name: Instagram video_specs: width: 1080 height: 1920 fps: 30 aspect_ratio: "9:16" duration_range: [15, 60] safe_zone: { top: 250, bottom: 250, left: 60, right: 60 } render_quality: { crf: 18, bitrate: "8M", codec: "h264", audio_bitrate: "256k" } style: caption_type: "word-highlight" caption_position: "center" transition_type: "wipe" transition_speed: "medium" hook_duration: 2 tone: "visual" text_size: "medium" rules:

"Film native vertical - never crop horizontal"
"Custom cover photo - bright, clear, intriguing (up to 38% higher CTR per Later's study)"
"Algorithm reads text overlays for categorization - use keywords in first 3 seconds"
"DM shares are 3-5x more weighted than likes - design for shareability"
"High-contrast text (white on dark) at 48-60px minimum"
"High visual quality is non-negotiable - spring() physics, never linear easing"
"Originality Score penalizes templated/recycled content - vary layouts per render"
"Text overlays boost saves by 40% and shares by 2x even though most Reels are watched with sound"
"Reels with text overlays get 40% more saves and 2x more shares"
"2-4 quality Reels/week beats daily low-quality posting"

Remotion for Instagram

Algorithm Context (2026)

Instagram's 2026 algorithm has fundamentally shifted. DM shares are now the single most heavily weighted signal for Reels distribution — a DM share carries roughly 3-5x more weight than a Like because it represents a user staking their social reputation on your content. Relationship signals now account for 60% of weighting (industry estimate, not officially confirmed by Meta) versus 40% for engagement metrics. Watch time, saves, and shares are the primary engagement signals; likes are de-emphasized. (TrueFuture Media, 2026; Clippie.ai, 2026)

Instagram's "Originality Score" now algorithmically detects recycled clips, TikTok watermarks, and reposted content. Accounts posting 10+ reposts within 30 days get excluded from recommendations entirely. Original creators saw 40-60% reach increases while aggregator accounts saw 60-80% drops. This means Remotion output must look and feel unique — vary layouts, color schemes, and animation timing across batches. Never produce identical-looking videos. (EvergreenFeed, 2026; OrangeMonke, 2026)

Users can now explicitly tune their algorithm via "Your Algorithm for Reels" — meaning creators must earn their place through genuine value, not just algorithmic tricks. Algorithm changes have made it easier for smaller creators to gain traction through the Suggested feed, though no guaranteed minimum distribution has been confirmed. (CreatorFlow, 2026)

Creators Who Are Performing Well

Brock Johnson (@brock11johnson) — Social Media Strategy

885K followers. Grew 250K followers in 6 months using Reels. Studied 1,300 viral hooks and teaches the first-3-second framework. Uses pattern interrupt hooks, curiosity gap hooks, contrarian angles, bold claims, outcome-based hooks, and story-driven openings. Revenue via courses, coaching, and brand partnerships. Uses Reels as top-of-funnel, Stories for conversion. Batches content with separate phases for idea generation, filming, and editing. (Heart University, 2026; Manychat, 2026)

Humphrey Yang (@humphreytalks) — Personal Finance

871K Instagram followers. Breaks down complex financial topics into under-60-second Reels using analogies, dynamic visuals, and relatable examples. Uses infographic-style Reels, explainer talking heads, and visual analogies (physical props to explain financial concepts). 45-90 second educational format. Revenue via brand deals, YouTube crossover, frequently featured on Yahoo Finance. Finance Reels get saved at premium rates. (SendShort, 2026)

Cards by Shairy — Small Business Case Study

Handmade greeting card creator who grew to 50,000+ followers using detailed crafting process Reels. Tapped into the ASMR/process content trend. Crafting Reels gained millions of views and led to brand deals. Demonstrates that Remotion-generated process/transformation content (before-and-after, step-by-step) can perform at scale. (Aspire Digital Solutions, 2026)

Faceless Account Operators — Emerging Category

The most relevant category for Remotion. Top niches: personal finance tips, productivity, health/wellness science, relationship psychology, business/entrepreneurship, US-specific content (tax tips, credit scores, investing). Reaching 100K+ followers within 6-12 months of consistent posting. Top multi-account operators report $2,000-$10,000+ monthly combined, with outliers at $30K+/month. Text-heavy, infographic-style Reels with clean design and bold typography. These are prime candidates for Remotion-generated programmatic video. (FluxNote, 2026; SendShort, 2026; AutoFaceless, 2026)

