Make a Video — The Beginner-to-Finished-MP4 Skill

Two phases, eight sequential gates. Every gate produces a concrete artifact the next gate consumes. Don't skip gates.

When to use this skill — and when to hand off

Use this skill when:

• The user is new to HyperFrames and starting from a concept, script, or outline
• They want an end-to-end walkthrough, not framework reference material
• They haven't decided on format yet

Hand off when:

• The user pastes a URL and wants a video from that site → invoke /website-to-hyperframes
• The user explicitly wants a 9:16 vertical talking-head with face-cam + scene overlays → run Gates 1–4 here, then invoke /short-form-video from Gate 5 onward
• The user asks for framework rules, not a video → invoke /hyperframes

The two phases

• Phase 1 — INTERVIEW (Gates 1–4): one conversational pass to gather everything before touching code. Intent, format, script, voice, style, assets, pacing. Synthesize into a BRIEF.md and wait for explicit approval.
• Phase 2 — BUILD (Gates 5–8): scaffold → storyboard → compositions → lint → Studio preview → draft render → visual verification → MP4 preview → final render.

Gate 1 · Intent & format

Ask one question at a time via AskUserQuestion, multiple-choice where possible.

1. What's this video for? (promo · social ad · launch teaser · product demo · tutorial · explainer · intro/outro card · other)
2. Who's the audience? (open-ended)
3. Target duration? (10–20s short · 20–45s promo · 45–90s explainer · 1.5–3 min lesson · custom)
4. Aspect ratio? (16:9 1920×1080 · 9:16 1080×1920 · 1:1 1080×1080)
5. Frame rate? (30 default · 60 for crisp UI · 24 cinematic)
6. Platform / delivery constraints? (file size · deadline · where it'll play)

Gate: all six captured. If the answer is 9:16 + face-cam, plan to hand off to /short-form-video at Gate 5.

Full question bank: Read: references/interview-questions.md

Gate 2 · Script & voice

1. Script source? (paste · outline → I'll draft · I'll record · TTS from text · no narration)
2. If TTS: voice preference. Offer choices from npx hyperframes tts --help. Also capture pace.
3. If face-cam: recording path · full-screen or corner placement · need transcription? (npx hyperframes transcribe <file> --model small.en --json)
4. Captions? (off · hype · corporate · karaoke-word-by-word · minimal)

Gate: script captured (or drafted), audio plan captured, caption plan captured.

Gate 3 · Style intake

Before asking the user anything, inventory existing assets. Check <workspace-root>/assets/ and any project assets/ folder. Don't ask for what's already there.

Then ask progressively — they don't need answers to all of these:

1. Style guide or brand doc? (paste/path · no)
2. Color palette? (hex codes · none — use MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults)
3. Fonts? (Google Fonts name(s) · file paths · none — use Inter + JetBrains Mono defaults)
4. Logo file? (path · none — use text wordmark instead)
5. Reference videos for vibe? (URLs/paths · none)
6. Other assets? (screenshots · product photos · b-roll · music — list paths)
7. MOTION_PHILOSOPHY aesthetic (black canvas · chrome type · perspective grid · whip transitions) or a different feel?
8. Pacing? (kinetic 1–2s · balanced 2–3s · relaxed 3–5s)
9. Music? (none · ambient pad 0.15 · music bed 0.4 · full 0.8 — file path if they have one)
10. Outro / call-to-action text?

Never impose a brand on the user. Fall back to MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults only when they explicitly decline to supply a style.

Full style flow + MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults: Read: references/style-intake.md

Gate 4 · Brief synthesis (HARD-GATE before building)

1. Read MOTION_PHILOSOPHY.md if it exists in the workspace root — mandatory if present. If missing, proceed with the defaults in references/style-intake.md and note the absence in the brief.
2. Ask where projects live if it's not obvious:

- If video-projects/ exists → use video-projects/<slug>/ - Otherwise → ask the user

1. Write <project-folder>/BRIEF.md:

- slug · intent · audience · dimensions · fps · duration - script (full or outline) - voice choice · caption plan · face-cam plan - style profile: palette (hex), fonts, logo path, reference videos - pacing - asset inventory with paths - outro / CTA text

1. Show the brief. WAIT for explicit approval. Don't proceed to Gate 5 without a clear "yes, build it."

Gate 5 · Scaffold & storyboard

Handoff check first

If the brief describes a 9:16 vertical talking-head with face-cam + scene overlays, invoke /short-form-video NOW and hand off the brief. Its 4-layer scaffold is purpose-built for that format.

Otherwise continue:

Scaffold

1. mkdir <project-folder>
2. If a sibling project with similar format exists, offer to copy its hyperframes.json + meta.json as a template. Otherwise from inside the folder: npx hyperframes init
3. Edit meta.json with the user's slug, dimensions, fps.
4. Copy supplied assets into <project-folder>/assets/.
5. Create <project-folder>/assets/style-profile.md from Gate 3 — single source of truth for palette/fonts/logo.

Storyboard

Generate <project-folder>/STORYBOARD.md using the template in references/storyboard-template.md. Every beat gets:

Beat N — TITLE (start–end, duration) — Concept in one sentence
Visual elements: [each element, size, animation, timing]
Motion language: [kind of motion]
Eases used: [3–4 distinct GSAP eases]
Exit: [transition into next beat]
Audio: [VO line / SFX / music layer]

Top of file: a timing table with scene · start · duration · composition file.

Propose a rule-of-threes structure:

• Act 1 (hook) ≈ 20% of duration
• Act 2 (body) ≈ 55%
• Act 3 (payoff + outro with 4–6 second hold) ≈ 25%

(MOTION_PHILOSOPHY §0 Law 9, §1.)

