@editframe/create 0.44.0 → 0.45.1

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Files changed (98) hide show
  1. package/dist/index.js +16 -28
  2. package/dist/index.js.map +1 -1
  3. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/README.md +155 -0
  4. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/SKILL.md +207 -0
  5. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/brand-examples.md +178 -0
  6. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/color-psychology.md +227 -0
  7. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/composition-patterns.md +383 -0
  8. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/editing.md +66 -0
  9. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/emotional-arcs.md +496 -0
  10. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/genre-selection.md +135 -0
  11. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/transition-styles.md +611 -0
  12. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/typography-personalities.md +326 -0
  13. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/video-archetypes.md +86 -0
  14. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/video-fundamentals.md +169 -0
  15. package/dist/skills/editframe-brand-video-generator/references/visual-metaphors.md +50 -0
  16. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/SKILL.md +169 -0
  17. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/audio.md +483 -0
  18. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/captions.md +844 -0
  19. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/composition-model.md +73 -0
  20. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/configuration.md +403 -0
  21. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/css-parts.md +105 -0
  22. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/css-variables.md +640 -0
  23. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/entry-points.md +810 -0
  24. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/events.md +499 -0
  25. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/getting-started.md +259 -0
  26. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/hooks.md +234 -0
  27. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/image.md +241 -0
  28. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/r3f.md +580 -0
  29. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/render-api.md +484 -0
  30. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/render-strategies.md +119 -0
  31. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/render-to-video.md +1101 -0
  32. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/scripting.md +606 -0
  33. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/sequencing.md +116 -0
  34. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/server-rendering.md +753 -0
  35. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/surface.md +329 -0
  36. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/text.md +627 -0
  37. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/time-model.md +99 -0
  38. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/timegroup-modes.md +102 -0
  39. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/timegroup.md +457 -0
  40. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/timeline-root.md +398 -0
  41. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/transcription.md +47 -0
  42. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/transitions.md +608 -0
  43. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/use-media-info.md +357 -0
  44. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/video.md +506 -0
  45. package/dist/skills/editframe-composition/references/waveform.md +327 -0
  46. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/SKILL.md +152 -0
  47. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/active-root-temporal.md +657 -0
  48. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/canvas.md +947 -0
  49. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/controls.md +366 -0
  50. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/dial.md +756 -0
  51. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/editor-toolkit.md +587 -0
  52. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/filmstrip.md +460 -0
  53. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/fit-scale.md +772 -0
  54. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/focus-overlay.md +561 -0
  55. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/hierarchy.md +544 -0
  56. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/overlay-item.md +634 -0
  57. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/overlay-layer.md +429 -0
  58. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/pan-zoom.md +568 -0
  59. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/pause.md +397 -0
  60. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/play.md +370 -0
  61. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/preview.md +391 -0
  62. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/resizable-box.md +749 -0
  63. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/scrubber.md +588 -0
  64. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/thumbnail-strip.md +566 -0
  65. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/time-display.md +492 -0
  66. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/timeline-ruler.md +489 -0
  67. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/timeline.md +604 -0
  68. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/toggle-loop.md +618 -0
  69. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/toggle-play.md +526 -0
  70. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/transform-handles.md +924 -0
  71. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/trim-handles.md +725 -0
  72. package/dist/skills/editframe-editor-gui/references/workbench.md +453 -0
  73. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/SKILL.md +101 -0
  74. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/references/0-editframe.md +299 -0
  75. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/references/1-intent.md +201 -0
  76. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/references/2-physics-model.md +405 -0
  77. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/references/3-attention.md +350 -0
  78. package/dist/skills/editframe-motion-design/references/4-process.md +418 -0
  79. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/SKILL.md +75 -0
  80. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/references/file-api.md +111 -0
  81. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/references/getting-started.md +96 -0
  82. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/references/jit-transcoding.md +91 -0
  83. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/references/local-assets.md +75 -0
  84. package/dist/skills/editframe-vite-plugin/references/visual-testing.md +136 -0
  85. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/SKILL.md +126 -0
  86. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/references/events.md +382 -0
  87. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/references/getting-started.md +232 -0
  88. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/references/security.md +418 -0
  89. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/references/testing.md +409 -0
  90. package/dist/skills/editframe-webhooks/references/troubleshooting.md +457 -0
  91. package/dist/templates/html/AGENTS.md +13 -0
  92. package/dist/templates/react/AGENTS.md +13 -0
  93. package/dist/utils.js +15 -16
  94. package/dist/utils.js.map +1 -1
  95. package/package.json +1 -1
  96. package/tsdown.config.ts +4 -0
  97. package/dist/detectAgent.js +0 -89
  98. package/dist/detectAgent.js.map +0 -1
@@ -0,0 +1,496 @@
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+ ---
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+ title: Emotional Arcs
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+ description: "Proven narrative arc structures for guiding viewer emotion through a video: tension, release, and resolution patterns."
