remotion-best-practices

name	remotion-best-practices
description	Best practices for Remotion - Video creation in React
metadata	{"tags":"remotion, video, react, animation, composition"}

Design Quality Standards

Resolution Standards

Always render at 1920x1080 (1080p) minimum. Never ship 720p.

Format	Width	Height	Use case
16:9 landscape	1920	1080	YouTube, website embeds, presentations
9:16 vertical	1080	1920	Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts
1:1 square	1080	1080	Instagram feed, LinkedIn
4K landscape	3840	2160	High-end presentations (render time 4x)

Default fps: 30. Use 60fps only when smooth motion is critical (scrolling UIs, fast transitions).

Typography Standards

Telnyx uses two fonts in all video content:

• PP Formula - Branded heading font. Use for large headlines, stats, hook text, and CTAs.
• Inter - Body font. Use for descriptions, labels, muted text, and UI elements.

In theme.ts: FONTS.heading for PP Formula, FONTS.sans for Inter.

Loading fonts in Remotion:

// In your composition's Root or a wrapper component:
import { staticFile } from "remotion";

const fontFace = `
@font-face {
  font-family: "PP Formula";
  src: url("${staticFile("fonts/PPFormula-Medium.otf")}") format("opentype");
  font-weight: 500;
}
`;
// Inject via <style> in an AbsoluteFill wrapper

Place font files in public/fonts/ of your Remotion project. Inter is also available via @remotion/google-fonts.

Narrative Arc for Video Structure

Every video should follow a clear narrative arc:

1. Why Now - Opening hook that establishes context or urgency (1-3 seconds)
2. What Changes - The core message or transformation being presented (main content)
3. How It Works - Demonstration or explanation of the mechanism (detail section)
4. Next Steps - Clear call to action or conclusion (final 3-5 seconds)

Structure timing accordingly: distribute content across the middle sections proportionally.

One Idea Per Scene

Apply the "one idea per slide" principle to video scenes:

• Each composition or scene should communicate a single concept
• Avoid packing multiple distinct ideas into one frame
• If a scene has competing visual elements, consider splitting into separate scenes with transitions
• Use visual hierarchy to make the primary idea instantly clear

Template-First Approach for Video Scenes

Don't design from scratch every time:

1. Start with proven composition templates for common patterns (title cards, content slides, feature reveals, testimonials)
2. Customize templates with brand colors, fonts, and specific content
3. Build a library of scene templates for your most frequently used patterns
4. Reuse scene structures across videos to maintain consistency

Placeholder Over Invention

Never generate fake data, screenshots, or statistics:

• Use clear placeholder markers like [PLACEHOLDER: your metric here] for numbers
• Mark where product screenshots or visuals should be inserted
• For mockups, use generic placeholders rather than invented content
• Flag any generated statistics as placeholders in comments

QA Checklist for Video Delivery

Before rendering or publishing any Remotion video, verify:

• Timing: Pacing feels appropriate, no scene drags or feels rushed
• Transitions: Smooth and purposeful, consistent style throughout
• Text Readability: Font sizes readable on target aspect ratio, sufficient contrast
• Brand Consistency: Colors, fonts, and logos match brand guidelines
• Audio Balance: Volume levels consistent, clear speech, no clipping
• Responsive Elements: Test on target aspect ratios (16:9, 9:16, 1:1)
• Placeholder Cleanup: No placeholder text remains in final render
• Rendering Performance: Compositions render efficiently without timeout issues

AI-Assisted Workflow (Coding Agents + Remotion)

When building Remotion videos with AI coding agents (Claude, OpenCode, Cursor, etc.), follow these patterns for best results.

Three Rules for AI + Remotion

1. Explicitly reference the skill - Tell the agent to "use the remotion-best-practices skill" or read specific rule files. Don't assume it picks up context automatically.

2. One change at a time - Don't ask for 5-10 changes in one message. Single requests = better results. "Add a fade-in to the title" not "add fade-in, change colors, adjust timing, and add a counter."

3. Feed Remotion docs when needed - For advanced features (audio visualization, captions, 3D), grab the relevant Remotion documentation. Add .md to any remotion.dev URL for a markdown version you can paste directly.

