creator-editing-studio 1.2.6 → 1.3.0

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "creator-editing-studio",
-  "version": "1.2.6",
+  "version": "1.3.0",
   "description": "Scaffolds a Creator Editing OS studio — components, scripts and rules for editing video from a plain-English brief.",
   "license": "UNLICENSED",
   "type": "module",

package/template/CLAUDE.md

@@ -48,53 +48,91 @@ Everything else in `src/design/` is the system and should be left alone. If a vi
 a colour or a size that is not in tokens.ts, the answer is to add it to tokens.ts, never to
 type it into a component.
 
-## The order of work — the plan is approved before anything is cut
+## The order of work
 
-**Never render an edit the owner has not agreed to in writing first.** A render is the last
-step, not the first. Rebuilding a rejected edit costs more than every minute the plan takes.
+Two things are fixed: **you read their references before you design anything**, and **they see
+the edit as a plan before you render it.** Everything else bends to the job in front of you.
 
-Every edit runs in this order. Do not skip a step, and do not collapse two into one.
+### 0. References first. Always. Before the brief, before the footage.
 
-**1. Watch and probe.** `npm run prep -- <name>`. Get the real duration, fps and resolution
-of every clip. Never assume them.
+This is the first thing you do in any editing session, and it is not optional, because it is the
+only reason their edits look like theirs instead of like everyone's.
 
-**2. Transcribe with word-level timings.** The transcript is the truth — not the script, not
-what the owner remembers saying. Every beat you place later is anchored to a word index, and
-every word index comes from this file.
+Read both, in this order:
 
-**3. Read the owner's style first, in this order:** `STYLE.md` §9 Rejected, then §8 Approved,
-then `references/references.md` and the contact sheets in `work/refs/`. Rejected comes first
-because removing options is faster than adding them. A reference beats a default wherever
-they disagree.
+1. **The references for this project** — anything they put in the video's own folder or named in
+   its `BRIEF.md`: a clip they want it to feel like, a screenshot, a link, a sentence like
+   "similar to that last one but calmer".
+2. **The references saved for them generally** — `references/references.md` and the contact
+   sheets in `work/refs/`, plus `STYLE.md` §9 Rejected and §8 Approved. §9 first: ruling options
+   out is faster than adding them.
 
-**4. Write the plan, and hand it over.** Two documents, both in `work/<name>/`:
+Then say back, in one or two lines, which of their references you are using and for what. Not a
+summary of all of them — the ones that will show up in this edit.
 
-`PLAN.md` — the edit, as a table, one row per beat:
+A reference beats a house default wherever the two disagree. A default is a guess that suits
+everyone; a reference is a fact about them.
 
-| # | In | Out | Dur | Trigger word (frame) | What is on screen | Audio under it |
-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+**If they have no references yet, do not stall and do not nag.** Say so in one line, use the
+house defaults, and ask for one reference at the end when they are reacting to something real —
+that is when people can actually name what they like.
 
-and under it: total runtime, the full caption script line by line, and a short list of what
-you chose *not* to do and why.
+### 1. Prep and transcribe
 
-`MOTION.md` — the motion design sheet, one entry per graphic:
+`npm run prep -- <name>`. Real duration, fps and resolution for every clip — never assumed.
+Then transcribe with word-level timings. **The transcript is the truth, not the script and not
+what they remember saying.**
 
-- **What it is** in one sentence a non-editor understands.
-- **Which approved beat it is** — by name, from `STYLE.md` §8 or `references/references.md`.
-  A graphic that cannot name its beat is not approved and does not go in the plan.
-- **In / out / hold** in frames, and the easing used.
-- **What is behind it** — footage, solid, or nothing.
+### 2. The first cut, before the plan
 
-Then stop and ask. Say plainly: *here is the plan, change anything that is off, say go ahead
-and I will cut it.* **Wait for a yes.** "Go ahead", "approved", "ship it" is a yes. Silence is
-not, and neither is a reply about something else.
+Cut the silence, the filler and the retakes first. This is mechanical — no design decisions in
+it — so it does not need their approval, and doing it first is what makes the plan possible:
+every beat is anchored to a word, and words only have frame numbers once the cut exists.
 
-**5. Only then cut, render, and verify.** Verification is not optional and is not a claim —
-see below.
+Re-map the word timings onto the cut timeline before going further.
 
-If the owner says "just edit it" and skips the plan, write the plan anyway, in one short
-message, and cut immediately after. It costs thirty seconds and it is the only record of
-what was intended.
+### 3. The plan — and this is where you stop
+
+Two things, neither of them a file for them to open. A plan only gets corrected if it is in
+front of them.
+
+**The plan goes in the reply, as a table**, one row per beat:
+
+| # | In | Out | Trigger word (frame) | What is on screen | Audio under it |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+
+Then the runtime, the caption script, and a short note on what you chose not to do and why.
+
+**The motion sheet is a PNG of real rendered frames.** Build the graphics, render one still per
+beat with `npm run stills`, and lay them out as a numbered contact sheet — each tile labelled
+with its timecode, the words that trigger it, and the approved beat it comes from. Prose about
+motion cannot be corrected, because they cannot see it. A picture can: they point at a tile
+number and say what to change.
+
+Every graphic names the beat it comes from, out of `STYLE.md` §8 or their references. **A
+graphic that cannot name its beat is not approved and does not go on the sheet.** That rule is
+what stops motion graphics drifting into generic.
+
+Then stop and ask: *here is the plan, change anything that is off, say go ahead and I will cut
+it.* Wait for a yes. "Go ahead", "yes", "approved", "ship it" is a yes. Silence is not.
+
+### Keep it proportionate
+
+The plan is there to save them a rebuild, not to put a form in front of them.
+
+- **A short or simple job gets a short plan.** Three beats, three rows, three tiles. Do not pad
+  a thirty-second clip into a fifteen-row table.
+- **A fix to an edit they have already approved is not a new plan.** They said "captions lower,
+  hold that shot longer" — do it, show it, done. Re-plan only when the structure changes.
+- **If they say "just do it", do it.** Put the table in one short message and cut straight
+  after, so there is still a record of what was intended — but do not block on an answer.
+- **Never ask a question you can answer yourself.** Probe the file, read the brief, pick the
+  sensible default and say which one you picked. Questions are for the things that would
+  genuinely change the edit.
+- **One round of questions, not a drip.** If you need to ask, ask everything at once.
+
+The failure this is guarding against is a whole edit rendered the wrong way. Anything that does
+not risk that should move fast.
 
 ## Verify the render before you call it done
 

package/template/templates/BRIEF.md

@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ Length target:          <!-- e.g. 25s, 90s -->
 
 
 ## Moments from references
+<!-- READ FIRST, BEFORE ANY DESIGN DECISION. These, and the ones saved in references/references.md,
+     beat the house defaults wherever the two disagree. -->
 <!-- You DON'T need the name of the effect. Clip + time + what you like about it.
      Format: - clip-file.mp4 mm:ss-mm:ss — what you like (feel words are fine: snappy, floaty, punchy)
 - a-reel-you-like.mp4 00:02-00:04 — the colour screens flipping with each phrase, feels punchy -->