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+ type: explanation
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+ order: 5
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+ ---
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+
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+ # Emotional Arcs for Video
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+
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+ Proven narrative structures that guide viewer emotions through video content.
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+
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+ ## Why Emotional Arcs Matter
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+
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+ Every effective video takes the viewer on an emotional journey. The arc determines:
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+ - **Engagement**: Whether viewer keeps watching
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+ - **Memory**: Whether message sticks
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+ - **Action**: Whether viewer responds to CTA
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+
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+ Without an intentional arc, videos feel flat or confusing.
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+
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+ ## The Three-Act Structure
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+
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+ ### Act 1: Setup (First 25%)
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+ **Purpose**: Establish context, hook attention
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+ **Emotion**: Curiosity, recognition, or tension
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+ **What happens**: Introduce problem, character, or question
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+
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+ ### Act 2: Development (Middle 50%)
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+ **Purpose**: Build understanding, create investment
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+ **Emotion**: Interest, concern, hope, or excitement
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+ **What happens**: Explore problem, show solution, build case
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+
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+ ### Act 3: Resolution (Final 25%)
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+ **Purpose**: Deliver payoff, inspire action
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+ **Emotion**: Satisfaction, inspiration, or urgency
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+ **What happens**: Resolve tension, show outcome, call to action
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+
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+ ## Core Emotional Arc Patterns
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+
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+ ### 1. The Problem-Solution Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Frustration → Hope → Relief
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Frustrated with current situation
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+ - **Middle**: Hopeful about solution
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+ - **End**: Relieved and empowered
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+
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+ **Best for**: SaaS, services, B2B, productivity tools
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+
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+ **Example (60s video)**:
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+ - 0-15s: Show frustrating problem (viewer feels "yes, that's me")
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+ - 15-40s: Introduce solution (viewer feels "this could work")
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+ - 40-55s: Show it working (viewer feels "I need this")
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+ - 55-60s: CTA (viewer feels "let's do it")
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Not making problem painful enough - viewer won't care about solution
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+
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+ **Timing mistake**: Cutting to the solution before the problem scene reaches peak intensity. If using an accumulation animation (waste piling, errors mounting), hold the scene 1-2 seconds past the visual climax. The viewer needs to sit in discomfort before relief is offered. Quantifying the problem with specific numbers ('11 million tons/year', '85% ends up in landfill') deepens the initial state and makes the transition to hope feel earned rather than rushed.
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+
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+ **Reveal scenes require contrast setup:** When a scene contains a surprising or counter-normative claim (e.g., '100% of profits donated'), the previous scene must establish the norm being violated. Show what competitors/industry typically does FIRST, then reveal the difference. Visual techniques for earned reveals:
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+ - Numeric contrast: show industry average before the brand's number
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+ - Visual pause: insert a 0.5-1s beat of stillness before the reveal text animates
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+ - Scale visualization: don't just state the percentage — show it spatially (a bar filling completely vs. partially)
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+ - Animation escalation: the reveal scene should have MORE visual energy than preceding scenes, not the same
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+
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+ **Landing the reveal with magnitude:** A percentage or mechanism alone doesn't create emotional impact—scale does. When revealing a counter-normative claim, the final beat must concretize the magnitude:
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+ - Cumulative totals: '$X million since founding', 'Y acres protected', 'Z tons diverted'
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+ - Specific outcomes: Name the grants, the land parcels, the species, the communities
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+ - Temporal scale: Show accumulation over time (counter ticking, map filling, timeline extending)
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+ - Human/environmental anchors: One protected watershed beats 'environmental causes'; one employee grant story beats 'employee programs'
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+
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+ The test: Does the viewer leave with a number or image they could repeat to someone else? If the reveal is abstract ('100% goes to causes'), the arc informs but doesn't land.
