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    Tear down any viral reel

    Claude Code builds you a small tool that measures any reel: the script with timings, words per second, pauses, scene changes, loudness and a contact sheet. It's how I studied 119 reels.

    Skip the reading: hand it to Claude

    Copy the whole guide and paste it into Claude, or install it as a Claude Code skill so it’s always there.

    Download as a Claude skill

    Save it as ~/.claude/skills/tear-down-any-reel/SKILL.md, then ask Claude Code to “tear down any viral reel”.

    The prompts

    Build the teardown tool

    Paste into Claude Code in the folder with the video.

    Build me a small command-line tool, teardown.py, that studies a short vertical video and run it on [VIDEO FILE].

It should produce a folder per video with:
1. transcript: the full script with a start time for every word (use Whisper with word timestamps; install it if it's missing, but ask me first).
2. pace: words per second, the longest pauses, and how long the first sentence (the hook) takes.
3. scene changes: every hard cut (use ffmpeg scene detection), and cuts per 10 seconds.
4. loudness: integrated LUFS and true peak.
5. sheet.jpg: a contact sheet with one frame every 2 seconds.
6. report.md: all of the above on one page, plus a beat sheet that lines up what's said with what's on screen.

When it works, run it on every video in this folder and give me a table comparing them.

    Find the pattern

    After you've torn down 5 or more reels.

    Look at all the teardown reports in this folder. Sort the reels by views (I'll give you the numbers: [VIEWS PER VIDEO]). Tell me what the top third do differently from the bottom third: hook wording, words per second, scene changes, length, and the call to action. Only claim a difference if it holds for most of the reels in that group.

    Setup

    1. Save the reel you want to study as an MP4 into a new folder. Use it for study only; don't repost other people's work.

    2. Open Claude Code in that folder.

      claude

    3. Paste the prompt below. Claude installs what it needs and asks before it does.

    4. Run it on 5-10 reels from the same creator, then ask Claude what the best ones have in common.

    What I use

    • Claude CodeBuilds and runs the tool.
    • ffmpegFree. Reads the video: scene changes, loudness, frames.
    • WhisperFree, open source. Writes out the script with word timings.

    Worth knowing

    • In my study of 119 reels from four creators, the hits and the flops had the same pace. Measure pace so you match the format, then spend your effort on the hook and the topic.