@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 0.4.0 → 0.5.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/rules/commercials.md

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+# Commercials
+
+## Overview
+
+Commercial scripts require maximum impact in minimal time, delivering clear brand messaging, emotional connection, and compelling calls-to-action within strict time constraints (typically 15, 30, or 60 seconds).
+
+## Standard Formats
+
+### Time Lengths
+**15-Second Spot**:
+- Single message
+- Quick impact
+- Brand awareness
+- Radio/digital
+- ~35-40 words
+
+**30-Second Spot** (Most Common):
+- Primary message + support
+- Emotional connection
+- Call-to-action
+- Television standard
+- ~75-85 words
+
+**60-Second Spot**:
+- Story development
+- Multiple benefits
+- Detailed information
+- Premium placement
+- ~150-170 words
+
+### Script Format
+**Two-Column Format**:
+```
+VIDEO                          AUDIO
+--------------------------------|--------------------------------
+OPEN ON: Family at             VO: Every moment matters.
+breakfast table.               
+                               
+CU: Mom pouring cereal.        SFX: Cereal pouring.
+                               
+                               MOM: Who wants breakfast?
+                               
+KIDS raise hands excitedly.    KIDS: Me! Me!
+                               
+PRODUCT SHOT: Cereal box.      VO: Start your day with
+                               Sunshine Cereal.
+                               
+SUPER: "Sunshine Cereal"       MUSIC: Upbeat jingle.
+                               
+LOGO                           VO: Sunshine Cereal. Brighten
+                               your morning.
+                               
+                               TOTAL RUNTIME: :30
+```
+
+## Core Elements
+
+### The Hook (First 3 Seconds)
+**Purpose**:
+- Grab attention immediately
+- Stop channel surfing
+- Create curiosity
+- Establish tone
+
+**Techniques**:
+- Striking visual
+- Provocative question
+- Unexpected moment
+- Relatable problem
+- Humor
+- Emotion
+
+### The Message
+**Clarity**:
+- One primary message
+- Simple and direct
+- Easy to understand
+- Memorable
+- Benefit-focused
+
+**Bad**: "Our revolutionary patented technology..."
+**Good**: "Cleans better. Lasts longer."
+
+### The Call-to-Action (CTA)
+**Requirements**:
+- Clear and specific
+- Easy to remember
+- Actionable
+- Urgent (when appropriate)
+- Repeated (if time allows)
+
+**Examples**:
+- "Call now"
+- "Visit our website"
+- "Available at retailers nationwide"
+- "Download the app today"
+- "Limited time offer"
+
+### Brand Integration
+**Guidelines**:
+- Show product clearly
+- Mention brand name 2-3 times
+- Logo visible at end
+- Brand colors/identity
+- Consistent voice
+
+## Storytelling Approaches
+
+### Problem-Solution
+**Structure** (30 seconds):
+1. **Problem** (0-10s): Show relatable issue
+2. **Solution** (10-20s): Introduce product
+3. **Benefit** (20-25s): Demonstrate result
+4. **CTA** (25-30s): Call-to-action + logo
+
+**Example**:
+```
+PROBLEM: Stained shirt, frustrated person
+SOLUTION: Introduce stain remover
+BENEFIT: Shirt looks new
+CTA: "Get it at Target. Today."
+```
+
+### Lifestyle/Aspirational
+**Approach**:
+- Show desired lifestyle
+- Associate product with aspiration
+- Emotional connection
+- Minimal problem focus
+- Positive imagery
+
+**Example**: Luxury car commercial showing adventure and freedom
+
+### Testimonial
+**Structure**:
+- Real person (or actor as real person)
+- Authentic experience
+- Specific benefits
+- Credible delivery
+- Relatable situation
+
+### Demonstration
+**Focus**:
+- Show product in action
+- Prove claims visually
+- Before/after
+- Comparison
+- Clear results
+
+### Humor
+**Guidelines**:
+- Memorable and shareable
+- Relevant to product
+- Not offensive
+- Clear brand connection
+- Doesn't overshadow message
+
+### Emotional
+**Approach**:
+- Tug at heartstrings
+- Create connection
+- Tell mini-story
+- Associate emotion with brand
+- Authentic feeling
+
+## Writing Techniques
+
+### Concise Language
+**Rules**:
+- Every word counts
+- Cut unnecessary words
+- Active voice
+- Strong verbs
+- Specific nouns
+
+**Bad** (12 words):
+"Our product is designed to help you achieve better results."