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 2. The Transformation Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Struggle → Journey → Triumph
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Struggling, stuck, limited
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+ - **Middle**: Working, learning, growing
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+ - **End**: Successful, capable, transformed
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+
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+ **Best for**: Education, wellness, personal development, fitness
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+
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+ **Example (90s video)**:
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+ - 0-20s: Show "before" state (viewer relates to struggle)
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+ - 20-60s: Show journey and process (viewer sees possibility)
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+ - 60-80s: Show "after" state (viewer feels inspired)
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+ - 80-90s: "You can too" CTA (viewer feels motivated)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Skipping the journey - transformation seems unattainable
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 3. The Discovery Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Curiosity → Wonder → Excitement
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Intrigued by question or mystery
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+ - **Middle**: Discovering something new
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+ - **End**: Excited to explore more
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+
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+ **Best for**: Product launches, innovations, creative work
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+
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+ **Example (45s video)**:
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+ - 0-5s: Pose intriguing question (viewer curious)
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+ - 5-30s: Reveal answer gradually (viewer engaged)
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+ - 30-40s: Full reveal (viewer excited)
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+ - 40-45s: "Experience it" CTA (viewer eager)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Revealing too early - kills curiosity
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 4. The Aspiration Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Longing → Possibility → Desire
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Show desirable outcome
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+ - **Middle**: Show it's achievable
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+ - **End**: Inspire action toward it
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+
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+ **Best for**: Luxury, lifestyle, aspirational brands, real estate
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+
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+ **Example (60s video)**:
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+ - 0-15s: Show dream state (viewer wants this)
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+ - 15-40s: Show path to get there (viewer sees possibility)
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+ - 40-55s: Show others who achieved it (viewer believes)
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+ - 55-60s: "Start your journey" CTA (viewer motivated)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Making it feel unattainable - viewer gives up
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 5. The Urgency Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Comfort → Concern → Action
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Things seem fine
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+ - **Middle**: Reveal hidden problem or opportunity
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+ - **End**: Urgent need to act now
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+
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+ **Best for**: Limited offers, important causes, time-sensitive opportunities
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+
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+ **Example (30s video)**:
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+ - 0-5s: "Everything seems fine, but..." (viewer alert)
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+ - 5-20s: Reveal what they're missing (viewer concerned)
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+ - 20-25s: Show consequence of inaction (viewer worried)
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+ - 25-30s: "Act now" CTA (viewer motivated)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Creating false urgency - viewer feels manipulated
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 6. The Empowerment Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Limitation → Capability → Confidence
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Feeling limited or dependent
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+ - **Middle**: Gaining tools and knowledge
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+ - **End**: Feeling capable and confident
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+
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+ **Best for**: Tools, platforms, education, empowerment brands
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+
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+ **Example (60s video)**:
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+ - 0-15s: Show limitation (viewer relates)
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+ - 15-45s: Show how tool empowers (viewer sees potential)
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+ - 45-55s: Show confident user (viewer inspired)
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+ - 55-60s: "Take control" CTA (viewer ready)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Making tool seem complicated - defeats empowerment message
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 7. The Validation Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Doubt → Recognition → Confidence
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Feeling uncertain or alone
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+ - **Middle**: Seeing others like them
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+ - **End**: Feeling validated and confident
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+
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+ **Best for**: Community-focused brands, support services, social causes
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+
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+ **Example (60s video)**:
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+ - 0-15s: Express common doubt (viewer feels understood)
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+ - 15-45s: Show community of similar people (viewer feels less alone)
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+ - 45-55s: Show collective strength (viewer feels validated)
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+ - 55-60s: "Join us" CTA (viewer wants to belong)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Not making viewer feel truly seen
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 8. The Surprise Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Expectation → Subversion → Delight
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Set up expectation
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+ - **Middle**: Subvert it in clever way
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+ - **End**: Delighted by twist
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+
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+ **Best for**: Creative brands, entertainment, disruptive companies
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+
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+ **Example (30s video)**:
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+ - 0-10s: Set up familiar scenario (viewer has expectation)
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+ - 10-20s: Unexpected twist (viewer surprised)
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+ - 20-25s: Reveal connection to brand (viewer delighted)
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+ - 25-30s: CTA (viewer engaged)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Twist feels random - not connected to message
