To explain a process in a video, name the input and the output in the first ten seconds, give each step its own scene, and keep a small progress marker on screen so the viewer always knows they are on step three of five. In each scene, show what the material looks like before and after that step, because the change is what the viewer needs to see, not the machine. Say why each step exists, in one sentence. Use the same verb form for every step name. Finish by running the whole process once more at speed, so the steps join up into one picture. Five to seven steps is the comfortable limit for a single video.

What makes a process hard to follow on screen

On paper, a process is easy. You number the steps and the reader can glance back at step two while reading step four. On video, the viewer cannot glance back. Step two is gone the moment step three starts.

That causes three predictable failures. Viewers lose count and do not know how far through they are. They miss what changed between steps, because each scene shows a new object and the connection is never drawn. And they cannot tell why a step is there, so the sequence feels arbitrary and is forgotten by the next day.

Every rule below fixes one of those.

Seven rules for a process video

1. Open with the input and the output. "Used paper goes in. New paper comes out. Here is what happens in between." Now every step has a direction. The viewer is waiting to see how one becomes the other.

2. Say how many steps there are. "It takes five steps." It sounds too simple to matter. It is the single cheapest thing you can do for a viewer's working memory, because it tells them how to file what follows.

3. One step, one scene. A scene that explains two steps gets one cluttered drawing, and the viewer cannot tell where one ended. If a step genuinely has sub-steps, give it two scenes and say "step three has two parts".

4. Keep a progress marker on screen. A row of five numbered circles along the top or bottom, with the current one filled in. It does for video what numbered lines do on paper.

5. Show the before and after of every step. The material is the main character. Draw what it looks like coming in and going out. "Dry sheets in, grey wet slurry out" is the whole of the pulping step, visually.

6. Give every step a reason. One sentence, starting "because" or "so that". Steps without reasons are memorised. Steps with reasons can be rebuilt from scratch in an exam.

7. Run it again at speed. At the end, replay all five steps in fifteen seconds, with one word each. This is where the steps stop being separate scenes and become one process in the viewer's head.

Name the steps the same way

Pick one grammatical form and stick to it. Either all verbs ("collect, sort, pulp, clean, press") or all nouns ("collection, sorting, pulping, cleaning, pressing"). Mixing them ("collection, then you sort it, the pulping stage") makes the steps sound like they belong to different lists.

Verbs are usually better for video, because they describe something happening, and the drawing can show it happening.

Worked example: how paper is recycled, in five steps

Here is a three-minute script outline, around 450 words of narration at 150 words a minute.

A closing line that adds one consequence: "Each time paper is recycled, its fibres get shorter. After about five to seven rounds they are too short to hold together, which is why recycled paper usually has some new fibre mixed in." That single fact is what most students remember, and it only makes sense once they have seen step three.

When a process is not a straight line

Real processes are messier than five boxes in a row. Three shapes come up often.

The rule for all three: the narration can only go one way at a time, so the drawing has to hold the shape while the narration walks through it. A loop narrated as a straight line with no circle on screen will be remembered as a straight line.

Pick the right level of detail

The most common mistake after "too many steps per scene" is "too many steps in total". If your process has twelve steps, the viewer will remember about five of them, and you do not get to choose which.

Group them instead. Twelve steps of making a cup of tea become three stages: boil, brew, serve. Explain the three stages in one video. If the detail inside a stage matters, make a second video on that stage alone. This is how textbooks handle protein synthesis (transcription, then translation) and it works on video for the same reason.

There is more on picking the right shape for science topics in particular in how to make a science explainer video for class.

Make it

1. 1

   Write the input and the output

   One sentence each. If you cannot name what goes in and what comes out, you have a topic, not a process.

2. 2

   List the steps and group them

   Keep five to seven. Group anything beyond that into stages, and name every step with the same verb form.

3. 3

   Write one paragraph per step

   Each paragraph says what happens, what the material looks like after, and why the step exists. One paragraph becomes one scene.

4. 4

   Paste the script into openCanviz

   Choose Keep my wording if the script is final and pick whiteboard style, so each drawing builds as the step is described. Set the target length to match your word count at about 150 words a minute.

5. 5

   Check the before and after

   In each scene, make sure the drawing shows the change, not just the equipment. Add a numbered progress row if the draft does not already show where the viewer is, and fix arrows that point the wrong way.

6. 6

   Add the fast replay

   End with a short scene that runs all the steps with one word each. Then watch with the sound off: if the drawings alone show the order, the video works.

Editing one scene does not mean redrawing the others, which matters here, because process videos are mostly fixed one step at a time. See what a scene actually is for how scenes are built.

Checklist before you share it

• The first ten seconds name the input and the output
• The number of steps is said out loud
• One step per scene, with a visible progress marker
• Every step shows a before and an after
• Every step has a one-sentence reason
• Step names all use the same form
• Loops are drawn as loops, branches as forks
• A fast replay at the end
• Every label and arrow checked against your source

Common questions

How many steps can one video handle? Five to seven comfortably. Beyond that, group steps into stages, or make a series with one video per stage.

Should I show the real machinery or a simplified drawing? A simplified drawing, almost always. The viewer needs to understand what happens to the material, and real machinery is mostly casing and pipes. Show the real thing once, at the end, if it helps them recognise it.

How long should a process video be? About 30 to 40 seconds per step plus an intro and a replay, so a five-step process runs two and a half to four minutes.

What if the order of steps is not fixed? Say so, and explain what does have to come first. "Sorting can happen at the kerb or at the plant, but it always happens before pulping." The dependency is the real content.