vox-style-collage-video

name

vox-style-collage-video

description

Turn a script or fact list into a finished Vox-style paper-collage explainer video: flat torn-edge photographic cut-outs, off-white newsprint ground with ONE bold accent color, big kinetic typography synced to the voiceover, infographic motifs (maps, arrows, redlines, timelines, charts), limited low-frame-rate cutout motion, narration-first pacing. ALL image/video/music generation runs on Unsora (create_image nano-banana-pro, create_video seedance-2.0, create_music mureka-7.5); the VOICEOVER is the one thing Unsora cannot make, so it comes from a supplied file or the session's own TTS tool, then timed and mixed with ffmpeg. Use whenever the user wants a Vox-style or editorial/news/journalism explainer collage video from text, says "make a Vox-style video/explainer", "paper collage explainer", "turn this script into a Vox video", wants one Vox-collage shot's prompts, or asks to write, voice, or time narration onto a Vox-style animation. Default to this for any Vox paper-collage explainer built on Unsora.

Vox Collage Video

Script in, finished Vox-style explainer MP4 out — or a single shot's prompts, if that's all that's asked. Self-contained: the visual style system, the prompt templates, and the production pipeline all live in this folder.

Runtime target: this skill is written for Claude, OpenClaw, and Hermes Agent style skill runtimes.

Hard precondition: Unsora MCP must be connected and authenticated before running any image, video, music, or optional posting step. If the Unsora MCP tools are missing, stop before the approval gate and tell the user to connect Unsora MCP first. Do not replace Unsora with another generator unless the user explicitly asks for a port of the skill.

The style, in one line: flat photographic cut-outs with torn edges, layered photomontage-style over an off-white newsprint ground, ONE bold accent color, big kinetic typography that lands the point, infographic marks (maps / arrows / circles / redlines / timelines), limited low-frame-rate cutout motion, and a voiceover the whole cut is timed to.

What makes it Vox, not a generic paper cutout: the subjects are cut-out photographs (archival, editorial, magazine — not engravings or storybook shapes); the on-screen typography carries the argument and moves in sync with the narration; the vocabulary is journalistic infographics (a red line on a map, a circled face, a rising bar); and the whole thing is narration-first — the VO is written and voiced before the shots are sized, and every shot is cut to its line.

The tool split (read this — it is the point of this skill):

• Everything visual + the music runs on Unsora. create_image (nano-banana-pro) for hero frames and reference sheets → create_video (seedance-2.0) to animate each frame → create_music (mureka-7.5) for the underscore. Each create_* is async; poll its wait_for_*.
• The voiceover never comes from Unsora — it has no TTS. It comes from outside this skill: either the user supplies a VO audio file, or it is synthesized on whatever TTS tool happens to be connected in the session (see references/pipeline.md §VO for how to find one and what to do if none exists). The user decides at the front door. Never quietly substitute a connector, and never claim Unsora voiced it.
• Assembly, timing, and the mix are ffmpeg, locally.

The pipeline, in one line:

elicit params → read script → beat map (flag recurring assets) → shot list + VO draft
  → [APPROVAL GATE] →
  VO FIRST: obtain each line's audio (supplied file, or the session's TTS tool) →
    measure real durations → size each shot to its line →
  reference sheets (Unsora create_image, only for assets recurring across shots) →
  per shot: Unsora create_image (hero frame) → create_video (animate) →
  [music: Unsora create_music] → ffmpeg concat → time VO to cut, duck + mix → final.mp4

If the user wants only prompts for one or a few shots — no generation — run Part 1 and output shots in the per-shot format. If they want the film, run everything.

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PART 0 — THE FRONT DOOR (resolve before spending anything)

Infer what you can from the request; ask only what is genuinely missing. On a chat client with tappable inputs, ask with those; otherwise ask in one short message. Never call a generation tool before these are fixed and the shot list is approved.