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 9. The Reassurance Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Anxiety → Understanding → Calm
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Acknowledge worry or fear
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+ - **Middle**: Explain and educate
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+ - **End**: Provide comfort and solution
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+
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+ **Best for**: Healthcare, finance, insurance, complex services
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+
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+ **Example (75s video)**:
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+ - 0-15s: Acknowledge common anxiety (viewer feels understood)
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+ - 15-50s: Explain clearly and simply (viewer gains understanding)
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+ - 50-70s: Show how you help (viewer feels reassured)
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+ - 70-75s: "We're here" CTA (viewer feels safe)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Dismissing anxiety instead of acknowledging it
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ### 10. The Momentum Arc
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+
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+ **Emotional Journey**: Static → Movement → Acceleration
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+
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+ **Structure**:
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+ - **Start**: Things are still or slow
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+ - **Middle**: Movement begins
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+ - **End**: Rapid progress and excitement
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+
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+ **Best for**: Growth platforms, momentum-based products, startups
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+
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+ **Example (45s video)**:
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+ - 0-10s: Show static state (viewer relates to being stuck)
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+ - 10-30s: Show movement starting (viewer feels possibility)
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+ - 30-40s: Show acceleration (viewer excited)
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+ - 40-45s: "Join the momentum" CTA (viewer energized)
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+
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+ **Common mistake**: Not showing clear progression
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+
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+ ---
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+
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+ ## Choosing the Right Arc
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+
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+ ### By Video Objective
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+
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+ **Awareness**: Discovery, Surprise, Aspiration
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+ **Consideration**: Problem-Solution, Transformation, Empowerment
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+ **Conversion**: Urgency, Validation, Reassurance
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+ **Retention**: Empowerment, Validation, Momentum
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+
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+ ### By Brand Personality
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+
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+ **Bold/Disruptive**: Surprise, Urgency, Discovery
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+ **Trustworthy/Stable**: Reassurance, Problem-Solution, Validation
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+ **Aspirational/Premium**: Aspiration, Transformation, Discovery
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+ **Empowering/Enabling**: Empowerment, Transformation, Momentum
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+ **Community-Focused**: Validation, Transformation, Empowerment
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+
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+ ### By Audience State
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+
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+ **Unaware of problem**: Discovery, Urgency
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+ **Aware but skeptical**: Validation, Reassurance, Problem-Solution
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+ **Ready to act**: Empowerment, Momentum, Urgency
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+ **Seeking inspiration**: Aspiration, Transformation, Discovery
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+
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+ ## Combining Arcs
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+
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+ For longer videos (90s+), you can combine arcs:
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+
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+ ### Problem-Solution + Transformation
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+ - Start: Frustration with problem
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+ - Middle: Solution + journey of using it
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+ - End: Transformed state
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+
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+ ### Discovery + Aspiration
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+ - Start: Curiosity about something new
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+ - Middle: Reveal what's possible
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+ - End: Desire to achieve it
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+
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+ ### Validation + Empowerment
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+ - Start: Feeling alone in challenge
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+ - Middle: Community of others + tools to help
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+ - End: Confident and capable
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+
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+ ## Pacing the Emotional Arc
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+
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+ ### Fast Arc (15-30s)
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+ - **Quick hook** (2-3s): Immediate emotion
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+ - **Rapid development** (10-20s): Fast progression
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+ - **Punchy resolution** (3-5s): Clear payoff
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+
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+ **Best for**: Social media, ads, simple messages
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+
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+ ### Medium Arc (30-60s)
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+ - **Clear hook** (5-10s): Establish emotion
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+ - **Developed middle** (20-40s): Build journey
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+ - **Satisfying resolution** (5-10s): Strong payoff
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+
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+ **Best for**: Most commercial video, balanced approach
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+
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+ ### Slow Arc (60-120s)
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+ - **Establishing hook** (10-20s): Set context deeply
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+ - **Rich development** (40-80s): Full journey
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+ - **Resonant resolution** (10-20s): Emotional payoff
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+
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+ **Best for**: Storytelling, complex ideas, emotional content
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+
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+ ## Emotional Intensity
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+
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+ ### Building Intensity
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+ Start lower, build to peak, resolve higher than start.
