You ship every week or two. The changelog gets the details, the tweet gets one line, and almost nobody sees what changed. A 20-second video of the new thing doing its thing gets watched. A bullet list doesn't.
The hard part is doing it every release. Here's a setup where the first release video is an evening and every one after it is a short session.
What goes into a release video
Not the whole changelog. Pick one to three changes a user would actually notice. Each change gets one shot: the action, then the result. Fixes rarely make it in, unless they fix something people complained about loudly.
A shape that works:
- The version number, one beat.
- One shot per change: what you do, what happens.
- An end card: "Update in the app", or wherever people get it.
The first release: build the template
Create a project just for release videos and set your brand in Settings › Project. Create a video, then paste the release section of your changelog straight into the message, along with screen recordings of the new features:
A 20-second release video for v1.4. From this changelog, show the two changes marked New, one shot each, using the attached recordings. Open on the version number. End on "Update in the app".
The agent writes the script first, in script.md. Check that it picked the right changes and that each shot shows an action, not just a title.
When the video looks right, save what repeats:
Save the version opener, the "New" label and the end card as components.
Every release after that
A new video in the same project, the new changelog section, the new recordings:
Release video for v1.5. Use our version opener, "New" label and end card. Changes: [paste].
The brand and the parts carry over. The only new thing is what's actually new.
Formats
- X: 16:9 with the YouTube preset, or a square video.
- LinkedIn: square or 16:9.
- Changelog page or README: a GIF, or a WebM if the page can play video. GIFs get heavy fast, so keep them short.
- Reels and Shorts: a second, vertical video in the same project.
For developers: video versions next to code versions
Every release video is a folder in a Remotion project. Commit the project next to your code or in its own repo, and the video for v1.5 lives next to the tag for v1.5. If a screen changes later, you change one scene, not the whole video.