+
+**Good** (4 words):
+"Get better results. Guaranteed."
+
+### Conversational Tone
+**Guidelines**:
+- Write how people talk
+- Use contractions
+- Simple vocabulary
+- Natural rhythm
+- Avoid jargon
+
+### Repetition
+**Strategic Use**:
+- Brand name (2-3 times)
+- Key benefit
+- Call-to-action
+- Tagline
+- Memorable phrase
+
+### Power Words
+**Effective Words**:
+- New
+- Free
+- Guaranteed
+- Proven
+- Easy
+- Now
+- Save
+- You
+
+## Visual Storytelling
+
+### Show, Don't Tell
+**Principle**:
+- Demonstrate benefits visually
+- Let images carry message
+- Minimal voiceover
+- Product in action
+- Visual metaphors
+
+### Product Shots
+**Requirements**:
+- Clear and prominent
+- Well-lit
+- Multiple angles
+- In use
+- Final "hero shot"
+- Minimum 3-5 seconds at end
+
+### Supers (Text Overlays)
+**Usage**:
+- Brand name
+- Website/phone number
+- Key benefit
+- Price/offer
+- Disclaimer
+- Call-to-action
+
+**Guidelines**:
+- Large, readable font
+- High contrast
+- On screen long enough to read
+- Not too much text
+- Reinforce audio message
+
+## Audio Elements
+
+### Voiceover
+**Characteristics**:
+- Professional delivery
+- Appropriate tone
+- Clear enunciation
+- Paced for time
+- Matches brand personality
+
+**Tone Options**:
+- Authoritative
+- Friendly
+- Urgent
+- Warm
+- Energetic
+- Sophisticated
+
+### Music
+**Purpose**:
+- Set mood
+- Create emotion
+- Brand recognition
+- Energy and pacing
+- Memorability
+
+**Types**:
+- Jingle (brand-specific song)
+- Licensed track
+- Original score
+- Sound design
+
+### Sound Effects
+**Usage**:
+- Product sounds
+- Attention-grabbers
+- Transitions
+- Emphasis
+- Realism
+
+## Category-Specific Approaches
+
+### Retail
+- Price emphasis
+- Limited time offers
+- Multiple products
+- Store locations
+- Sale urgency
+
+### Automotive
+- Lifestyle imagery
+- Performance features
+- Financing offers
+- Test drive CTA
+- Dealership info
+
+### Food/Beverage
+- Appetite appeal
+- Taste/quality focus
+- Lifestyle association
+- Availability
+- Craveable imagery
+
+### Technology
+- Innovation emphasis
+- Ease of use
+- Problem-solving
+- Specifications (brief)
+- Where to buy
+
+### Pharmaceutical
+- Condition awareness
+- Treatment benefits
+- Doctor consultation CTA
+- Side effects (required)
+- Hopeful tone
+
+### Financial Services
+- Trust and security
+- Benefit clarity
+- Simplicity
+- Credibility
+- Contact information
+
+## Legal and Ethical
+
+### Disclaimers
+**Requirements**:
+- Required disclosures
+- Readable text size
+- Sufficient duration
+- Clear audio
+- Accurate information
+
+**Common Disclaimers**:
+- "Results may vary"
+- "Professional driver, closed course"
+- "See dealer for details"
+- "Limited time offer"
+- "Side effects include..."