Alex Hormozi (@hormozi) — Business Education

~4.5M Instagram followers. Acquisition.com founder ($200M+ portfolio). Content mix: 40% text posts, 34% images/carousels, 25% video/Reels. His team produces 250+ pieces per week across platforms. Uses dynamic captions and zoom edits that are directly replicable in Remotion. Key philosophy: "Give away the secrets, sell the implementation." Creates one long-form piece and repurposes into 30+ assets. Carousels outperform his video posts on Instagram — relevant for our carousel-to-video template. (SuperPen, 2026)

Leila Hormozi (@leilahormozi) — Business Operations

~1M Instagram followers. CEO of Acquisition.com. Text-heavy, quotable business Reels focused on operations, leadership, and scaling. High DM shareability — the exact metric Instagram rewards most. Demonstrates that business content with clean, bold text overlays drives massive engagement.

Chris Do (@thechrisdo) — Design/Business Education

~1M Instagram followers. Emmy-winning designer, founder of The Futur. Design-forward Reels and carousels that demonstrate visual authority. Teaches that high-quality design in social content builds premium brand perception — directly relevant to Remotion's ability to produce consistent, design-forward video at scale.

Jasmine Star (@jasminestar) — Social Media Strategy

~300K Instagram followers. Founder of Social Curator. Pioneered batched, template-based content creation — her methodology maps directly to Remotion's parametric video automation. Demonstrates that systematic content production beats ad-hoc creation.

Content Formats That Perform

Duration Sweet Spots

Entertainment Reels: 11-17 seconds optimal (Neil Patel analysis of 2.38M content pieces)
Educational Reels: 38-51 seconds, or up to 90 seconds for deeper "edutainment"
Finance/Business Reels: 45-90 seconds to build credibility through depth
Highest completion rates: 15-30 seconds (VersaCreative, 2026; Giovanni Perilli, 2026)

Best Template Mappings for Instagram

hook-value → Educational content, quick tips, industry insights. The strongest format for saves and shares.
listicle → "5 things you need to know" style content. Works exceptionally well in faceless/text-heavy niches.
carousel → Animated carousel slides. Converts the proven PDF carousel engagement pattern into video for even more dwell time.
testimonial → Social proof content. Quote + attribution format gets saved and shared.
announcement → Product launches, milestone celebrations. Buildup → reveal drives engagement.

Hook Patterns That Work on Instagram

Pattern interrupt hooks — unexpected visual or statement in first frame
Curiosity gap hooks — "The one thing nobody tells you about..."
Contrarian angle hooks — challenge conventional wisdom
Bold claim hooks — "This changed everything about how I..."
Negative hooks — "Stop doing this..." or "This is killing your..."
Outcome-based hooks — "How I went from X to Y in Z days" (Heart University - Brock Johnson, 2026)

Instagram vs TikTok — Why Content Must Be Different

Instagram favors cleaner visuals, structured storytelling, longer captions, and original or less saturated audio. Instagram Reels have 1.3x higher e-commerce conversion rates than TikTok. Never cross-post with watermarks — Instagram's Originality Score penalizes this aggressively. Create separate edits from the same content: shorter and trend-aligned for TikTok, slightly longer and more contextual for Instagram. (Planable, 2026; Mirra, 2026)

Remotion Technical Workflow

Composition Settings

Width: 1080
Height: 1920
FPS: 30
Codec: H.264 High Profile
CRF: 18 (or 8Mbps+ bitrate — Instagram recompresses everything, so over-quality is better)
Audio: AAC, 48kHz, 256kbps
Safe zone: Center 1080x1420 area within the 1080x1920 canvas

Caption Rendering Style

Use word-by-word highlight captions (@remotion/captions with Whisper word-level timing):

Bold sans-serif fonts: Montserrat Bold, Poppins Bold, Bebas Neue
Center-bottom placement within safe zone
High contrast: white text + dark shadow/outline, or colored highlight behind active word
spring() bounce animation on each word appearance (damping: 12, stiffness: 200)
Minimum 36pt body / 48pt+ headlines (CrePal, 2026; OpusClip, 2026)

Transition Patterns

Instagram offers 6 native transitions: Zoom, Blur, Warp, Flare, Spin, Glitch. In Remotion:

Zoom: Scale interpolation from 1.0 to 1.3+ with opacity fade
Blur: CSS blur filter interpolated across frames
Warp/Flare: Brightness/contrast manipulation + slight scale shift
Use ONE bold transition in the first 5 seconds, then keep remaining transitions invisible (match cuts, whip-pans)
Over-editing reduces clarity and hurts performance — less is more after the hook

