Cinematic Promo Film

---
name: cinematic-promo-film
description: >-
  Plans and produces a CINEMATIC promo, launch, brand or event film (15-90 s) for a product, company, event or client, made like
  a short film from AI-generated imagery, not a screen recording or a UI walkthrough. Runs a gated workflow: a brief with ONE
  feeling and ONE claim in the client's own words, a micro-story with a hook, one turn and a brand payoff (2-3 concepts of
  different natures to choose from), a look card with cinematic optics plus a PRODUCT FIDELITY LOCK so the real product is never
  redesigned by the model, a shot list of 4-5 s clips with start and end frames, stills-first generation with QC where every paid
  call waits for the user's yes, a music-first edit with a cinematic cut catalog and code-built titles, and masters plus cutdowns
  for every aspect and language. Routes each phase to the pipeline's own skills instead of duplicating them. Use when the user
  says "promo video for", "launch film", "brand film", "commercial", "ad for my product", "cinematic promo", "product film",
  "spot for a client", "event teaser", "30-second ad", "hero film for the launch", "make our product look like a movie".
user-invocable: true
---

# Cinematic Promo Film

A promo that plays like a short film: one feeling, one claim, a tiny story with a turn, a real product that stays exactly
itself in every frame, and a brand moment that lands on the last beat. The pictures are generated; the craft is cinema.

**Not this skill:**
- A screen recording, website tour or UI feature demo: use a screen-capture promo tool (for example a HyperFrames
  product-launch skill, if installed). This skill may capture a site, but only as a brand reference.
- An announcement, teaser or explainer built from frames the project already has: `otf-presentations`.
- A charts-and-numbers explainer: `motion-graphics-director`.
- A long narrative film or series episode: `ai-visual-production-director` (this skill also uses it as the router).

## Ground rules (apply at every step)

1. **Gates are real.** Each step writes one file and ends with the user's explicit OK. Never start the next step on silence.
2. **No spend without a yes.** Before any paid generation (image, video, voice, music) show: tool, model, count of calls,
   unit cost, total in credits or money, and remaining budget from the brief. Wait for a yes. Never auto-confirm a cost
   prompt (`generation-queue-runner`). Log every take, kept or not (`generation-log`).
3. **The product is a fact, not a prompt.** Shape, proportions, colour, materials, label and logo come from real product
   references and are checked on every frame. The model is never allowed to redesign it (`references/product-fidelity.md`).
4. **Claims in the client's words.** On-screen claims and VO use the wording from the brief. Do not invent statistics,
   awards, testimonials or features. Anything factual needs a source the client confirmed.
5. **Text is never generated by an image or video model.** Titles, claim cards, prices, dates, legal lines and the logo end
   card are built in code (HyperFrames, Remotion or ffmpeg) or composited from the client's vector files.
6. **Rights before pixels.** Real people appear only with a signed release; voices are cloned only with consent; music is
   licensed or generated with a yes; client logos and marks come from the client. Note platform AI-disclosure rules.
7. **Keys stay out of files and chat** (`generation-backend-setup`). No absolute personal paths in shared files.

## Project folder

Create or reuse the standard tree with `project-scaffold` (00_BRIEF ... 06_DELIVERY, GENERATION_LOG.jsonl in 03_GENERATED).
This skill adds these working files in `00_BRIEF/`: `BRIEF.md`, `STORY.md`, `LOOK.md`, `PRODUCT_LOCK.md`, `SHOTLIST.md`,
`EDIT_PLAN.md`, `DELIVERABLES.md`. Resume rule: if a file exists and is approved (header line `status: approved`), read it
and continue from the next missing file; never re-interview a half-built project.

## Step 0 - Brief

Fill `references/brief-template.md` from the conversation; ask only for what is missing, in one grouped message.
- Product / brand / event; audience (who, where they watch, what they already believe).
- **ONE feeling** the viewer leaves with (a single word or short phrase). **ONE claim**, quoted in the client's words.
- Must-show (shots, product angles, people, places) and banned (looks, words, competitors, cliches, unsafe actions).
- Platforms and aspects (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5), hero aspect, duration(s), languages, VO yes/no, music direction.
- Deadline, review rounds, budget in credits or money, generation backend (`generation-backend-setup`, or manual mode).
- **Brand signals:** logo (vector from the client), colours (hex), typefaces, tone words, existing footage and product photos.
  A URL may be captured (page text, screenshot, colours, fonts) **only as brand reference**: file it under
  01_REFERENCES/EXTERNAL with the role line "brand reference only - never a frame, never a style source".

