Product demos · landscape and portrait
How to make a SaaS demo video
A good SaaS demo video shows one workflow end to end rather than touring the whole app. Open on the outcome, reveal the interface in pieces so the eye knows where to look, then pull back once to show the full dashboard in context. With baz, the Software overview skill produces this as a cinematic dark-gradient reveal — word-by-word headline animation, animated data-visualisation cards, then a full-dashboard zoom — built from your screenshots and brand colours rather than a screen capture.
The shortcut: run a skill instead of starting from scratch
A skill is a context file that teaches an AI agent one specific video style — its structure, pacing, typography, motion grammar and sound design. Hand an agent the skill plus your product, and it rebuilds that video for you. The steps below are what the Software overview skill already encodes, so you can follow them by hand or let the skill carry them.
baz is a library of video skills: context files that teach an AI agent a specific motion-graphics style, so it can rebuild that video for your product, with your brand, from your inputs. Run a skill inside your own coding agent — Claude Code, Codex — or directly in the baz editor.
What you need before you start
Required
- The claims you want the video to make — what the product does, in your words
- Screenshots of your primary product surface (a dashboard or main workspace works best)
Makes it materially better
- Secondary screens and a feature-detail view, so the middle has somewhere to go
- Your brand colours and URL, so the gradient and accents are yours rather than generic
- The real UI copy — actual labels beat lorem ipsum by a wide margin
How to make a SaaS demo video: step by step
Pick one workflow, not the whole product
The most common failure in SaaS demos is breadth. Choose the single path that makes someone say "oh, that is what it does" — usually the one that produces a visible result — and build the entire video around completing it.
Lead with the outcome, not the login
Start where the value is. Nobody needs to watch a sign-in screen. Open on the finished dashboard, the generated report, the completed state — then show how it got there.
Reveal the interface in pieces
A whole dashboard appearing at once is unreadable. Bring in the header, then one card, then the chart, so the viewer always knows where to look. The skill sequences these as animated data-visualisation cards for exactly this reason.
Synchronise the headline to the reveal
Word-by-word headline animation is not decoration — it paces the viewer. When the word "revenue" lands as the revenue card animates in, the two reinforce each other. When they drift apart, the video feels loose.
Pull back once, and only once
End the demo section with a single zoom out to the full dashboard. It re-establishes context and makes the product feel substantial. Do it more than once and it becomes a tic.
Cut a portrait version from the same project
This skill supports landscape and portrait. Produce the 16:9 for your site and docs, then generate the 9:16 for social from the same source rather than letterboxing the wide one.
What the finished video actually contains
Approximate timings for a 30–45 seconds cut. Treat them as a shape to hit, not a spec — the exact durations shift with your script and your music.
| Time | Beat | What is on screen |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:06 | Headline reveal | Word-by-word type on a dark gradient. States the outcome before any UI appears. |
| 0:06–0:14 | First card | A single animated data-viz card enters. One idea, fully readable, before anything else is added. |
| 0:14–0:28 | Interface assembles | Further cards and panels sequence in around it, each tied to a line of the headline. |
| 0:28–0:36 | Full-dashboard zoom | The camera pulls back to reveal the complete product surface in one move. |
| 0:36–0:45 | Brand close | Logo, one line of positioning, and the call to action. |
Mistakes that cost you the view
Touring every menu
Do this instead: Show one workflow completing. Breadth reads as "we could not decide what matters".
Dropping the full UI in on frame one
Do this instead: Sequence it. An unfamiliar dashboard shown all at once is visual noise — the viewer has no idea where to look.
Demo data that is obviously fake
Do this instead: Use plausible numbers and real labels. "Lorem ipsum" and $999,999 tell the viewer nothing about your product and quietly signal that it is not finished.
Text too small to survive mobile
Do this instead: Size type for a phone in a feed. If a label needs a full-screen desktop to read, it should not be the thing you are pointing the camera at.
Letterboxing the landscape cut for social
Do this instead: Generate the portrait version natively. Black bars cost you half your screen area in the feed where most views happen.
Run it from your own agent
Skills are designed to run inside a terminal agent like Claude Code or Codex, against a project you control. The same skill produces the same style whether it runs in your agent or in the baz editor.
npm install -g bazaar.it@latest
# Install this skill into your agent (Claude Code, Codex or Cursor)
baz skill add dark-gradient-dashboard-reveal
baz project create --name "Software overview for my product"
baz prompt "make a SaaS demo video" --stream-json
baz review --summary --json
baz export start --wait --format mp4 --jsonOperations draw from a prepaid balance. See the CLI reference for the full command set.
Common questions
How is this different from a screen recording?
The interface is rebuilt as animated components rather than captured. That means it renders at any resolution, holds up under a camera push, shows exactly the state you want, and can be re-cut later without re-recording the app.
How long should a SaaS demo video be?
30–45 seconds for a landing-page hero or a social post. Longer product tours have their place on a docs page, but the hero video is there to earn a signup, not to fully train the user.
What if my product does not have a dashboard?
The pattern still holds — replace the data cards with whatever your primary surface is. If your product is conversational or CLI-based, look at the product-explainer or launch-video skills, which are built around different visual centres of gravity.
Do I need video editing experience?
No. The skill carries the editing decisions — shot order, pacing, type treatment, transitions, sound design. You supply the raw material and the facts about your product; the agent assembles the cut. You review it and ask for changes in plain language.
Can I run this in my own coding agent instead of the baz editor?
Yes. Skills are designed to be run from a terminal agent like Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. Install the CLI with `npm install -g bazaar.it@latest`, then `baz skill add <slug>` to pull the skill into your agent. The same skill produces the same style whether it runs in your agent or in the baz editor.
What does it cost?
baz bills against a prepaid dollar balance rather than a seat subscription — you top the balance up and each operation (generation, voiceover, render, export) draws a listed amount from it. There is no per-seat fee to make a video, and the price of each operation is published.
Can I change the video after it renders?
Yes, and this is the point of doing it as code rather than as a flat render. Every scene is a real component you can edit — ask the agent to re-time a beat, swap a screenshot, rewrite a line, or change the accent colour, and only that part rebuilds. You are not re-rendering from scratch each time.
Will every video from this skill look the same?
The grammar is the same — that is what makes it a skill and not a template. The content is not: your brand colours, typography, screenshots, copy and data all come from your inputs. Reusing one skill across a series is a feature, because episode three lands in the same visual language as episode one instead of being rebuilt from scratch.
Related guides
Pick a skill. Get the video.
Run the Software overview skill in your own coding agent, or in the baz editor. Usage comes out of a balance you top up, with a listed price per operation — no seat subscription to make a video.