| name | Brad Bonanno — Explainer-Video Architecture |
| description | Architects technical explainer videos using Brad Bonanno's structural patterns — survives short attention spans, communicates complete systems (not just teasers), and functions as a channel-building artifact (one video pulls subscribers, not just views). Use when planning a long-form technical explainer (5-20 min) for YouTube, structuring an explanation of a complex system the user knows but can't teach yet, balancing depth vs accessibility for a technical audience, or building an evergreen video meant to compound subscriber growth over years rather than spike then die. Trigger proactively whenever the user says "explainer video", "technical explainer", "how do I explain X", "long-form YouTube", "evergreen video", or has a complex system that needs to land with a non-expert. For Instagram-format shareworthy content use brock-johnson-shareworthy-content; for short-form video patterns use a TikTok/Reels-specific skill. |
| version | 2.0 |
| format | completion-engine |
| workflows | 4 |
| expert | Brad Bonanno |
| domain | explainer-video architecture for technical creators |
Brad Bonanno — Explainer-Video Architecture
Expert Context
Brad Bonanno (@bradbonanno, Brad | AI & Automation) is an AI/automation YouTuber and indie maker. His real skill isn't the tools he ships — it's the meta-skill of structuring 5-10 minute explainer videos that compress technical systems into watchable artifacts that ALSO build a channel.
What this skill captures: The structural patterns behind Brad-style explainer videos:
- The 15% Demo Rule — talking-head dominates; demo cuts are surgical
- Single Source Demo Discipline — one flagship example across the whole video
- The Matrix Moment — split-screen temporal proof for speed claims
- Branded Infographic Frames — 2-4 trust anchors per video
- Pre-empt the Skeptic — name objections in viewer's voice, rebut with infographic proof
- The Compound Cliffhanger — close one loop, open a bigger promise tied to next video
- Free + Open-Source as Positioning — give away the artifact, audience-build compounds
First visual-aware extraction in the system: 6 of 7 patterns required visual evidence to extract. Transcript-only ingestion would have missed the entire meta-skill.
Corpus (multi-source; extend here, never mint a duplicate Bonanno skill):
extractions/brad-bonanno/ — "My Claude Code Can INSTANTLY Watch Any Video" (QZMljuD10sU, 2026-05-03) — the explainer-architecture source behind this skill.extractions/brad-bonanno-edit-bay/ — "My Claude Code Edits FULL Videos in One Shot" (mlhhZSHIS-w, 2026-08-06) — his 6-stage agentic EDITING pipeline (WhisperX → cuts → B-roll → HyperFrames → SFX → export + watch-loop QA). MES 3.0 report: extraction-report.md there. Operationalized as the Edit Bay: skills/video-studio/.
Available Workflows
| # | Workflow | Produces | Use When |
|---|
| 01 | The Pause Test Audit | Frame-by-frame audit of an existing video draft + scorecard + top 3 structural rewrites | Pre-publish diagnostic for any explainer video. Catch dead pauses, missing infographics, and modality-mix failures before launch |
| 02 | The Matrix Moment Architect | Pre-recording demo strategy: source artifact selection, visual hierarchy, temporal proof beat structure, shot list |