**Gate 0:** the brief reads as one sentence: "A <length> film that makes <audience> feel <feeling> about <product>, ending on
<claim>." The user approves `BRIEF.md`.

## Step 1 - Story

Write `STORY.md`. A promo is a micro-story, not a list of features.
- Shape: **hook** (0-2 s, an image that raises a question), **one turn** (BUT ... / THEREFORE ...), **payoff** (the feeling
  arrives), **brand moment** (claim + logo, last 2-4 s). Every joint between beats must read as "therefore" or "but",
  never "and then".
- Offer **2-3 concepts of different natures** from `references/concept-library.md` (for example product-as-hero, a human
  story, a world or metaphor). Each concept on half a page: title, one-line logline, beat table with timings for the
  requested length, the hero image, the risk, how many shots and product hero shots it needs, rough generation cost.
- If the user wants to deepen the story, hand off to the story coach skill if installed; bring back only the approved beats.
- VO, if any: about 2.3 words per second in English at a calm promo pace, leave at least 20 % air; a 30 s spot carries
  about 50-60 words. Write VO per language later, from the approved master line, not by literal translation.

**Gate 1:** the user picks one concept (or a merge) and approves the beat table and, if any, the VO line.

## Step 2 - Look and locks

Write `LOOK.md` and `PRODUCT_LOCK.md`.
- **Style card** via `reference-style-builder`: measured 60/30/10 palette in hex, light, lens and camera height, film stock
  and grain, composition, texture words, negatives. Brand colours enter the palette as accents or practical light colours,
  not as a flat wash over the image.
- **Cinematic optics by default:** shallow depth of field with the focal plane on the subject (on the product label in
  hero shots), anamorphic traits written explicitly (oval bokeh, horizontal flare from practicals, gentle edge falloff,
  2.39:1 framing inside 16:9 when the brief allows), motivated light, deep but not crushed blacks. Never "deep focus".
- **Grade intent:** one sentence plus the reference frame for `video-color-grade` later (the LUT is built from it).
- **Product fidelity lock:** product reference sheet from real photos, a fixed product line pasted verbatim into every
  prompt, role lines, and the QC checklist - all from `references/product-fidelity.md`.
- **Talent identity lock** via `character-identity-lock-setup` for every recurring person (release on file).
- `style-lock-guard` is armed from here on: every prompt is linted against the style card before it is sent.

**Gate 2:** one approved style frame, one approved product reference sheet, approved identity sheets if people appear.

## Step 3 - Storyboard and shot list

Write `SHOTLIST.md`, one row per shot: id, beat, seconds in the cut, shot size and **why** (`storyboard-shot-selection`),
lens, small motivated camera move (follows a detail or an action, never a move for its own sake), start frame, end frame,
product visible? (none / soft / hero), references attached with role lines, transition out (from `references/cut-catalog.md`),
sound note.
- Generated clips run 4-5 s; the cut usually keeps the best 1.5-3 s. Plan about one shot per 2.5 s of film.
- Start and end frames for every clip that must move from A to B are built with `keyframe-chain-builder` (the end frame is
  made FROM the start frame, time moves forward, camera side stays locked).
- List the **product hero shots** separately (macro detail, reveal, in hand or in use, packshot). The final **packshot** is a
  composite of an approved still plus the real product photo or 3D render when the label must be legible.
- Plan the transitions now: a match cut or a whip needs both sides prompted for it (`references/cut-catalog.md`).
- Plan every aspect now: mark the protected area each shot needs for 9:16 and 1:1 (`references/deliverables.md`).
- Still prompts via `cinematic-prompt-writer`; video prompts via the pipeline's video-prompt skill for the chosen model.

**Gate 3:** the user approves the shot list (a storyboard sheet of sketches or style-frame thumbnails helps) and the cost
estimate for Step 4.