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+
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+ ```
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+ Emotion
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+ ^
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+ | /\
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+ | / \___
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+ | _____/
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+ |___/
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+ +----------------> Time
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+ ```
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+
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+ **Best for**: Most videos - natural arc
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+
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+ ### Sustained High Intensity
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+ Start high, maintain, end high.
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+
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+ ```
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+ Emotion
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+ ^
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+ | _______________
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+ | / \
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+ |/ \
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+ |
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+ +----------------> Time
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+ ```
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+
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+ **Best for**: Urgent messages, high-energy brands, short videos
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+
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+ ### Roller Coaster
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+ Multiple peaks and valleys.
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+
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+ ```
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+ Emotion
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+ ^
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+ | /\ /\ /\
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+ | / \ / \ / \
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+ |/ \/ \/ \
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+ |
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+ +----------------> Time
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+ ```
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+
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+ **Best for**: Longer videos, complex stories, entertainment
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+
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+ ## Testing Your Emotional Arc
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+
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+ Ask these questions:
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+
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+ 1. **Clear starting emotion?** Viewer should feel something specific at start
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+ 2. **Intentional progression?** Emotion should change deliberately
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+ 3. **Satisfying resolution?** Viewer should feel payoff
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+ 4. **Matches brand?** Arc should align with brand personality
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+ 5. **Serves objective?** Arc should support video goal
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+
389
+ ## Common Mistakes
390
+
391
+ ### Starting Too High
392
+ If you start at peak emotion, nowhere to go. Start lower to allow build.
393
+
394
+ ### No Progression
395
+ If emotion is flat throughout, video feels boring. Must have change.
396
+
397
+ ### Unearned Resolution
398
+ If you don't build properly, resolution feels hollow. Journey matters.
399
+
400
+ ### Wrong Arc for Objective
401
+ Aspiration arc won't drive urgent conversion. Match arc to goal.
402
+
403
+ ### Ignoring Brand Personality
404
+ Surprise arc for conservative brand feels off. Stay true to brand.
405
+
406
+ ### Too Many Peaks
407
+ Multiple emotional peaks in short video exhausts viewer. One clear arc.
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+
409
+ ## Arc + Visual Style
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+
411
+ The emotional arc should be reinforced by visual choices:
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+
413
+ ### Problem-Solution Arc
414
+ - **Problem**: Darker, desaturated, confined spaces
415
+ - **Solution**: Brighter, saturated, open spaces
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+
417
+ ### Transformation Arc
418
+ - **Before**: Muted colors, static shots
419
+ - **After**: Vibrant colors, dynamic movement
420
+
421
+ ### Discovery Arc
422
+ - **Start**: Mysterious, partial reveals
423
+ - **End**: Full reveals, bright, clear
424
+
425
+ ### Aspiration Arc
426
+ - **Throughout**: Beautiful, aspirational imagery
427
+ - **Intensifying**: More impressive as video progresses
428
+
429
+ ### Urgency Arc
430
+ - **Start**: Calm
431
+ - **Middle**: Increasing tension (faster cuts, tighter shots)
432
+ - **End**: Peak urgency (rapid pace, direct address)
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+
434
+ ## Arc + Music
435
+
436
+ Music should follow and enhance the emotional arc:
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+
438
+ ### Building Arc
439
+ Music should crescendo with emotion, peak at climax
440
+
441
+ ### Sustained Arc
442
+ Consistent energy level, driving rhythm
443
+
444
+ ### Transformation Arc
445
+ Music should shift character from before to after
446
+
447
+ ### Discovery Arc
448
+ Music should build wonder and excitement
449
+
450
+ ### Reassurance Arc
451
+ Music should move from tense to calm
452
+
453
+ ## Quick Reference
454
+
455
+ | Arc | Start | Middle | End | Best For |
456
+ |-----|-------|--------|-----|----------|
457
+ | Problem-Solution | Frustrated | Hopeful | Relieved | SaaS, B2B |
458
+ | Transformation | Struggling | Growing | Triumphant | Education, wellness |
459
+ | Discovery | Curious | Wondering | Excited | Launches, innovation |
460
+ | Aspiration | Longing | Believing | Desiring | Luxury, lifestyle |
461
+ | Urgency | Comfortable | Concerned | Motivated | Limited offers |
462
+ | Empowerment | Limited | Learning | Confident | Tools, platforms |
463
+ | Validation | Doubtful | Recognized | Confident | Community brands |
464
+ | Surprise | Expecting | Surprised | Delighted | Creative brands |
465
+ | Reassurance | Anxious | Understanding | Calm | Healthcare, finance |
466
+ | Momentum | Static | Moving | Accelerating | Growth platforms |
467
+
468
+ ## Short-Form Arc Compression (15-30s)
469
+
470
+ Short videos (social, TikTok, Instagram) cannot sustain a traditional three-act arc. Instead, compress to a **three-beat structure**:
471
+
472
+ **Beat 1 (0-50% of duration):** Establish one emotional state clearly — recognition, desire, tension, or curiosity.
