The playbook behind 3AM RULES: how we write, animate, sound-design and post vote-driven horror shorts, with the exact numbers every Part has to hit. Written from our own production notes, for you or for your AI agent.
First Reel posted 20 Oct 2026 at 22:24 (UK). 54.3K followers on 25 Oct 2026. Instagram @the.rules.at.3am.
Every number on this page comes from our own notes, logged the day it happened. Instagram followers:
The book has dozens. These four changed our videos the most, and each one comes with the measurement behind it.
Every horror clip over 500K views that we measured starts talking on the first frame, with 7 to 11 words in the first 3 seconds. Our Part 2 started at 1.84 seconds with 4 words. Part 4 started at 0.0 with 10, and cut on a spoken word 96% of the time.
Our early background sound was a 43 Hz drone. A phone speaker can't play 43 Hz, so on a phone 44% of our pauses were dead air. The breakout videos: 1%. The book gives you the full recipe: bed level, risers, booms, the one dropout before the twist, and how to check it in a minute.
Our Part 3 vote came back 98% "block the vent". The vent worked. But the vote card had printed "nobody holds the door", so in Part 4 the door opened an inch and the cat got out. If every vote turns out fine, people stop voting. The book covers vote words, consequence lines, the vote card, and how to post daily while still honouring the result.
A close-up of fingers under a door read as "abstract grey lines" at phone size. The fix: the character and the threat in the same frame, the hook line in text, the clock running. The same rule makes the cover: one lit object of dread, a 3–5 word hook, the Part number.
Two parts. Buy either one, or both as the Complete System.
A 52-page illustrated PDF, plus a version you can read on your phone. Real frames and measurements from our renders, checklists and templates.
The same method as files an AI coding agent can act on. Hand AGENT.md to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor: it interviews you about your series, then builds the pipeline in gated phases, from the set library to an audited Part 1.
AGENT.md start here: phases + gates
specs/ format, series engine, script,
pacing, sound, visual, UI kit,
pipeline, audits, posting,
compliance, monetisation
starter/PROJECT_SPEC.md build order + acceptance tests
prompts/ interview, premise, script,
hook score, cadence, blind review,
posting kit
templates/ series bible, Part bible, script,
episode.json, posting kit
examples/ a complete annotated Part 1
It's a specification, not our private code: your agent builds the tools (timeline builder, sound kit, audit scripts) from the numbers.
| The 3AM Playbook | A typical "make videos like this" course | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof | A dated follower log from our own account, 0 → 54.3K in 5 days | Often none, or someone else's numbers |
| The method | Measured targets: first word, words per minute, shot length, bed level, tail | "AI does it for you" |
| Sound | A full recipe for sound a phone speaker can play, with before/after spectrograms | Rarely covered |
| Platform rules | AI labels, TikTok's branded-content trap, alert tones, voice licences, the 1-minute payout rule | Rarely covered |
| For AI agents | AGENT.md, 12 specs with numbers, gates and acceptance tests | A handful of prompts |
| Price | A real launch price with a real end date | Timers that restart when you reload |
Launch prices until 28 Oct, 23:59 UK. After that they go up to the struck-through prices.
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The Guide if you want the method, whatever tools you use. The Agent Pack if you'll have an AI coding agent build the pipeline for you. The Complete System gets both for less than buying them separately.
For the Guide, no: it's the method, useful with any tools. To build the same kind of code-animated videos, you either write HTML/JavaScript yourself or use an AI coding agent (that's what the Agent Pack is for).
It's plain Markdown and JSON, written for agents that can read files and run commands: Claude Code, Codex and Cursor all work. You'll need your own subscription to one of them.
An AI voice on a paid plan if you want to monetise (free voice plans are usually non-commercial), and your agent subscription. The renderer, ffmpeg and the sound recipes are free. No AI image tools needed.
Yes: the same specs and checklists our Parts pass before they're posted. What we don't hand over is our private code and our series itself. The Agent Pack teaches your agent to build its own version.
Make your own. Use the shapes, not our characters, rules, lines or series name. Copies get views without fans, and the Guide shows the numbers.
Straight after payment you land on your download page. That page's link is your access, so bookmark it: open it any time to get fresh download links.
Use the form on the download page with the email you paid with, or contact us.
It's a digital product with instant access, so all sales are final once you've accessed it. At checkout you agree that access starts immediately and that you lose the 14-day right to cancel once you've accessed the content. This doesn't affect your statutory rights, for example if a file is faulty.