 seconds, white with a soft shadow. No voice for the first second, just the track.

"Does it count as an all-nighter if I slept two hours?"

Open on the confession line as on-screen text over the first clip. Keep the first clip under 2 seconds and cut on the beat.

"Stop filming your art from above."

Open on the clip of the wrong way with a red cross graphic, 1 second. Then hard cut to the right way with a green check, and keep going.

"How many months have you been painting?"

Put the question at the top of the frame as if it were a comment, for the first 3 seconds. Then cut to me answering, with captions.

"Nobody tells you this about art school."

Open on the line "nobody tells you this". Cut it so there's no pause after the line, straight into the first point.

"Why is there a rock on my desk?"

Open on a close-up of the object for 1.5 seconds with no context and no captions. Then cut to the wide shot that explains it.

"Hmm, I'm noticing a pattern here."

Open on the line, then show 6 to 8 one-second shots of the pieces that share the pattern, cut to the beat. Add "notice anything?" as text over the montage.

"Watch the left corner."

Add a small circle around the left corner for the first 2 seconds, then remove it. Keep the timelapse at the same speed.

"My drawings from middle school."

Open on the oldest piece for 1.5 seconds with the year as text. Then cut through the rest in date order, one second each, ending on the newest.

"You don't need a better camera."

Open on the opinion line, captioned, with the key word in yellow. Cut every pause in the first 10 seconds.

"Posting every day isn't why you grow."

Open on the line. Put "MYTH" as a stamp graphic over the first second. Then cut to my first reason.

"I tried the color wheel trend with my art."

Open on the finished color wheel for 1 second, then cut back to the empty template. Use beat sync for the fill-in shots.

"$5 paint vs $50 paint."

Open with a split screen of the two options and labels with the price over each. Hold for 2 seconds, then go to the first test.

"This is the worst advice I've seen this week."

Open with the screenshot on screen and me in front of it, green screen style. Cut straight to my first sentence with no pause.

"This video got 8.7 million views. Here's the edit."

Open on a screen recording of the view count for 1.5 seconds, zoomed in on the number. Then cut to the edit breakdown.

"This used to take me 6 hours."

Open on the line. Put "6 hours" in large text, then cross it out and show "6 minutes" on the next cut.

"A year of learning to oil paint."

Open on the first painting of the year and the last one in a split screen for 1.5 seconds. Then play every piece in order, one beat each.

"Describe your edit in plain language."

Cut the intro and start on the first action in the screen recording. Add captions to my voiceover and zoom in on the cursor for the first 3 seconds.

"Editors, are we cooked?"

Open on the question as large text over the first second of the demo. No music until the first cut, then bring the track in.