473
+ **Beat 2 (50-75% of duration):** Introduce friction, surprise, or reframe. This beat prevents the arc from feeling like a predictable slide deck. Show: a rejected idea, an unexpected constraint, a moment where the expected path was wrong, a tension between what the brand could do and what it chose to do.
474
+ **Beat 3 (75-100% of duration):** Resolution that earns the emotional shift.
475
+
476
+ **The surprise requirement for short-form**: Even at 15-30s, the viewer must encounter one moment where their assumption is challenged. 'Feedback → product' is a slide. 'Feedback → unexpected constraint/choice → product' is a story. If the arc can be summarized as 'A leads to B', add the beat that makes it 'A leads to unexpected C, which enables B.'
477
+
478
+ **The shift must be causally earned, not just sequenced.** The viewer must understand WHY they moved from state A to state B. For community brands: show the mechanism of participation (your feedback → this ingredient). For transformation brands: show the before/after contrast in the same frame or object. A logo landing is not a resolution unless something in the video built toward it. Test: cover the logo — does the final scene still feel like arrival? If not, the arc is unearned.
479
+
480
+ **Concreteness requirement for abstract claims:** When the emotional arc involves abstract concepts (listening, community, co-creation), each beat must contain at least one concrete artifact:
481
+ - Beat 1 (establishing state): Show **verbatim text** from real customer requests, reviews, or community posts. 'Dots representing feedback' fails—the viewer must be able to read actual words they might have written themselves.
482
+ - Beat 2 (friction/surprise): Name the specific constraint or tradeoff the brand made. 'We listened' is abstract; 'We combined 847 requests for a tinted moisturizer with SPF into one formula' is concrete.
483
+ - Beat 3 (resolution): The reveal must be **identifiable without the brand name**. If 'G Suit' means nothing to the viewer, the scene has no payoff. Either show the product visually (recognizable packaging) or explain what it is in the same beat.
484
+
485
+ **The viewer state test for community arcs:** At the reveal moment, ask: would the viewer feel 'that's MY feedback that made this' or just 'feedback in general made this'? The first is emotional; the second is intellectual. Abstract-to-abstract arcs (dots → product name) always produce the second.
486
+
487
+ Abstract-to-abstract arcs (dots representing feedback → dots converging) fail the viewer state test because no specific information anchors the emotional shift.
488
+
489
+ The shift must be felt, not just stated. At 15s, you have time for exactly one emotional movement. At 30s, you might have two movements but not three.
490
+
491
+ **Anti-pattern for short-form:** Three scenes that all deliver the same soft/aspirational register. This produces a mood without an arc. Even a 15s video needs internal contrast — the last 5 seconds should feel different from the first 5 seconds.
492
+
493
+ **Social-specific registers:**
494
+ - Recognition → Desire (show me, then make me want it)
495
+ - Curiosity → Satisfaction (hook, then payoff)
496
+ - Intimacy → Belonging (personal, then communal)
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
1
+ ---
2
+ title: Genre Selection
3
+ description: Full genre palette for brand video — formal characteristics, appropriate contexts, and compositional implications for each genre.