Text Animation Patterns

First-frame hook text: Bold, large, centered, keyword-rich
Word-by-word highlight captions with spring() bounce
Staggered list reveals: each bullet springs in with delay
Text-behind-subject (knockout text): requires masking layer — high-impact but complex
Always use spring() physics — linear motion reads as "computer-generated"; spring reads as "designed"
Never use CSS transitions (causes flickering during Remotion rendering)

Making Remotion Output Look Native

Use spring() for ALL animations — linear easing looks robotic on Instagram
Color palette: warm, saturated, high-contrast visuals (Instagram's aesthetic standard)
Pacing: fast cuts in first 3 seconds, then settle into rhythm
Audio: original or less-saturated audio outperforms. Add subtle sound design (whooshes on transitions, pops on text reveals)
Safe zones: design at 1080x1920 but keep all critical elements within center 1080x1420
Vary layouts, colors, and animation timing across renders to avoid Originality Score penalties
Auto-generate cover images from the hook frame with bold text overlay (custom covers get up to 38% higher CTR (per Later's study)) (Remotion spring(), 2026; StayAbundant, 2026)

Caption SEO

Instagram reads on-screen text for content categorization. To optimize:

Include target keywords in text overlays (not just spoken audio)
Use clear, high-contrast typography that OCR can read
Place key text in the center safe zone (not edges)
First-frame text hook should contain your primary topic keyword
Avoid decorative/script fonts for keyword text — stick to clean sans-serif (TrueFuture Media, 2026; OverlayText, 2026)

Key Metrics to Design For

DM shareability — "Would someone send this to a friend?" is the #1 test
Save-worthiness — teach something tactical enough to reference later
Completion rate — front-load value so people watch through
Text overlay quality — While Instagram Reels are primarily watched with sound on (unlike Facebook or LinkedIn), text overlays remain critical — Reels with text overlays get 40% more saves and significantly more shares. On-screen text also feeds Instagram's content categorization algorithm.

Reels account for 35% of total screen time on Instagram, reaching 2B+ monthly users. Average Reels reach rate is 30.81% vs ~13.14% for photo posts. (LoopEx Digital, 2026; MarketingSource, 2026)

Remotion Tools & Templates

short-video-maker — Open-source MCP + REST API. Takes text inputs, generates TTS, captions via Whisper, background video from Pexels, composes with Remotion.
Vunr — Built on Remotion; exports optimized for Instagram Reels. Can connect RSS feeds for auto-generation.
Remotion TikTok Template — Official template for captioned videos; adaptable to Reels.
remotion-subtitles — Animated subtitles from .SRT files. (PopularAITools, 2026)

Shot list (consumed by `social-captions` → `assets.md`)

Instagram caption skills emit a shot list alongside each caption. Two formats — the realtor picks one based on what they're posting. Both vertical (9:16) only.

Reel format (default for "just listed")

Request 6-8 shots, 22-30s total runtime:

HOOK [0-2s] — Hero hook frame. Either the exterior at golden hour OR a signature detail close-up. Must work as the static cover frame too.
B-ROLL [2-5s] — Slow push-in on the first feature called out in 08-story.md or 03-features-and-upgrades.md (with source). 3-second hold minimum.
B-ROLL [5-8s] — Second feature push-in. Different framing from shot 2.
B-ROLL [8-12s] — Third feature, OR a transition shot (doorway walk-through, hand on doorknob).
TRANSITION [12-16s] — Walk-through POV or wide reveal of a key room.
PUNCHLINE [16-22s] — The detail that closes the story (a sourced feature, an original element).
CLOSER [22-26s] — Wide living room or kitchen with natural light. Realtor signature phrase overlay.
(optional) [26-30s] — Realtor's signaturePhrase text card on a clean shot.

Cover image spec: 1080×1920, hook text-safe in center 1080×1420.

Carousel format (10-slide)

Request 10 1080×1350 portrait stills:

Slide 1 — Hero/cover with hook overlay
Slides 2-9 — Feature/story slides, one per features[] entry (max 7) plus 1-2 detail shots
Slide 10 — CTA + realtor signature

Each slide caption is in variants.md.

Algorithm match

Reel hook on frame 1 (no greeting, no logo).
Use one trending audio if it fits the brand voice; otherwise original.
Cover frame must be readable as a static image (Reels show as covers in feed grid).