Guide · Brand film
Brand story video: how to structure 90 seconds
We Stream is a London video and photo production company (We Stream Ltd, founded in 2022 by Violetta Coretnic and Vitalii Vakulchuk). A 90-second brand story isn't a brand video cut short: the structure, the opening and the decisions that make it work are settled before a word of script is written. Here is how we build one.
The short version
Most brand videos are a sequence of clips with music underneath. A brand story has a before, a change and an after.
The brief we receive most often asks for a brand video of roughly ninety seconds. What the client usually means is a polished piece that says what the company does and why it matters, short enough to be watched and long enough to say something.
What the brief rarely says is that it should be a story. A story introduces something, complicates it and resolves it. That fits in ninety seconds when the brief is tight and the footage is disciplined. Without it, ninety seconds is just clips and music.
The difference isn't the production quality or the rhythm of the edit. It's whether the video has a movement the viewer can follow, and that movement has to be in the brief before the camera switches on. It can't be added in the edit. It's the starting point for any corporate video brief that wants the first kind of film rather than the second.
Why 90 seconds
Less a constraint, more a discipline
A two-minute brand video has room to be vague in places and still feel finished. Ninety seconds doesn't: every ten seconds carries weight.
The first ten seconds
Decide whether the rest is watched
Viewers decide to stay or leave within seconds, and most drop-off happens in the first minute. The opening isn't one section of the film; it's the condition under which the rest of it gets watched.
The last ten seconds
Decide what the viewer does next
They decide whether the viewer remembers anything specific and acts on it. A close that repeats the middle wastes them.
Holding ninety seconds is a brief discipline, not an edit trick. A film that runs to two and a half minutes is almost always the product of a brief that never committed to a structure. When the structure is decided after filming, it bends to whatever footage exists.
A ninety-second film needs the structure decided first and the filming to serve it. For AM Insights we built the anniversary film around one founder interview, client testimonials and office B-roll from a single filming day, and every piece of it had a place in the structure before we arrived.
The structure
Three parts that work at this length
The proportions are approximate and the content changes, but the sequence holds in every brand story that works as a piece.
The opening introduces something the viewer can place themselves against: a situation, a question, a before. Not "We are a London-based video production company" but "Most videos get produced and never used." The viewer who recognises that keeps watching; the one who doesn't was never the audience. Both outcomes are fine.
The middle is the company's answer, in specifics rather than abstractions. Not "we provide strategic video production" but "we start every brief with the same question: who is watching, and what do they need to believe afterwards?" It's the hardest section to write, because it needs an honest answer to "what do you actually do differently?"
The close doesn't repeat what was just said. It shows, or says in an interview-led film, what the problem looks like once it's resolved, with enough detail to be credible and enough brevity to land before attention runs out.
Case: Park Lane
When the location doesn't do the work
Not every brand story has a location that helps it. Park Lane's had the opposite problem.
Park Lane wanted a film from their London event, held in a small grey room at the Mandarin Oriental. Nothing in that room was going to make a good film, and straight event coverage would have produced flat footage whatever was said in it.
So we pitched a story rather than coverage. What if the event isn't the video, but the last step in a client's journey, showing how Park Lane handles problems for ultra-high-net-worth clients? It opens with a client texting the Park Lane team. Within hours they are in London making arrangements, and the event is one moment in that story. It ends on a hook: the next client needs them in Hong Kong.
The room appears in the film; it just isn't the subject. Shooting across Dubai and London gave the edit the variety a single location never could. The lesson for any brief: if the location isn't interesting, the location isn't the brief. The story is, and the location is one possible setting for part of it.
Case: NOA
Founder-led, Instagram first, three days
NOA's film was built for Instagram before anything else, and that was an editorial constraint, not only a format one.
Instagram audiences scroll. The film had to give a reason to stop in the first three seconds, hold attention with dynamic pacing, and leave the viewer with something specific enough to share. Founder Lily walked through London on camera, talking about how NOA grew and what it has done for the community it serves, with her own voiceover carrying the story from one location to the next.
The walk wasn't decoration. A static interview on Instagram reads as an ad; a founder moving through a real city in her own words reads as someone worth listening to. She was briefed on what the film needed to argue, not on what to say word for word.
Filming to final delivery took three days, with two camera operators and a producer-assistant on an eight-hour day. The fast edit came from fast footage: different distances, angles and moments of the walk, which give the editor natural cuts. A walk filmed from one position can't be cut dynamically, however good the editor.
The common mistake
What most brand stories get wrong in the first ten seconds
The most consistent failure is an opening that starts with the company instead of the viewer.
