Video Formats

This skill is a router. The eleven format grammars live in references/formats/ — this skill tells you what a format is, which one to reach for, and how to write an eleventh.

What a Format Is

A format is a scene grammar: a repeatable structure that says how many scenes a video has, what each one is for, what goes in each one, and what questions to ask before you can build it. It is not a template to fill in and not a style preset. Two videos in the same format can look nothing alike and still be the same shape.

Every format file has the same five sections:

• Composition — aspect ratio, frame rate, scene count and lengths, whether captions are on.
• Interview — the questions to ask before planning. Rounds are numbered and headed; some formats insist on an order (Cinematic demands audio first, because every cut gets shaped around the track).
• Slots — the named assets the format needs. hero, beat-N, endcard, host, popup-N. Slots are the shopping list.
• Grammar — the scene-by-scene construction rules. This is the load-bearing section: which beat opens, how long each runs, what belongs on screen at once, and what the format refuses to do.
• Render notes — the practical traps, learned by failing.

Choosing a Format

One distinguishing question each. Ask them in roughly this order and stop at the first yes.