## Step 4 - Generation

Stills first, motion second; spend in small batches, each one approved.
1. **Stills** with any image model (connected backend through `generation-queue-runner`, or `manual-image-pack` in manual
   mode). Attach the product sheet to every shot where the product is visible; style frames last.
2. **QC every batch:** `frame-qc-contact-sheet` (defects, identity, black bars), the product checklist from
   `references/product-fidelity.md` (silhouette, proportions, colour delta, label, counts), and `style-lock-guard`
   measurements against the style card. Fix lines from `generation-failure-fixes`; re-roll only failed frames.
3. **Outside eyes:** `independent-frame-critic` on the approved set before any video spend.
4. **Image-to-video** with any model (for example Kling): start frame, end frame where the model supports it, 4-5 s, small
   camera move, minimal product motion (move the camera around the product, not the product). Check the middle frames of
   every take for product morphing, not only the first and last.
5. Every take goes into `generation-log` with prompt, references, cost and status (candidate / approved / rejected).

**Gate 4:** every shot in `SHOTLIST.md` has an approved still and an approved clip that passed the product checklist; spend
so far is reported against the budget.

## Step 5 - Edit

Write `EDIT_PLAN.md`, then assemble.
- **Music first.** Lock the track (licensed, or generated after a yes) before cutting. If the user wants a beat-locked
  edit, measure it with `music-beat-grid` (it asks first); otherwise cut to picture and let the music breathe under it.
- **Cuts** from `references/cut-catalog.md`: one transition family per film, at most one or two "effect" transitions per
  30 s, J and L cuts whenever VO or a sound leads the picture.
- **Graphics in code:** titles, claim card, fact or date cards and the logo end card from `cinematic-motion-graphics`
  (if installed; otherwise HyperFrames or Remotion with the brand typefaces). Test that the font renders every language.
- **Grade match:** `video-color-grade` builds the LUT from the style frame and matches every clip to the hero shot.
- **Sound design notes** per shot: room tone, product sounds (click, pour, hum), motivated whooshes only, a silence before
  the claim. Mix and loudness in `dialogue-audio-finish`.
- **Assembly:** `nle-timeline-assembly` (DaVinci Resolve, Premiere or EDL) or HyperFrames / ffmpeg as the local render
  engine for graphics and simple assemblies.
- **Versions per aspect:** reframe shot by shot (keyframed crop position, not a blind centre crop); run `frame-crop-guard`
  on every composition that crops; re-generate a native vertical still only where the crop loses the subject.
- Social cutdowns: `retention-packaging-plan` for hook, captions and cover frame decisions.

**Gate 5:** the user approves the rough cut of the hero master, then each aspect version.

## Step 6 - Delivery

Build the matrix in `DELIVERABLES.md` from `references/deliverables.md`: masters per aspect and language, cutdowns (6 s
bumper, 15 s, 30 s, and 60 s if ordered), text-free master, music-only and VO stems if ordered, captions, cover frames,
share copy per platform (caption, alt text, hashtags in the brand's tone).
- `render-cut-verification` on every encoded file (cut strip, black and flash scan, stream lengths, loudness, true peak).
- `delivery-package` for naming, specs, checksums and the delivery note; `final-outputs-organizer` for the archive.

**Gate 6:** every row in the matrix is verified and the user signs off. Report paths, durations and total spend.

## Read when

| File | When |
|------|------|
| `references/brief-template.md` | Step 0: the brief contract and the one-sentence test |
| `references/concept-library.md` | Step 1: promo story archetypes with timings for 6/15/30/60/90 s |
| `references/product-fidelity.md` | Steps 2-5: keeping a real product exact, QC checklist, fixes |
| `references/cut-catalog.md` | Steps 3 and 5: cinematic transitions and how to prompt both sides |
| `references/deliverables.md` | Steps 3 and 6: aspect and cutdown matrix, safe zones, specs, naming |

## Never

- Use a captured web page, a competitor ad or a stock clip as a frame or as the style source.
- Let a model render the logo, label text, a price, a date or a legal line in the final film.
- Spend credits, accept a cost step or send anything to a client without the user's explicit yes.
- Ship a frame where the product shape, colour or label drifted, even "slightly".
- Skip a gate because the user is in a hurry; offer a smaller scope instead (one aspect, one length, one language).