"Founded in 2019, we are a team of specialists who..." A viewer who doesn't already know and care about the company has no reason to keep watching. It asks for attention before earning it.
The opening that works starts with something the viewer recognises: a situation, a problem or a tension their own experience has prepared them for. That recognition is what earns the right to explain the company. Without it, the next eighty seconds play to an audience that left after ten.
For AM Insights, the film led with the founder's own account of why the company exists, before any credentials or the anniversary itself, and let the company appear as the answer to that problem.
Before any script
Four things the brief has to name
A brief that arrives as "we need ninety seconds about what we do" needs these conversations before any footage is planned.
- The beforeNot "the company was founded" but the problem in the world the company exists to address. Described specifically, that problem is the opening.
- One specific claimNot "leaders in our field" but something specific enough to check. The Cytec film showed seven executive interviews filmed in one day; NOA's showed a brand story filmed and delivered in three days.
- The one person it is forNot a demographic but a specific person at a specific moment, with a specific question in their head. Every editing decision is made with that question in mind.
- The consequenceWhat that person should do or believe afterwards: get in touch about a specific service, share the film because it says what they've been trying to explain, or rethink a decision. "Be aware of our brand" is an exposure metric, not a consequence.
Where the film sits in the wider customer journey, which stage it serves and for which prospect, decides how it's positioned and shared once it's made. Brand films start at £2,500 delivered; see brand video prices.
See it in practice
The films behind this guide
Every example on this page is a film we shot. Tap a film to play it.
AM Insights
Anniversary brand film, one filming day
Park Lane
A story instead of a grey room
NOA
Founder-led, cut for Instagram
Cytec
One specific claim: seven interviews, one day
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a brand story video and a brand video?
A brand story has a structure the viewer can follow: a before, a change and an after. That movement has to be in the brief before filming starts; it can't be added in the edit. A brand video without it is a sequence of clips with music underneath, which is what most brand videos are. The difference isn't production quality or edit rhythm, it's whether the film moves from somewhere to somewhere.
What structure works for a 90-second brand story video?
Three sections, each with a job. The first twenty seconds open on a problem or situation the viewer recognises, not on the company. The middle forty to fifty seconds show the company's specific response, with evidence: named clients, real outcomes and what makes it different. The last twenty seconds show what the opening problem looks like once it's solved, specific enough to be believed and short enough to land.
Why is 90 seconds harder to produce than a 2-minute brand video?
Because it removes the room to be vague. Two minutes leaves space to be imprecise in a few places and still feel finished; ninety seconds doesn't. Every ten seconds carries weight, and the first ten decide whether the rest is watched. The structure has to be agreed in the brief and the filming has to serve it. A film that runs to two and a half minutes is almost always a brief that never committed to a structure.
What should the opening of a brand story video contain?
A situation, problem or tension the viewer recognises from their own experience, not a description of the company. 'Founded in 2019, we are a team of specialists' asks for attention before earning it. An opening that names the viewer's own problem earns the right to introduce the company as the answer. The viewer who recognises it keeps watching; the one who doesn't was never the audience.
How do you make a brand story when the location is visually dull?
Make the story the brief, not the location. Park Lane wanted a film from an event held in a small grey room at the Mandarin Oriental, and straight event coverage would have looked flat. We pitched a story instead: a client texts the Park Lane team, they are in London within hours, and the event is one moment in that journey. It was shot across Dubai and London and ends on a hook in Hong Kong. The room appears in the film; it just isn't the subject.
What makes a founder-led brand story work on Instagram?
The founder has to look like they're speaking, not performing. A static interview on Instagram reads as an ad; a founder moving through a real place in their own words reads as someone worth listening to. For NOA, founder Lily walked through London talking about how the company grew, briefed on what the film needed to argue rather than given lines. Variety in the footage, different distances, angles and moments of the walk, is what lets the edit move fast.
How fast can a brand story video be produced?
Three days from filming to final delivery is possible when the structure is agreed first. NOA's brand story, founder-led and filmed on location in London, took three days, with two camera operators and a producer-assistant on an eight-hour filming day. That speed depends on deciding the opening, the claims and the close before the camera switches on; without it, three days becomes three weeks.
How much does a brand story video cost in London?
Our brand films start at £2,500 delivered: one to two crew, one filming day and one to three finished films. A full-crew brand day with a producer, two camera operators, a gaffer and sound is £6,000 delivered. Locations, talent and the number of formats move the price; see brand video prices for the full breakdown.
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