1. The script / idea. Paste a script, VO copy, or beat list (.docx, .txt, .md, .pdf, fountain, or typed). If it's just an idea or a feature brief, say so and offer to write a beat list first for approval.
2. Orientation. 16:9 (YouTube / the native Vox format — default for explainers), 9:16 (Shorts / Reels / TikTok), or 1:1. Infer from platform mentions.
3. Voiceover source — the one deliberate cross-tool choice. Vox style is narrated, so a VO is the default, and Unsora can't make it. Offer: (a) I'll write the script and you supply the voiced audio file, (b) write it and voice it on a TTS tool connected in this session (name whichever ones you actually find — never promise one that isn't there), or (c) silent (type-only — rare for this style; the kinetic cards must then carry everything). If the user already named a tool, that's answered. See references/pipeline.md §VO for how to locate a TTS tool and what the call needs to produce.
4. Music. None, a track the user supplies, or a generated instrumental bed via Unsora create_music (mureka-7.5). Vox typically runs a restrained editorial underscore under the VO; default to a light generated bed unless the user says otherwise.
5. Accent color. The palette is one editorial base + one bold accent held across the whole film (Vox's signature is a warm yellow, but ask/confirm — red, cobalt, and teal all read as Vox). Locked at the gate, never drifts.
6. Length / shape. Infer from the script; for a bare idea, ask for a target runtime or shot count, or offer a beat list first.
7. Unsora MCP availability. Confirm the session exposes Unsora MCP tools for create_image, wait_for_image, create_video, wait_for_video, create_music, and wait_for_music. If not, stop and ask the user to connect Unsora MCP before generation planning continues.

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PART 1 — THE STYLE SYSTEM

Rule 0 — one shot delivers one point, and the type lands it

Each shot answers "what does the viewer now understand that they didn't a second ago?" — a claim, a number, a contrast, a location, a single turn in the story. The collage shows it; the kinetic type states it, and the VO explains the why. The three tracks complement each other — they never all say the same thing.

• "The border moved 200 miles west" → a torn map with a red line sliding west, a big 200 MILES card snapping in, VO gives the year and the reason.
• "Nobody noticed for a decade" → a circled newspaper clipping with a magnifier, card reads 10 YEARS, VO delivers the irony.
• "Three companies control it all" → three cut-out logos/buildings layering over a pie wedge, card reads 3 FIRMS · 90%.

Test every shot: name the point in one clause. If you can't — if it's "a nice photo drifting" with no claim, number, or turn — it's filler. Give it a card that carries information, or fold it into a neighbour. A Vox explainer that shows without telling is just B-roll.

The full visual system (medium, ground, palette, typography, motion grammar, infographic-mark vocabulary, camera, foley, style lineage, and the AI-default negative) is in references/style-dna.md — read it before writing a single prompt.

The two-prompt structure (every shot)

Each shot is two prompts, built from the style-dna.md templates:

• Hero-frame prompt (Unsora create_image, nano-banana-pro): the single strongest frame of the shot — its resolved state, with the kinetic-type card already set. Ordered Subject → Action → Setting → Style → Camera → Lighting → Text → Constraints. Full sentences, art-director voice, and it MUST carry the Vox medium sentence and the AI-default negative (flat scanned-paper photomontage, torn cut edges, printed halftone/newsprint grain — no gloss, no 3D bevel, no smooth vector look).
• Animation prompt (Unsora create_video, seedance-2.0): animates that frame. Names the frame by role ("the start frame is the target composition — the shot resolves to it"), never re-describes its design, uses only the style's limited-frame motion verbs, states the cadence, and closes with the audio line (No voice. — the VO is a separate track — plus paper foley, plus No music.).

Frame-zero rule: the hero frame is usually the end state, so the animation prompt must say the shot resolves to it (elements slide in, snap, settle, hold), not that it "starts" there — or the motion has already happened. If a clip opens finished, fall back to plate mode (a second, emptier hero frame as the true first frame). Mechanics in references/pipeline.md.

