x-video-to-vertical-social-cut

name	X Video to Vertical Social Cut
description	Turn an X/Twitter video or local source clip into a verified 9:16 social export: preserve widescreen foreground footage, use a dark blurred background, burn in phone-readable captions, and omit persistent headers by default.

X Video to Vertical Social Cut

Use this workflow when Raul supplies an X/Twitter video URL or a local video and wants a vertical social cut with captions.

Output contract

• Produce an H.264/AAC 9:16 MP4, normally 1080×1920 at 30fps unless source or delivery constraints require otherwise.
• Preserve the full widescreen source video as the centered foreground. Do not crop away meaningful UI or cinematic action.
• Fill unused vertical space with a darkened, blurred version of the same footage.
• Burn in large, high-contrast captions in the lower safe area. Keep captions clear of mobile UI and never clip them.
• No persistent header, title strip, or watermark by default. Add one only when the user explicitly asks.
• Use faststart / mobile-ready MP4 settings when export tooling supports it.

Workflow

1. Resolve/download the video. For X status URLs, use the X/media recovery path; if regular post extraction fails, use the media downloader/resolver fallback rather than abandoning the source.
2. Inspect the source video and transcript. Prefer Creative transcription; cloud STT is primary, and local Whisper is the recovery path when cloud transcription is unavailable.
3. Choose a coherent 20–45 second moment with a clear hook and enough dialogue/context. Use the user’s requested length when specified.
4. Build the vertical composition: blurred/dark background, centered uncropped foreground, captions in lower safe area, no default header.
5. Export H.264/AAC.
6. QA before delivery:
   • technical probe/full decode succeeds;
   • sample early, middle, and ending frames or use a contact sheet;
   • visually confirm no black frames, accidental header, crop loss, or caption clipping;
   • verify aspect ratio, duration, audio track, and caption readability;
   • if the generic scorer is confused by source-video metadata, do not use it as the sole acceptance gate.
7. Deliver the final MP4 and report only verified facts. Mention any genuine uncertainty, especially if audio can be transcribed but not directly auditioned.

Proven Odyssey reference

The verified no-header Odyssey test used full cinematic widescreen footage centered over a dark blurred vertical background, bold outlined all-caps captions in the lower safe area, 1080×1920 H.264/AAC, 30 seconds. Visual contact-sheet review found no persistent header, black frames, crop loss, or caption clipping. Local Whisper fallback produced the transcript during QA.

Avoid

• Do not leave a persistent title/header on screen unless explicitly requested.
• Do not crop the foreground aggressively just to fill 9:16.
• Do not claim visual or audio QA without actual evidence.
• Do not give up on an X URL solely because the initial post fetch lacks media metadata.