Map user intents → catalog blocks: Read: references/catalog-intent-map.md

Gate: show storyboard + timing table. Iterate until the user approves.

Gate 6 · Build compositions

Invoke /hyperframes for framework rules. This skill owns the scaffold and discipline; /hyperframes enforces the rules.

Scaffold every sub-composition

<div data-composition-id="scene-name" data-start="..." data-duration="...">
  <style>[data-composition-id="scene-name"] { /* scoped */ }</style>
  <!-- DOM -->
  <script>
    (function(){
      const SLOT_DURATION = ...;
      const tl = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });
      // ... tweens ...
      tl.to({}, { duration: SLOT_DURATION }, 0);   // anchor — MOTION_PHILOSOPHY Law 11
      window.__timelines["scene-name"] = tl;
    })();
  </script>
</div>

Full boilerplate + captions pattern + ambient-bg pattern: Read: references/composition-scaffold.md

Build rules

• Ambient background on data-track-index="0" for the full composition duration.
• Kinetic-type openers: per-word stagger 0.06–0.10s.
• Captions as body-level siblings of the root composition in index.html, each with data-track-index ≥ 20. Never inside scene timelines (MOTION_PHILOSOPHY §3.13).
• Catalog blocks installed via npx hyperframes add <name>. Immediately scope the block's CSS to [data-composition-id="..."] — catalog blocks ship with html, body { ... } rules that bleed into the parent document when loaded as sub-compositions.
• Vertical + face-cam: wrap native 1920×1080 face in a transform (translate + scale) for bottom-half or full-screen mode. (If you end up here instead of /short-form-video, strongly consider the handoff.)
• Apply ONLY what the user supplied. Their palette, their fonts, their logo. Don't inject anything else. If they chose MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults, pull the palette + font pair from references/style-intake.md.

Determinism

No Math.random(), no Date.now(), no render-time fetch(). Use seeded PRNGs or harmonic-sin hashes (MOTION_PHILOSOPHY §3.10).

Gate 7 · Lint → Studio preview (PREVIEW GATE 1 — MANDATORY)

1. npx hyperframes lint — fix all errors, triage warnings.
2. npx hyperframes preview in the background.
3. Wait for "Studio running" on http://localhost:3002.
4. Hand the user the URL plus individual composition URLs (http://localhost:3002/?comp=<id>). If the project has WebGL shader blocks, lead with the individual URLs — software WebGL fallback can stall the master composition.
5. WAIT for explicit "looks good, render a draft" before proceeding. Silence is not approval.

Hot reload is on — edits show up live.

Gate 8 · Draft render → visual verification → MP4 preview → final

Draft render

npx hyperframes render --quality draft --output renders/<slug>-draft.mp4

Visual verification (MANDATORY before delivery)

Lint passing ≠ design working. Extract frames and view them.

1. mkdir -p renders/frames
2. For every beat hero moment AND every transition:

``bash ffmpeg -y -ss <t> -i renders/<slug>-draft.mp4 -frames:v 1 -q:v 2 renders/frames/t<t>.png ``

1. Call the Read tool on every PNG. The Read tool loads the image into context — don't just list filenames.
2. Confirm per frame: no cropped faces, correct face-mode per scene, text readable and on-palette, no overflow, transitions land on intended words, no blank frames.
3. If anything's wrong: fix → re-render → re-verify. Never ship a broken draft.

MP4 preview (PREVIEW GATE 2 — MANDATORY)

npx serve renders -p 8080 -n

Do NOT use Python's http.server — it doesn't support HTTP Range requests, so scrubbing breaks.

Hand the user http://localhost:8080/<slug>-draft.mp4. WAIT for explicit sign-off on playback and audio sync.

Final render

npx hyperframes render --quality standard --output renders/<slug>-final.mp4

Report the output path. Done.

Full preflight + pre-delivery checklist: Read: references/build-checklist.md

Non-negotiables (load-bearing — do not soften)

• DO NOT skip PREVIEW GATE 1 (Studio) or PREVIEW GATE 2 (rendered MP4). Two gates per build, always.
• DO NOT claim a render is done until frames have been extracted AND Read via the Read tool.
• DO NOT build anywhere but inside a dedicated project folder. Never put index.html at the workspace root.
• DO NOT ask the user for assets before inventorying their workspace.
• DO NOT skip the tl.to({}, { duration: SLOTDURATION }, 0) anchor tween at the end of every sub-composition timeline. MOTIONPHILOSOPHY Law 11.
• DO NOT use Math.random() / Date.now() inside render logic. Seeded hashes only.
• DO NOT add class="clip" to <video> tags. It breaks them.
• DO NOT impose a brand on the user. Ask first; fall back to MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults only when they explicitly decline.

References

• references/interview-questions.md — full question bank by Gate
• references/style-intake.md — style interview + MOTION_PHILOSOPHY defaults
• references/catalog-intent-map.md — "user says X → install Y"
• references/storyboard-template.md — beat-by-beat template + worked example
• references/composition-scaffold.md — scoped-styles + IIFE GSAP boilerplate
• references/build-checklist.md — preflight + pre-delivery gates

External (workspace-level):

• MOTION_PHILOSOPHY.md — the one external reference this skill assumes exists. Aesthetic baseline. Fallback lives in references/style-intake.md if the file is missing.

Related skills

• /hyperframes — framework rules, invoke at Gate 6
• /hyperframes-cli — init · lint · preview · render · transcribe · tts
• /hyperframes-registry — installing catalog blocks
• /gsap — GSAP animation reference
• /short-form-video — hand off at Gate 5 for 9:16 talking-head format
• /website-to-hyperframes — hand off at Gate 1 if the starting input is a URL