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PART 2 — THE PRODUCTION PIPELINE

Never skip the approval gate. Read references/pipeline.md for exact Unsora parameters and the VO handling before Phase 4.

Phase 1 — Read the script

Accept .docx, .txt, .md, .pdf, fountain, or pasted text; read in full, then classify: narration script (prose to be heard — the VO is the timing spine), beat list (one point per line — one shot each), or hybrid (VO with bracketed visual directions — honour the directions, time to the VO). If it's a product/feature brief, not a script, say so and offer to write one first.

Phase 2 — Beat map + asset tally

Apply Rule 0. Tally every recurring character, place, and significant object against the shots it appears in — this feeds the reference-sheet plan (3+ shots → sheet; the film's hero subject → sheet even at 2; recurring place → sheet; everything else per-shot). Assign each shot a VO line and a provisional duration. Segmentation rules, the narrative-arc model, the split rule, and the VO timing table are in references/beat-mapping.md.

Phase 3 — Shot list + VO draft, then stop

Present the shot list as a table and wait for a yes:

| # | Point / beat | Kinetic-type card | Setting / accent use | Sec | Assets | VO line |

Below the table: the VO script (all lines, read start to finish — this is what gets voiced), the asset/sheet plan (one line each: name, type, shots, one sentence of the locked design), then total runtime, shot count, sheet count, orientation, accent color, VO source, and — plainly — that generating spends Unsora credits for images/clips/music (plus whatever the VO tool costs, if one is being used), and takes roughly clips × ~7 min (Seedance) plus a bit per sheet, per VO line, and for the music. Do not call a single generation tool before the user says go. If the anti-slop skill is available, run the VO draft through it — VO is public-facing copy and must not read as generic AI narration.

Phase 4 — Voiceover first (the timing spine)

Vox is narration-driven, so the VO exists before shots are sized. Per the source chosen at the front door (mechanics in references/pipeline.md §VO):

• Supplied file → ask for it now, split it per beat (or read the whole file's duration and lay lines out against the beats).
• Session TTS tool → find the TTS tool actually available, audition/pick one voice, synthesize one call per VO line, hold that same voice across every line, and download each result to vo/vo_NN.<ext>.
• No TTS available and no file → say so before the gate, and offer the silent type-only cut or a picture-lock the user can narrate themselves.

Then ffprobe each line's real duration and set each shot's duration to fit its line (word budget ≈ 2.4 words/sec; give ~0.3s of air at each end). One VO segment per shot keeps timing trivial. This measured (shot n → seconds) table is what Phase 6 generates against.

Phase 5 — Write the prompts

For each approved shot, write both prompts with the style-dna.md templates and show them in the per-shot format below before generating. Shots that use a sheet get the sheet-binding lines and describe only pose/arrangement for that element — the design lives in the sheet. Cheap to fix on the page, expensive after. Run the style-dna.md checklist per shot.

Per-shot output format:

1. ### SHOT N — [TITLE] + one line: the point and how this shot lands it. If it uses sheets, a second line: Assets: [name → role].
2. Breakdown — duration & pacing; subject(s); action & blocking; setting & accent use; framing & composition; camera & movement; lighting; the kinetic-type card; audio; THE HERO FRAME.
3. Hero-frame prompt — one fenced code block.
4. Animation prompt — one fenced code block.

Phase 6 — Generate (Unsora)

Read references/pipeline.md first. Reference sheets once each (before any shot), then per shot: create_image → wait_for_image → create_video (hero URL as image) → wait_for_video. aspectRatio identical in both calls (a ratio mismatch crops the type card — the most common silent failure). generateAudio: true for the foley bed. Pass a shot's sheet URLs in referenceImages of both calls (slot math: in the video call image = @Image1, first reference = @Image2). Do not chain last-frame → next-first-frame — each shot is a discrete card and the hard cut is the edit; for a seamless join use a flood/accent-wipe transition (see style-dna.md), not chaining. Keep the manifest updated so a failed shot regenerates alone. Never re-roll a done shot "for consistency."

