A first draft (often called a "rough draft" or "zero draft") doesn't need to be perfect. Its job is just to exist on the page so you can edit it later.

He double-clicked. The player opened to a grain, gray-scaled shot of a hallway he didn't recognize. The camera moved with a heavy, rhythmic breathing, swaying slightly as it passed rows of identical steel doors.

Give the person in the video (or the person watching it) a name and a goal.

If you are looking to write a narrative based on a specific video clip, here is a simple process to get your first draft moving:

In the video, the person filming stopped at door 402. They reached for the handle, their hand trembling, but before the door could swing open, the footage glitched. For a split second, Elias saw a face reflected in the glass of the door—a face that looked exactly like his own, but ten years older.

Don't just look at the big action; look for the details. Is there a specific object? A change in light? According to DailyMotion's writing guide , adding sensory details helps readers visualize the scene.

Every story needs a problem. In a draft, this should be clear and lead toward a specific solution .

The flickering monitor cast a cold blue light over Elias’s face as he scrolled through the encrypted drive. Among the thousands of neatly labeled folders, one stood out for its plainness: a single file named .