Give your coding agent a storyboard before asking for a product video

A coding agent can write animation code, but a useful product video starts with a small specification you can actually review.

Disclosure: I work on Claude Motion, an independent toolkit for your own Claude Code or Codex. This article was generated with AI assistance and checked against our published workflow. The brief below is illustrative, not a customer result or a benchmark. We are not affiliated with Anthropic.

Start with one claim per scene

For a 15-second release explainer, give each scene a job before asking for animation:

Time	Job	Material to supply
0–5s	State the problem	One sentence your audience recognizes
5–10s	Show the change	A real screenshot, diagram or verified data
10–15s	Give the next step	One action and a readable destination

This is a suggested structure, not a rule that every scene needs five seconds. If the viewer cannot read the copy, simplify it or change the timing.

Here is a brief you can paste into an agent without installing any particular toolkit:

Plan a 15-second, 16:9 product explainer.
Audience: developers deciding whether to try a new workflow.
Message: a local project stays editable after the MP4 export.

Scene 1: show the problem of revising a finished video.
Scene 2: show source → preview → export using a simple diagram.
Scene 3: show one next step.

Use only the assets I supply. Do not invent UI, testimonials,
performance numbers or customer logos.
Label diagrams as illustrative.

Before writing animation code, return:
- one claim and exact on-screen copy per scene;
- timing, asset paths and any missing material;
- which elements should remain still for reading.
Wait for my storyboard review.

Keep approval separate from rendering

Review the storyboard as you would review a small code change. Is the claim true? Does the supplied screenshot actually show it? Is the destination useful to someone who has never seen the product?

Then ask the agent to build a local preview and keep the source files. Request specific revisions such as “hold the second scene longer” or “replace that diagram label,” rather than repeatedly regenerating the entire video.

For data animation, supply the values and units explicitly. A rising line should represent the data, not merely decorate a claim about growth.

Inspect the exported file, too

A working browser preview does not prove the exported MP4 is correct. Check the beginning, scene changes, and end of the actual file. Look for missing fonts, clipped text, blank frames and labels that disappear too quickly.

If FFmpeg is installed, this command reports media properties; it does not judge visual quality:

ffprobe -v error \
  -show_entries format=duration:stream=codec_type,codec_name,width,height,r_frame_rate \
  -of json output.mp4

If you intended narration, confirm an audio stream exists and listen to the export. An audio stream alone does not establish intelligibility or synchronization.

Where our toolkit fits

Claude Motion packages a storyboard-to-preview-to-export workflow and original starting styles for Claude Code and Codex. The setup and usage guide explains the connection process and prerequisites. You bring your own working agent access; model usage is billed separately. Free includes three Skills and the Editorial style.

You can use the same review process with another renderer. The useful deliverable is the editable project, the rendered file, and enough checks to know what you are publishing.