Section-by-Section Building

Don't try to build the whole video at once. Build scene by scene:

1. Intro section (hook/title) → verify it works
2. Main content section → verify
3. Feature/demo section → verify  
4. CTA/outro section → verify
5. Then refine weak sections individually

This matches the "one idea per scene" principle and gives the agent focused context.

Iteration Pattern

Follow this loop for each section:

1. Basic first - Get the structure working (black bg + white text is fine)
2. Visual polish - Add gradients, animations, brand colors
3. Timing refinement - Adjust animation timing, easing curves
4. Advanced features - Add audio reactivity, complex transitions, etc.

Expect to spend 10-15 minutes iterating on complex sections (like animated cards or product reveals).

Documentation Feeding

When the agent doesn't know a Remotion API:

# Get markdown version of any Remotion doc page
https://remotion.dev/docs/audio-visualization
→ https://remotion.dev/docs/audio-visualization.md

Paste the markdown into chat. This is faster than the agent searching.

Pre-Flight Checklist (Before Starting)

Before asking the agent to build a Remotion video:

1. Check the clip manifest - the project public/ folder for existing assets
2. Check launchpad patterns - skills/remotion-best-practices/rules/launchpad-animations.md for reusable motion components
3. Check existing projects - Similar work you can reference
4. Prepare assets - Drop logos, images into public/ folder first

Prompt Templates

Proven prompts from remotion.dev/prompts that produce high-quality results:

News Article Headline Highlight

Source: https://www.remotion.dev/prompts/news-article-headline-highlight Tool: Claude Code (Opus 4.5)

Import a screenshot of a news article, use tesseract CLI for OCR to find text positions, then in Remotion:

• Load image on a white full HD background with generous padding
• Over 5 seconds, slowly zoom in with subtle 3D rotation (left to right, ~15deg per axis)
• Start with full blur, unblur over 1 second
• After unblur, evolve a rough.js highlighter left-to-right over target words
• Highlighter appears behind text (white background)
• Check for existing lockfiles before installing dependencies

Key techniques: OCR positioning, 3D transforms (perspective/rotateX/rotateY), blur animation, rough.js canvas overlay, z-index layering.

Travel Route on Map with 3D Landmarks

Source: https://www.remotion.dev/prompts/travel-route-on-map-with-3d-landmarks Tool: Claude Code (Opus 4.5)

Multi-step travel animation:

• Add a map composition, zoom out of LA while staying focused on it
• Animate a line from LA to NY with camera following the route
• Add additional stops (e.g. Paris) with 3D landmark animations (Eiffel Tower)

Key techniques: Map rendering, camera zoom/pan, animated path/line drawing, 3D object rendering (Three.js/R3F), multi-stop route sequencing.

When to use

Use this skills whenever you are dealing with Remotion code to obtain the domain-specific knowledge.

How to use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and code examples:

• rules/3d.md - 3D content in Remotion using Three.js and React Three Fiber
• rules/animations.md - Fundamental animation skills for Remotion
• rules/assets.md - Importing images, videos, audio, and fonts into Remotion
• rules/audio.md - Using audio and sound in Remotion - importing, trimming, volume, speed, pitch
• rules/calculate-metadata.md - Dynamically set composition duration, dimensions, and props
• rules/can-decode.md - Check if a video can be decoded by the browser using Mediabunny
• rules/charts.md - Chart and data visualization patterns for Remotion
• rules/compositions.md - Defining compositions, stills, folders, default props and dynamic metadata
• rules/display-captions.md - Displaying captions in Remotion with TikTok-style pages and word highlighting
• rules/extract-frames.md - Extract frames from videos at specific timestamps using Mediabunny
• rules/fonts.md - Loading Google Fonts and local fonts in Remotion
• rules/get-audio-duration.md - Getting the duration of an audio file in seconds with Mediabunny
• rules/get-video-dimensions.md - Getting the width and height of a video file with Mediabunny
• rules/get-video-duration.md - Getting the duration of a video file in seconds with Mediabunny