+
+### Truth in Advertising
+**Rules**:
+- No false claims
+- Substantiate claims
+- Avoid deception
+- Clear pricing
+- Honest comparisons
+
+### Compliance
+**Considerations**:
+- Industry regulations
+- FTC guidelines
+- Network standards
+- Age-appropriate content
+- Cultural sensitivity
+
+## Best Practices
+
+### DO
+✅ Hook in first 3 seconds
+✅ Focus on one main message
+✅ Show product clearly
+✅ Include strong CTA
+✅ Repeat brand name 2-3 times
+✅ Write for the ear
+✅ Time script precisely
+✅ Show benefits, not features
+✅ Create emotional connection
+✅ End with logo and CTA
+
+### DON'T
+❌ Cram too much information
+❌ Use complex language
+❌ Hide the product
+❌ Forget call-to-action
+❌ Make unsubstantiated claims
+❌ Ignore legal requirements
+❌ Overshadow message with creativity
+❌ Use offensive content
+❌ Neglect brand consistency
+❌ Exceed time limit
+
+## Timing Breakdown
+
+### 30-Second Commercial
+**Typical Structure**:
+- **0-3s**: Hook/attention grabber
+- **3-10s**: Problem or setup
+- **10-20s**: Product/solution
+- **20-25s**: Benefit/demonstration
+- **25-28s**: Call-to-action
+- **28-30s**: Logo/tagline
+
+### 15-Second Commercial
+**Condensed Structure**:
+- **0-2s**: Hook
+- **2-8s**: Product + benefit
+- **8-12s**: Call-to-action
+- **12-15s**: Logo/tagline
+
+## Script Example
+
+**30-Second Spot**:
+```
+VIDEO                          AUDIO
+--------------------------------|--------------------------------
+OPEN: Woman struggling         SFX: Alarm clock beeping.
+with tangled hair.             
+                               WOMAN: Ugh, not again.
+                               
+CU: Frustrated expression.     
+                               
+PRODUCT SHOT: Detangler        VO: Introducing Smooth Glide
+spray.                         Detangler.
+                               
+Woman sprays hair.             SFX: Spray sound.
+                               
+Brush glides through easily.   VO: Glides through knots.
+                               No pulling. No pain.
+                               
+Woman smiles, confident.       WOMAN: Finally!
+                               
+PRODUCT SHOT with price.       VO: Smooth Glide. Just $9.99.
+                               
+SUPER: "Available at Target"   VO: Available at Target and
+                               online.
+                               
+LOGO                           VO: Smooth Glide. Tangle-free
+                               mornings.
+                               
+                               TOTAL: :30
+```
+

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/rules/dialogue-writing.md

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+# Dialogue Writing
+
+## Overview
+
+Great dialogue serves multiple purposes: reveals character, advances plot, creates conflict, provides information, and establishes tone. It should sound natural while being more focused and purposeful than real speech.
+
+## Core Principles
+
+### Natural Speech Patterns
+**Characteristics of Natural Dialogue**:
+- Contractions and informal language
+- Incomplete sentences and interruptions
+- Pauses and hesitations
+- Regional/cultural speech patterns
+- Age-appropriate vocabulary
+
+**Avoid**:
+- Overly formal or literary language (unless character-specific)
+- Perfect grammar in casual conversation
+- Speeches or monologues (unless justified)
+- Characters speaking in paragraphs
+
+### Subtext
+**Definition**: What's meant vs. what's said
+
+**Techniques**:
+- Indirect responses to questions
+- Changing the subject
+- Saying opposite of what's felt
+- Avoiding the real issue
+- Using metaphor or analogy
+
+**Example**:
+```
+SARAH
+How was your day?
+
+JOHN
+Fine.
+(beat)
+Yours?
+
+SARAH
+Great. Just great.
+```
+*Subtext: Both had terrible days but won't admit it*
+
+### Character Voice
+Each character should have distinctive speech patterns:
+
+**Vocabulary**:
+- Education level
+- Profession/expertise
+- Cultural background
+- Generation
+
+**Syntax**:
+- Sentence length and complexity
+- Formal vs. casual structure
+- Use of slang or jargon
+
+**Rhythm**:
+- Fast-talking vs. deliberate
+- Verbose vs. terse
+- Poetic vs. blunt
+
+## Dialogue Functions
+
+### Reveal Character
+- Personality traits
+- Emotional state
+- Background and history
+- Relationships with others
+- Internal conflicts
+
+### Advance Plot
+- Provide necessary information
+- Create or resolve conflict
+- Make decisions
+- Reveal secrets
+- Establish stakes
+
+### Create Conflict
+- Disagreements and arguments
+- Hidden agendas
+- Misunderstandings
+- Power struggles
+- Competing goals
+
+### Establish Tone
+- Comedy through wit and timing
+- Drama through intensity
+- Tension through what's unsaid
+- Romance through intimacy
+
+## Dialogue Techniques
+
+### Show, Don't Tell
+**Bad** (On-the-nose):
+```
+MARY
+I'm so angry at you for lying to me!