4
+ type: reference
5
+ order: 10
6
+ ---
7
+
8
+ # Genre Selection
9
+
10
+ Genre is the formal language a video speaks. It determines editing tempo, the role of music, whether narration is appropriate, and what kind of visual authority the video claims. Choosing the wrong genre produces a video that is technically correct but tonally alien — a product that nobody asked for.
11
+
12
+ Genre must be derived, not assumed. See Phase 0.5 in the main skill for the derivation process.
13
+
14
+ ---
15
+
16
+ ## Genres for Rational-Appeal Brands
17
+
18
+ Used when the audience is evaluating: developers, technical buyers, B2B decision-makers, financial consumers.
19
+
20
+ ### Feature Demonstration
21
+ The product is the protagonist. The video is a structured tour of capability.
22
+
23
+ - **Editing**: Medium tempo, deliberate. Each cut serves a new capability.
24
+ - **Music**: Neutral — present but not emotive. The product should be audible over the music metaphorically.
25
+ - **Narration**: Usually appropriate. Voiceover or text captions that name what is being shown.
26
+ - **Visual authority**: Screen recordings, UI interactions, real product behavior. Illustration only for abstract mechanics (data flow, request handling).
27
+ - **Wrong for**: Any brand whose audience chose it for aesthetic or identity reasons. A developer tool used by indie hackers for its personality should not produce a clinical feature tour.
28
+
29
+ ### Problem-Solution
30
+ Two states — before and after. The product is the bridge.
31
+
32
+ - **Editing**: Contrast-driven. Before scenes feel heavier, slower, more cluttered. After scenes feel lighter.
33
+ - **Music**: Can shift register between before/after to reinforce the contrast.
34
+ - **Visual metaphor**: The "before" state must be specific to this product's actual users, not a generic "chaos" stock image. What does friction look like for a developer deploying? For a designer sharing files? Name it specifically.
35
+ - **Wrong for**: Brands that don't have a clear before/after (lifestyle, identity brands). Forcing a problem-solution structure onto a brand whose appeal is aspirational produces an awkward, unearned arc.
36
+
37
+ ### Proof / Evidence
38
+ The product's claims are shown, not stated. Data, metrics, real usage patterns.
39
+
40
+ - **Editing**: Methodical. Each scene introduces one piece of evidence.
41
+ - **Music**: Minimal. Evidence speaks for itself.
42
+ - **Use when**: The brand's differentiation is empirical (performance, scale, reliability) and the audience needs to be convinced, not just felt-at.
43
+
44
+ ---
45
+
46
+ ## Genres for Sensory/Aesthetic-Appeal Brands
47
+
48
+ Used when the audience is seeking experience: consumer beauty, fashion, food, fragrance, interiors, premium goods.
49
+
50
+ ### Mood Film
51
+ The video is a sensory argument. It does not explain; it demonstrates a feeling.
52
+
53
+ - **Editing**: Driven by music tempo and texture. Cuts land on beats or against them deliberately.
54
+ - **Music**: Primary carrier of meaning. Music choice is a brand decision, not a background choice.
55
+ - **Narration**: Rarely appropriate. If text appears, it should feel like poetry, not copy.
56
+ - **Visual language**: Texture, light, skin, material, detail. Close-ups over establishing shots. Movement over stasis.
57
+ - **Duration**: Mood films work at 15–30s. Longer requires a narrative arc to sustain.
58
+ - **Wrong for**: Any brand where the audience needs to understand something before they can feel something.
59
+
60
+ ### Product Poetry
61
+ The object in motion — no people, no narration, pure product behavior.
62
+
63
+ - **Use when**: The product is visually distinct, the design is the message, and the audience is already familiar with the category.
64
+ - **Motion approach**: The product's own material logic should generate the motion — a skincare product's texture suggests slow pour; a streetwear drop suggests quick reveal; a precision tool suggests deliberate movement.
65
+ - **Wrong for**: Products that look generic (the design is not differentiated) or products the audience hasn't heard of (no context).
