Dry-erase marker

How to use it

Keep the tally on a whiteboard through most of the clip, one mark per day or rep, ringing the result in red, cutting back to the speaker once or twice for the habit and the pay-off.

Where the speaker sits

Full sceneSuits itSmallWorksSplitSuits itSideAvoidDrawn overSuits it

Drawn over: marks and type drawn over the full speaker. Stock speaker from Pexels.

Palette

THIS IS A MOODBOARD, NOT A TEMPLATE. The style below is inspiration for the look and feel. Keep its materials, colours, textures and the way it moves, but invent your own scenes, characters and objects for this clip. You are not limited to anything shown in the preview, and nothing in it has to appear. Use illustration and animation to help tell the clip's story.

STORY FIRST. Read the whole clip before you design anything.
1. Write the clip's arc in one line: setup, tension, turn, pay-off. Name the one line that is the reveal.
2. Tag every sentence with its job: setup, context, tension, turn, reveal, example, number, contrast, list, quote, feeling, metaphor, callback, pay-off, aside.
3. The visuals carry the whole clip. If the clip shows the speaker's face, open on them (the first scene keeps them on screen) unless the person says otherwise. After that, never cut back to the speaker full-frame unless the person asks for it; if they do, only on the ending, never in the middle of an explanation. The speaker can still sit inside a scene (a corner, a split or drawn in) when the person wants to be seen.
4. Build one flowing visual story, not a new picture per sentence. Each scene covers a whole thought (one to three sentences), holds 3 to 8 seconds and turns into the next.
5. Start each scene on the first word of its sentence, or up to half a second before. Never cut mid-sentence.
6. Inside a scene, bring small details in on the words they show (an item, a tag, a tick). Earlier details stay.
7. Choose one or two recurring objects or characters in the first scene and bring them back changed. Callbacks beat new pictures.
8. Build up the same picture where you can (add to it, move the camera across it) instead of replacing it.
9. Energy: about 80 percent still, drifting or gentle. Allow one big move in the whole clip, on the reveal, for 1 to 2 seconds, then settle and hold.
10. Numbers sit on a scale (gauge, bar, table, timeline) and hold long enough to read. Contrasts are a still split or the same layout twice.
11. Feelings get a quiet image, or one of the cuts back to the speaker; never effects.
12. On-screen text names, labels or quotes; it never repeats the caption. Five words or fewer per label.
13. End every scene by settling or thinning out, or by turning into the next scene. No exit effects.
14. The style sets the look. These rules set when, how long and how calmly. If the style's own motion rules ask for more energy than this, use less.

VISUAL STYLE: Dry-erase marker
Slice style ref: sref-K6N86J
Real dry-erase marker on a glossy whiteboard. Ground: cool off-white melamine #F3F4F1 with a soft diagonal sheen, grey ghosts of old writing that was never quite wiped off, broad eraser swipes, brushed aluminium rails (#A9AEB4) top and bottom with a tray holding capped markers. Ink: chisel-tip marker in black #1E1F22, blue #1F4FB8 and one red #D3392C; strokes are slightly translucent and streaky along their length, darker where they overlap, about 1.2% of the short side. Type: bold hand-lettered marker capitals (Permanent Marker), a little uneven and slanted, never typed. Light: bright, even room light; a soft window reflection glides slowly across the gloss. Camera: locked, straight on. Motion: writing appears at marker speed and stays; repeated marks (tallies, ticks) arrive in a steady rhythm; red is used once, for the peak (a fast loose ring and a short note); then the ink lifts off and leaves a faint ghost. The one rule: it looks like a real board someone uses every day, slightly messy. DON'T: neat typed lettering, perfect shapes, red before the peak, neon, clip-art icons, shaking.
Accent: as in the palette.
Frame shape: ask me before you start (9:16 vertical, 4:5 portrait, 1:1 square or 16:9 wide).
Energy: normal.

TECH: one HTML file, one GSAP 3 timeline created paused as window.__timelines.main, duration = the scene's length, transforms and opacity only.

Look rules

• Real dry-erase marker on a glossy whiteboard.
• Ground: cool off-white melamine #F3F4F1 with a soft diagonal sheen, grey ghosts of old writing that was never quite wiped off, broad eraser swipes, brushed aluminium rails (#A9AEB4) top and bottom with a tray holding capped markers.
• Ink: chisel-tip marker in black #1E1F22, blue #1F4FB8 and one red #D3392C; strokes are slightly translucent and streaky along their length, darker where they overlap, about 1.2% of the short side.
• Type: bold hand-lettered marker capitals (Permanent Marker), a little uneven and slanted, never typed.
• Light: bright, even room light; a soft window reflection glides slowly across the gloss.
• Camera: locked, straight on.
• Motion: writing appears at marker speed and stays; repeated marks (tallies, ticks) arrive in a steady rhythm; red is used once, for the peak (a fast loose ring and a short note); then the ink lifts off and leaves a faint ghost.
• The one rule: it looks like a real board someone uses every day, slightly messy.
• DON'T: neat typed lettering, perfect shapes, red before the peak, neon, clip-art icons, shaking.

What it suits

Best for

plans, reps and streaks: the same simple list, kept up day after day, with one red mark for the result

Avoid for

gentle faith moments, nostalgia and luxury content

Content

Advice, How-to, Wellbeing, Money or business, Numbers

Tone

Determined, Practical, Direct, Encouraging

Pace

Medium

Topics

whiteboard, dry erase, marker, tally marks, ghosting, gym board, plan

Colours

#F3F4F1 #1E1F22 #1F4FB8 #D3392C #A9AEB4

For AIs: this style as plain text.