Phase 7 — Music (optional, Unsora)

If a bed was requested: create_music(model="mureka-7.5", prompt=<editorial underscore, restrained, no vocals>) → wait_for_music → download. mureka-7.5 is the instrumental model — omit lyrics. Match the brief to the film's tone (driving for investigative, warm for human-interest). The bed rarely matches the runtime — loop or trim it in the mix.

Phase 8 — Assemble, time the VO, mix, deliver

ffmpeg. Concat clips in manifest order (zero-pad shot numbers). The VO is already per-shot and each shot was sized to its line, so placement is near-trivial: lay each vo_NN at its shot's start offset, mix over the clips' foley (kept low so the paper snaps read) with the music bed ducked under the VO (sidechain). Verify the final duration against the picture cut — a dropped clip yields a valid file that's simply short. Exact ffmpeg commands, ducking, optional brand-bug overlay, verification, and resume-after-failure are in references/pipeline.md. Present the completed final.mp4 using the host agent's native file-delivery mechanism. Offer, but never perform unprompted, any social post — that needs its own explicit yes (Unsora create_post).

Failure handling (universal; style-dna.md adds style-specific rows)

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Clip opens on the finished collage, nothing assembles	Prompt said "first frame"	Reword to "target composition — the shot resolves to this frame"; if persistent, plate mode
Look turns glossy 3D / clean flat-vector motion-graphics	The Vox AI-default leaked	Add the medium sentence + AI-default negative (scanned torn paper, halftone grain, no gloss, no vector tween) to every prompt
Elements glide/tween smoothly	Smooth-motion verb slipped in	Purge morph/glide/ease; state "limited frame rate, snaps between poses, no smooth interpolation"
Type card cropped or reflowed	Aspect ratio mismatch image↔video	Regenerate the hero frame at the video's ratio; keep aspectRatio identical
A recurring face/place looks different between shots	No sheet, or sheet not passed/bound	Generate the sheet once; pass its URL in referenceImages of both calls, bind it by slot in both prompts
Seedance invents a voice	VO leaked into the video prompt	Keep the VO out of every video prompt; restore No voice. — the VO is a separate track
Second color creeps in	Accent not held	Force the palette: editorial base + monochrome photo cut-outs + the ONE locked accent
"Unsora voiced it"	Unsora has no TTS	State the real source (the session's TTS tool, or the user's supplied file); never attribute the VO to Unsora
Assembled film is short	A clip failed and got skipped	Check the manifest, regenerate the missing shot
VO drifts out of sync	Shots not sized to the lines	Re-measure each vo_NN with ffprobe, set each shot's duration to its line, regenerate the mismatched clips

Reference files

• references/style-dna.md — the full Vox collage visual system: medium, ground, the editorial-base-plus-one-accent palette, kinetic-typography rules, the infographic-mark vocabulary (maps / arrows / circles / redlines / timelines / charts), limited-frame motion grammar, camera, foley, the accurate style lineage, the AI-default betrayal + its negative, both prompt templates, the reference-sheet formats, and the per-shot checklist. Read before writing any prompt.
• references/pipeline.md — exact Unsora parameters and polling (sheets, hero frames, clips, create_music, reference-slot ordering); the VO paths (supplied file, or a session TTS tool — how to find one, what to ask it for, and how to retrieve and download the audio); the manifest schema; every ffmpeg command (concat, VO timing + normalise
  • duck/mix, brand-bug overlay, verification); resume-after-failure; and the optional Unsora posting flow.
• references/beat-mapping.md — segmentation rules, the asset tally, the narrative-arc model, the split rule, the VO-first timing table, and a worked narration → shot map.