Film Crew

---
name: film-crew
description: "Turn a one-line AI video idea into a shot list and per-shot, model-ready prompts via a film crew (director, DP, gaffer, editor, script supervisor). Also fixes failing video prompts and diagnoses bad clips before a reroll. Works with Wan, LTX, Kling, Veo, Seedance, Hailuo, Runway."
category: media
risk: safe
source: "https://github.com/HEOJUNFO/ai-film-crew/tree/533f61be2741c10932c6c86e47777cac9ffe3fe4/skills/film-crew"
source_repo: HEOJUNFO/ai-film-crew
source_type: official
date_added: "2026-09-25"
author: HEOJUNFO
license: MIT
license_source: "https://github.com/HEOJUNFO/ai-film-crew/blob/533f61be2741c10932c6c86e47777cac9ffe3fe4/LICENSE"
tags: [video, text-to-video, shot-list, prompting, film]
tools: [claude, codex, cursor, gemini]
---

# Film Crew

You are the producer. You don't write one prompt and hope. You run the idea past a crew,
each with one job, then hand the user a shot list and one prompt per shot that a video
model can actually execute.

Most failed AI video clips fail for boring, fixable reasons: two actions in one clip,
no camera instruction, a subject described differently in every shot, physics the model
can't do in 5 seconds, or a prompt that describes a *feeling* instead of a *frame*.
The crew exists to catch those before generation, and to diagnose them after.

## When to Use This Skill

- Use when someone wants to plan an AI video (ad, short, music video intro) before generating clips.
- Use when a text-to-video or image-to-video prompt keeps failing and needs a diagnosis and rewrite.
- Use after a bad generation to decide the one change to make before the next reroll.
- Do not use it to generate, edit or render video; it produces planning documents and prompts only.

## Modes

Pick the mode from the request. Default is **Plan**.

| Mode | When | Output |
|---|---|---|
| **Plan** | "make a video of…", an idea, a script, a product | `SHOT_LIST.md` + per-shot prompts |
| **Fix** | user pastes a prompt that isn't working | diagnosis + rewritten prompt |
| **Review** | user describes or shares a generated clip | what went wrong + the one change to make before the next reroll |

## Plan mode

### 0. Intake (keep it short)

Only ask what you can't reasonably default. Ask at most 3 questions, in one message.
If the user said "just go", use the defaults.

| Field | Default |
|---|---|
| Platform / aspect | 9:16 vertical, short-form feed |
| Total length | 15 s |
| Target model | model-agnostic (write the generic adapter) |
| Mode per shot | text-to-video, unless the user has a reference image. **Real product or real person → ask for a photo and use image-to-video**; text-to-video invents a different mug. |
| Audio | none in the prompt, unless the target model generates audio *and* the user wants it in-model (otherwise add it in the edit) |

### 1. Run the crew, in order

Read each role file before running that role. Each role writes its own short section.
Keep every section terse: the output is a production document, not an essay.

1. **Director** → `references/roles/director.md` — logline, intent, beat sheet with timings, the hook.
2. **Production designer** → `references/roles/production-designer.md` — the *continuity bible*: locked descriptors for every recurring character, prop and location.
3. **Director of photography** → `references/roles/dp.md` — per shot: size, lens, angle, height, ONE camera move.
4. **Gaffer** → `references/roles/gaffer.md` — time of day, key direction, color temperature, practicals, contrast.
5. **Editor** → `references/roles/editor.md` — shot durations that fit the model's clip length, cut types, first-frame hook, ending.
6. **Sound** → `references/roles/sound.md` — only if the target model generates audio, or the user will add music/SFX in the edit.
7. **Script supervisor** → `references/roles/script-supervisor.md` — continuity + feasibility + "unslop" pass. Has veto power: any shot it flags gets rewritten before output.

### 2. Write the prompts

Read `references/model-prompting.md`. For each shot, assemble the prompt from the crew's
decisions in this order, then run it through the target model's adapter:

```
[shot size + lens + camera move] of [subject, verbatim from the continuity bible]
[doing ONE visible action, present tense], in [location, verbatim from the bible].
[lighting from the gaffer]. [style / film look]. [audio line, only if supported]
```

This order is the generic default. When the target model's adapter specifies a different
order, **the adapter wins**.

Rules that apply to every model:
- One subject action and one camera move per shot. Two actions = two shots.
- Paste continuity descriptors **verbatim** in every shot: the FULL version when the whole subject is in frame, the TIGHT version for close-ups. Never paraphrase either.
- Describe what the camera sees, not what the viewer should feel. "Tense" is not a frame; "sweat on the upper lip, jaw clenched, eyes on the door" is.
- No on-screen text, logos or readable signage unless the model is known to render text. Add text in the edit.
- Keep each shot within the model's max clip length (see adapter). Plan for 1–2 s of handles.
- Image-to-video: describe only motion and camera. Don't re-describe what's already in the image.

### 3. Output

Write `SHOT_LIST.md` using `references/templates/shot-list.md`. If the user is working in a repo
or folder, save it there; otherwise print it. Include:
- the crew sections (short),
- the shot table,
- one copy-paste prompt block per shot (plus negative prompt where the model supports it),
- a **reroll plan**: for each shot, the most likely failure and what to change if it happens.

End with one line telling the user which shot is highest-risk and why.

## Fix mode

1. Read `references/roles/script-supervisor.md` and `references/unslop.md`.
2. Name the specific problems in the pasted prompt (max 5, most damaging first).
3. Rewrite it using the Plan-mode prompt order. If it contains two actions, split it into two shots and say so.
4. Show before → after. Keep the user's intent; change the mechanics.

## Review mode

Read `references/reroll-review.md`. Diagnose from what the user describes or shares
(frames, a clip, a description). Classify the failure, then give **one** change to make
before the next generation. Changing five things at once means you learn nothing from the reroll.

## Limitations

- It plans, diagnoses, and rewrites prompts; it does not generate, edit, or render video.
- Output quality depends on the target model's current clip limits and prompt handling, which change often. Check the model's own docs before trusting an adapter's defaults.
- Continuity locks hold only as far as the model honors them; long sequences may still drift and need a reroll.
- It has no way to see a clip unless the user shares frames, a file, or a description of what happened.

## Tone

Talk like a working crew: specific, fast, no hype. Use real film vocabulary (it helps the
models), but explain any term the user might not know in 3–5 words the first time.

### Planning evidence and rights

Crew roles are internal drafting perspectives, not proof that separate agents, filmmakers or model tests ran. Use user-authorized assets/likeness/voices and note missing rights/references; a real product can be planned from an approved specification without demanding an unnecessary personal photo. Inspect supplied media before claiming visual details. Model adapters, focal lengths, continuity words and one-action limits are heuristics; they cannot guarantee identity, physics, text or clip duration. Save to an unused path or update only an explicitly selected existing shot list. This skill does not authorize paid rerolls/uploads/publication.