Four cuts of the same real job (a blocked main sewer, cleared). Watch them, then comment under the one you would run, or comment anywhere with a link to a reel you love and we match that instead. The two things you called out are fixed in all four: no more blue background behind the footage, and no more blue strips on the end screen.
You asked which research suggested the blue background. Honest answer: none. The research said the opposite, and the table shows the receipts for every element.
| What you see | Where it came from | Standing |
|---|---|---|
| Blue background behind footage | NOT research. Inherited from the first pipeline spec (a brand flat-colour rule applied too broadly). Research finding 7 says fill the frame; letterboxing reads as reposted content. | Removed. Footage now fills the frame by default. |
| Blue strips on the end screen | NOT research. An implementation choice padding the square logo outro with blue. | Fixed. The pad now matches the outro's own black, so the end card is full screen. |
| Opening on the most dramatic shot with a big centred title | Research: distribution is decided in the first 3 seconds; strong holds reach 5 to 10x further (OpusClip, TrueFuture, Fobet, 2026). | Kept, in every cut. |
| Words popping in one by one with a blue key word (cut 4) | Research: word-by-word captions with keyword colour pops are the current grammar of top short-form; 2 to 4 word chunks held 600 to 900ms (FontMirror, IK Agency, 2026). | Kept, cut 4 only. |
| Short holds, more cuts | Research: pacing beats polish; under 30 seconds hits about 72 percent completion (invideo, 2026). | Kept. |
| No sound | Your media policy: raw job-site audio is stripped. About 40 percent of viewing is muted anyway, so everything is designed to work silent. A music bed is available if you want one. | Kept, pending your call on music. |
| The M mark, blue tones, the logo end screen | Your brand kit: canonical assets used byte for byte, never redrawn. | Kept. |
| The footage itself looking soft | Source limit, not design: the camera footage is 640x480 CCTV and phone photos. Design cannot fix capture. A 30 second filming brief for the techs is drafted and waiting on your go. | Open. The biggest remaining quality lever. |
Two dated passes, both on file in the vault (docs/research/2026-08-26-job-reel-craft.md):
| Pass | What it found |
|---|---|
| 26 Aug: what wins for trade job reels | Open on the payoff; result-first beats chronological; design for muted viewing (6 to 8 word bold hooks readable in one second); pattern-interrupt hooks retain best; fill the vertical frame; before/after from identical angles converts best; real job proof is the right content for trust. |
| 27 Aug: what world-class motion design looks like | Word-by-word kinetic captions with keyword colour pops; slower deliberate chunks (600 to 900ms); oversized centred mixed-case hooks; quiet micro-motion over flashy transitions. |