Paper-Cutout Christmas Explainer

A paper-cutout Christmas explainer lives on one wooden board and teaches one idea. The opening is one hook title, large enough to read at once, in the language you are speaking. If you turn on-screen text off, the board stays free of writing and the spoken line carries the idea alone. Use at most one arrow. Do not cover the board with a blank grey strip. Approve every still before the paper moves. The cutout is paper with a scissor edge. It is not a real person, and it should not borrow a face or a character from a film. Stay on the same dark board, state the one idea as a single hook title, and approve each still before any paper slides. The first 3 seconds show that wooden board and one hook title in the spoken language, unless on-screen text is off, and they say the idea of folding once and stopping. Reject a second board, a second headline, a film face, or a blank grey strip. Keep one product, the single box in that folding lesson. A practical reel is 15–45 seconds. If a face or voice could be mistaken for a real person, the caption must say it is AI. The cutout itself is paper, not a person.

Keep the same wood

Every clip shares the same dark wooden board. A jump to a room, a white void, or a second table makes the lesson look like two films. Pieces can enter and leave. The grain under them stays put. If the board changes color halfway, reject that still and return to the first frame. Lock the grain and the color of the board on clip 1, and return every later piece to that same wood. In the first 3 seconds the picture is that board, and the words are the one folding idea. Reject a jump to a room, a white void, or a second table before you post.

One idea, one title

Say the idea in a single hook title for the first 3 seconds of clip 1, unless on-screen text is off. A second headline beside it splits the opening. The title should be the point of the reel, in the spoken language, not a greeting and not a logo. Later clips continue the same idea. They do not introduce a new one. Put one hook title up for the opening, in the language being spoken, unless you turn on-screen text off. In the first 3 seconds, viewers see that single title and hear the same idea. Do not post a second headline, a greeting, or a logo beside it.

One arrow, no grey strip

A worked example

A gift shop explains one idea: fold the paper once, then stop. The pieces are a box and a sheet on the same wooden board, with one arrow toward the fold. Clip 1 opens on a hook title in English, the language being spoken. The paper figure has no film face, and the stills are approved before anything slides. Approve the box and the sheet on the same wood, then let the fold slide. For the first 3 seconds, show one hook title in English and say that you fold the paper once and stop. Reject a new background, a second arrow, or a character from a film. Keep one product shape inside 15–45 seconds. If a voice could pass for a real person, the caption says it is AI.

Before you post

• Stay on one wooden board.
• Open with one hook title, or turn on-screen text off.
• Use at most one arrow and no blank grey strip.

Where Scro fits

Scro builds this as a paper-cutout on one wooden board and holds it to one idea. Clip 1's first 3 seconds are one big hook title in the spoken language, unless on-screen text is off. Use at most one arrow, leave out any blank grey strip, and approve the stills before motion. The cutout is not a real person. Build the cutout on that one board and export only after the stills are approved in order. Inside the first 3 seconds, the hook title is on the wood, unless on-screen text is off, and the voice says the one idea. Reject a grey strip or a film face. The paper figure is not a real person. If a voice could be mistaken for one, the caption says it is AI.

Build it on one board. Finished samples are on the examples page.

Related: Faceless Cartoon for a Christmas How-To.