short-form-production-playbook

name	short-form-production-playbook
description	Plan, build, and fix short-form videos like an editor, using hook-first structure, caption-aware visual design, Remotion/FFmpeg assembly, and reject-regenerate review loops instead of one-shot automation.

Short-Form Production Playbook

Use When

• The user wants a short that feels edited on purpose, not merely assembled.
• You need to choose how the hook, script density, captions, visuals, pacing, audio mix, and review loop should work together.
• You are using generate-short, video-render, or publish-prep-review and need the craft rules that should drive those runtime steps.
• You need a portable playbook that a coding-agent CLI can import into a project without depending on a legacy control plane.

Core Rule

The skill is the editor. Runtime scripts are support.

Do not start from flags, providers, or render options. Start from what should make the viewer stop, understand, and finish.

Keep every phase artifact-driven where possible. Script, timestamps, visual plan, render metadata, and review bundle should exist as files, not hidden chat state.

User Instruction Fidelity

• Treat user-specified source surfaces as hard constraints. If the user asks to show a real app, product UI, website, browser, Discord guild, or workflow, capture that real surface instead of substituting a mock, recreation, static HTML, staged fake UI, or synthetic stand-in.
• Only use mockups, generated UI, fake websites, or simulated product states when the user explicitly requests them or when you clearly ask and receive approval first.
• If a requested real flow is blocked, stop and report the blocker with the closest truthful fallback. Do not silently replace the real flow with something easier.
• For product demos, preserve the user's requested interaction method. If they ask for keyboard/manual use, use actual browser/app input events rather than API-posting the result behind the scenes.

First Pass

1. Decide the promise of the short in one sentence.
2. Decide the hook in one visual beat and one spoken beat.
3. Use hook-packaging when title, cover, opening-frame, or platform metadata variants should be chosen before the script locks in.
4. Decide whether the short is mainly: explainer, proof/result, reaction, clip-and-comment, or story.
5. Pick exactly one archetype before sourcing visuals. Do not blend formats unless the user asks for a hybrid.
6. Pick the caption family before building visuals.
7. Build visuals that leave room for captions and platform chrome.
8. Use virality-review and retention-pass before final approval when the hook, pacing, or platform fit is uncertain.
9. Render.
10. Review.
11. Reject and regenerate if the edit feels weak, messy, repetitive, or unreadable.

What Good Shorts Usually Need

• A hook that lands in frame 1 or within the first half-second.
• One idea, not three.
• Fast visual turnover without random noise.
• Captions that feel native to the platform and content type.
• Constant respect for mobile safe zones.
• Audio that starts immediately and stays intelligible over music.
• A real review loop instead of "the file rendered, ship it".
• Full-bleed vertical composition. If a source clip is boxed with black gutters, crop-fill or build a blurred/motion background; do not preserve gutters just because the clip is already 1080x960 or 1080x1920.
• Native-feel opener. The first 1s to 3s should show the stakes as a clear visual hook, title card, receipt, face, or conflict overlay, not just a generic stock/gameplay frame.

Read These References As Needed

• editorial-patterns.md Hook, structure, pacing, script density, segment selection.
• visual-assembly.md Visual sourcing, shot variety, Remotion/FFmpeg assembly, caption-aware layout, audio layering.
• review-loop.md Self-validation, rejection triggers, and regeneration choices.
• archetype-map.md Named archetypes, default visual modes, and generation order.
• For external resource scouting, use ../creative-source-scout/SKILL.md before copying assets or relying on a site.
• For caption styling details, use ../short-form-captions/SKILL.md.

Output Behavior

• If you are only advising, hand back a concrete editorial plan: hook, structure, caption family, visual plan, and validation focus.
• If you are executing, use the repo skills to produce files, but keep this playbook as the decision layer: brief-to-script, script-to-audio, timestamps-to-visuals, video-render, virality-review, retention-pass, platform-packaging, publish-prep-review.
• Prefer resumable phase artifacts over one giant prompt or one giant run log.

Non-Goals

• Do not treat already-captioned published shorts as clean source footage.
• Do not rely on deterministic templates as a substitute for judgment.
• Do not call a short "good" because the codec, duration, and aspect ratio passed.
• Do not add random clips to a pure gameplay archetype just to create visual variety.

Validation Checklist

• The hook is visible and understandable immediately.
• The script has one clear promise and a payoff.
• Captions match the content and remain readable on phone-sized frames.
• Visual changes support the spoken rhythm instead of fighting it.
• No source-text collision, muddy layout, or dead air slipped through.
• No black gutters, boxed media, or default template background slipped through unless the format intentionally uses them.
• The final video still matches the chosen archetype.
• The review step gives a real go/no-go result, and failure leads to a concrete reroute.