Reference breakdown

The goal is not to copy the film. It's to understand it well enough to rebuild the techniques in your own work. A breakdown ends with a beat map and a list of techniques, each named in After Effects terms, timed in frames, and verified in a scratch comp where it matters.

Rights. Work from files the user has the right to study: their own work, a client's reference, or a publicly posted film for analysis. Keep the downloaded file outside the project and the repo. Extract methods, not assets: never reproduce a reference's copy, logos, characters or music in what you make.

1. Get the file

A local file is best. For a link the user is entitled to study, yt-dlp fetches it (1080p is plenty):