+```
+
+**Good** (Subtext):
+```
+MARY
+(cold)
+I'm sure you had your reasons.
+```
+
+### Conflict and Tension
+**Techniques**:
+- Characters want different things
+- Interruptions and talking over each other
+- Avoiding direct answers
+- Escalating stakes
+- Time pressure
+
+### Exposition
+**Best Practices**:
+- Disguise information in conflict
+- Reveal through character's need to know
+- Use dramatic irony (audience knows more than character)
+- Spread information across multiple scenes
+- Make exposition emotional, not just factual
+
+**Bad Exposition**:
+```
+DETECTIVE
+As you know, the victim was found at 3 AM
+in the warehouse on Fifth Street with a
+gunshot wound to the chest.
+```
+
+**Good Exposition**:
+```
+DETECTIVE
+Fifth Street warehouse. 3 AM.
+
+PARTNER
+Same MO as the Johnson case?
+
+DETECTIVE
+(nods grimly)
+Same gun. Same message.
+```
+
+### Rhythm and Pacing
+**Fast Pace**:
+- Short sentences
+- Quick exchanges
+- Interruptions
+- Overlapping dialogue
+
+**Slow Pace**:
+- Longer speeches
+- Pauses and silences
+- Measured responses
+- Descriptive language
+
+### Silence and Pauses
+**Uses**:
+- Build tension
+- Show emotional weight
+- Allow reaction
+- Create awkwardness
+- Emphasize what follows
+
+**Notation**:
+- `(beat)` - brief pause
+- `(long pause)` - extended silence
+- `(silence)` - significant quiet moment
+
+## Dialect and Accent
+
+### Guidelines
+**DO**:
+- Suggest dialect through word choice and rhythm
+- Use occasional distinctive phrases
+- Maintain readability
+- Research authentic speech patterns
+
+**DON'T**:
+- Write phonetic spellings extensively
+- Use stereotypical or offensive patterns
+- Make dialogue hard to read
+- Overdo regional markers
+
+**Example**:
+```
+GOOD:
+BOBBY
+Y'all want some sweet tea?
+
+BAD:
+BOBBY
+Y'awl wawnt sum sweet tay?
+```
+
+## Common Dialogue Mistakes
+
+### On-the-Nose Dialogue
+Characters saying exactly what they feel/think without subtext.
+
+### Exposition Dumps
+Long speeches that exist only to inform audience.
+
+### All Characters Sound the Same
+Lack of distinctive voice for each character.
+
+### Unnecessary Dialogue
+Greetings, small talk, or information already shown visually.
+
+### Overwriting
+Too many words when fewer would be more powerful.
+
+### Unnatural Formality
+Characters speaking like they're reading from a book.
+
+## Best Practices
+
+### DO
+✅ Read dialogue aloud to test naturalness
+✅ Use contractions in casual speech
+✅ Let characters interrupt and overlap
+✅ Include subtext and hidden meanings
+✅ Give each character distinctive voice
+✅ Cut unnecessary words
+✅ Use silence strategically
+✅ Make every line serve multiple purposes
+
+### DON'T
+❌ Have characters explain things they both know
+❌ Use dialogue for stage directions
+❌ Write speeches when conversation works better
+❌ Forget that people lie and hide feelings
+❌ Make every character eloquent
+❌ Include real-life filler ("um," "uh") excessively
+❌ Use dialogue to describe what we can see
+
+## Category-Specific Considerations
+
+### Film
+- Economy of words
+- Visual storytelling reduces dialogue need
+- Subtext over exposition
+
+### Television
+- Character voice consistency across episodes
+- Catchphrases and recurring patterns
+- Balance between episodic and serialized dialogue
+
+### Web Content
+- Punchy, quotable lines
+- Faster pace
+- Modern vernacular
+
+### Commercials
+- Every word counts
+- Clear call-to-action
+- Memorable phrases
+