Production specs

Camera and framing

• Camera: Mirrorless or modern phone at 4K/24 or 4K/30. Locked tripod. Eye-level (lens at Waheed's eye height).
• Framing: Medium close-up. Top of head near the top of frame, chest visible, eyes on the upper-third line.
• Lens / distance: 35 to 50 mm equivalent, 4 to 6 feet back. Avoid wide-angle face distortion.

Background

• Real office, intentionally dressed.
• Orange (#FF6600) and black brand element visible (the brand element on the wall, a print, anything that signals "this is New Limits").
• 6+ feet separation between Waheed and the background for natural depth blur.
• No virtual backgrounds. Ever. The edge-detection artifacts are immediately visible and signal amateur production.

Lighting

• Key: one large soft key at 45 degrees camera-left.
• Fill: bounce or reflector camera-right.
• Hair / back: small back light or hair light to separate from background.
• Face brighter than background by approximately one stop.
• No windows behind talent (uncontrollable exposure swings).

Audio (non-negotiable)

• Mic: lav clipped 6 to 8 inches below chin. Rode Wireless GO, DJI Mic, or equivalent.
• Backup: simultaneous recording on phone as a backup track.
• Room: soft-furnished. Kill HVAC and fridge for the take. Close doors. Soft-test by clapping once and listening for slap-back.

Wardrobe

• Solid mid-tone shirt.
• No fine stripes (moire on camera).
• No competing logos.
• No pure white (blows out under key light) or pure black (kills shadow detail).

Editing pacing

• First jump-cut before 0:08. Industry rule of thumb across talking-head VSLs to lock retention.
• Average shot length: 3 to 6 seconds in the front half, 6 to 10 seconds in the founder section.
• Remove every "um" and every breath longer than 0.4 seconds.
• Silence works once, intentionally: right before the offer reveal in Body Beat 5. Nowhere else.

Captions

• Burned-in throughout. Not toggleable CC. 78%+ of paid social VSL views are sound-off.
• Layout: single-line, two-row max, lower-third position.
• Font: bold sans-serif (Inter or Montserrat, weight 700).
• Style: white text with black outline.
• Highlight: brand-orange (#FF6600) on 2 to 3 key nouns per beat. Suggested highlight words: leak, categories, refund, Manager, two weeks.
• Hook only (0:00 to 0:15): word-by-word reveal style. Steady captions for the rest.

Music

• No music in the hook (0:00 to 0:20). Voice alone.
• Low-bed instrumental from 0:20 onward, ducked to -22 to -26 LUFS under voice.
• Slight tension build under the screen recording section.
• Drops out for 2 beats before the offer reveal in Body Beat 5.
• Returns warmer for the guarantee and CTA.
• Avoid: corporate stock acoustic, EDM, anything with vocals or melodic hooks.

Final audio levels

• Integrated: -16 LUFS
• True peak: -1 dBTP

Export

• Codec: H.264
• Resolution: 1080p
• Frame rate: 24 fps
• Encoding: 2-pass, ~12 Mbps for web
• Masters: the primary 16:9 master, plus a 1:1 square cut-down and a 9:16 vertical cut-down from the same master for social repurposing.

Sources

• Wistia and Vidalytics caption-strategy data (78% sound-off statistic).
• Standard VSL production reference set: Stefan Georgi production notes, Frank Kern delivery archives, industry guidance on jump-cut cadence for talking-head retention.