Animated character explainer

Every scene is a stage of layers: a backdrop, props, characters and icons. The voiceover drives the timing. There are two examples:

• examples/prismor-enterprise/ is a 62.8 s film with a cast of four (Maya, Leo, an agent bot, an auditor) in 14 poses. See cast_sheet.png.
• examples/starter/ is the same 11-beat arc with every line as a [placeholder] and a stand-in cast.

Workflow

1. Start: python3 scripts/main.py init my-film copies the starter.
2. Script (vo.txt): follow the arc of pain questions → reassurance → "Here comes [Product]" → how it works → setup → reach → benefits → trust → CTA. Run it through the no-ai-slop skill, and take every claim from the product's own docs.
3. Cast (cast.json): one shared style block (character, prop and backdrop prefixes) and a palette. Each character has a desc and named poses. List props and empty backdrops as well.
   • Run python3 scripts/main.py cast --brief my-film/brief.json.
   • It generates bases on transparent backgrounds first, then every pose via gpt-image-2 edits with the base image as reference, so faces, hair and clothes stay on-model. Existing files are kept, and cast <name> regenerates one.
   • Put the real logo at assets/logo.png.
4. Voice: python3 scripts/main.py voice (TTS plus Whisper word timings). Before this step, check and still preview with estimated timings.
5. Beats (brief.json): each beat starts on a cue phrase from the script (at). Layers and pose swaps can have their own cues.
6. Check (overflow, unfilled placeholders, trailing periods) → still → render. The voiceover is muxed automatically.

Stage layers