66
+
67
+ ### Texture Reel
68
+ A sequence of material close-ups — fabric, skin, food, surface — that builds a sensory argument for quality or feeling.
69
+
70
+ - **Editing**: Fast or slow depending on energy. Often music-forward.
71
+ - **Use when**: The brand's truth is material (what it's made of, what it feels like) and the website/photography already reflects this.
72
+ - **Compositional note**: Each shot should isolate one texture. The sequence builds an argument through accumulation.
73
+
74
+ ---
75
+
76
+ ## Genres for Community/Identity-Appeal Brands
77
+
78
+ Used when the audience is seeking belonging: lifestyle brands, streetwear, music, fitness culture, subcultures.
79
+
80
+ ### Community Portrait / Faces Film
81
+ Real people as the brand's primary visual material. The brand is the audience.
82
+
83
+ - **Editing**: Humanistic tempo — long enough on each face to register the person, not just their demographic.
84
+ - **Music**: Should feel like something the community would actually listen to, not background licensing.
85
+ - **Visual authority**: The faces must be real or feel real. Polished model shots break the community contract.
86
+ - **Narration**: Rarely appropriate. Let faces speak.
87
+ - **Wrong for**: Any brand that doesn't already have a community — this genre requires authentic material. Fabricating it reads as hollow.
88
+
89
+ ### Cultural Artifact
90
+ The video looks like something the community produces, not something the brand made about the community.
91
+
92
+ - **Editing tempo**: Platform-native. What does content on this platform look like at its best? Match that register.
93
+ - **Visual quality**: Often deliberately lo-fi, handheld, grain-forward. Polish is a liability for authenticity-first brands.
94
+ - **Music**: Culturally specific. The wrong track is a category error.
95
+ - **Wrong for**: Premium brands where polish is part of the product promise.
96
+
97
+ ### Aspirational / Dream State
98
+ The audience in the world they want to inhabit — the product is how they get there, but it's not the subject.
99
+
100
+ - **Use for**: Lifestyle brands where the aspiration is the product. The brand sells a version of a life, not a physical object.
101
+ - **Editing**: Slow, expansive. Room to imagine.
102
+ - **Visual language**: Space, light, movement. The aspiration has physical textures — cold water, warm light, open sky.
103
+ - **Wrong for**: Products that require explanation before aspiration. If the audience doesn't know what the product does, aspiration won't land.
104
+
105
+ ---
106
+
107
+ ## Hybrid Genres
108
+
109
+ ### Sensory → Rational (Earned Evidence)
110
+ Lead with mood or sensation; resolve with a fact that gives the feeling a foundation.
111
+
112
+ - **Use when**: The brand has both sensory appeal and a rational claim worth making (premium food brand with real sourcing; skincare brand with actual clinical data)
113
+ - **Structure**: Establish feeling → reveal the reason behind it
114
+ - **Wrong version**: The sensory section is disconnected from the rational section. They must feel like the same argument.
115
+
116
+ ### Rational → Sensory (Made Real)
117
+ Lead with a technical truth; show what it feels like in practice.
118
+
119
+ - **Use when**: The brand's differentiation is structural but the audience experiences it emotionally (a payments API whose reliability means a founder's business doesn't go down on Black Friday)
120
+ - **Structure**: State the fact → show the human consequence
121
+ - **Wrong version**: The emotional section is generic human-interest footage unconnected to the specific technical truth.
122
+
123
+ ---
124
+
125
+ ## Genre Fitness Checks
126
+
127
+ Before committing to a genre, run these:
128
+
129
+ **1. Audience test**: Would the target audience, encountering this genre cold, feel it was made for them? Or would it feel like it was made for someone else?
130
+
131
+ **2. Truth test**: Does the chosen genre allow the Phase 0 brand truth to be expressed? A truth about invisibility fits a mood film. A truth about a specific API design does not.
132
+
133
+ **3. Platform test**: Does the genre work at the required duration and aspect ratio? A mood film at 60s on LinkedIn is wrong. A community portrait at 15s on TikTok might work.
134
+
135
+ **4. Anti-pattern check**: Is the chosen genre the default for this product category? If so, what would a competitor produce? If the answer is "the same thing," the genre is wrong unless there is a strong reason to own the default.