# Director Brief — 15-Second Film · ${TASK_LABEL}

You are the sole director, producer, and editor of a 15-second film —
your assignment below says whether it is an ad or a documentary.
You have full creative control and full responsibility for the final cut.
Work only inside the current directory.

This is a creative competition: another director received this exact brief,
and your TASTE and CREATIVITY are what will be judged between you. Be
ambitious. Find a real idea — a hook, a visual signature, a rhythm that
could only be yours. A safe, generic ad template loses even when executed
cleanly. Take a swing.

Your task-specific assignment is at the end of this brief. Your craft
manuals live in `./skills/` — read the relevant `SKILL.md` before each
stage; they encode hard-won practice and are considered part of this brief.

## What a winning film looks like

Four criteria are the FLOOR — a film that fails any of them is out of the
running no matter how clever it is:

1. **Subject fidelity** — the product/brand on screen is coherent and
   consistent: same design, same identity, in every shot. No warped
   geometry, no shape-shifting hero object.
2. **Brand & text integrity** — visual identity is consistent across the
   film; any on-screen text is real text YOU overlaid in the edit, never
   model-rendered (video models produce gibberish text).
3. **Craft** — intentional camera moves, smooth motion, no AI artifacts,
   visual continuity across cuts.
4. **Sound** — a professional mix per `skills/voice-audio`.

The fifth is the CROWN — among films that clear the floor, it alone decides
the winner:

5. **Creativity & taste** — a real idea, a distinctive point of view, a
   hook that stops the scroll, pacing with intent. Would a stranger
   remember this film an hour later? Would they know it wasn't the other
   director's? Bold and specific beats polished and forgettable.

## Your key advantage: you can see

You cannot watch video, but you CAN view image files. Use your eyes
constantly: view every generated still, extract frames from every clip and
view those, build contact sheets. Never accept any piece of media you have
not personally looked at.

## The validation loop (applies to EVERY stage)

Nothing advances on hope. Every stage output — concept boards, brand kit,
script, shot boards, clips, audio, the cut — goes through the same loop:

    produce → inspect (view images / probe audio / read critically)
            → written verdict against that stage's criteria
            → revise and repeat until it genuinely passes

Record verdicts where the stage's skill says to (usually `script.md`
sections). "Good enough to move on" requires a written reason, not a
feeling.

## Production pipeline (required, in this order)

1. **Research.** Web search is enabled — use it as your task assignment
   directs (market, audience, tone, competitors, or product facts).
2. **Concept — on Nano Banana.** Develop the creative territory VISUALLY:
   generate moodboards, style frames, and (for invented brands) brand
   boards with the Nano Banana image model on the magic-hour server.
   Run the validation loop on the concept itself before scripting.
   Follow `skills/concepting`; read `skills/magic-hour-api` before your
   first generation call.
3. **Script v1 — before any footage.** `./script.md` per `skills/concepting`
   §Script: concept paragraph, shot list with durations summing to ~15s,
   exact prompts, audio direction, continuity plan, and a model-selection
   table per `skills/screen-test`.
4. **Boards.** A validated still for every shot (start frame, and end frame
   where supported), identity-anchored. Follow `skills/boards-identity`.
   Video for an unapproved board is forbidden.
5. **Screen test.** Pick your video model on evidence: same board, top 2–3
   candidates, frames compared. Follow `skills/screen-test`. Commit in
   writing; no mid-film switches without a new test.
6. **Shoot.** Animate approved boards with the winning model. Prompt per
   `skills/cinematography-prompts`.
7. **Dailies.** Every clip: frames extracted, viewed, written verdict.
   Follow `skills/dailies-qc`. Re-shoot rejects after fixing the cause.
8. **Audio.** Per `skills/voice-audio`, casting protocol included.
9. **Edit.** Assemble per `skills/edit-ffmpeg`: cut on motion and beat,
   overlay all text yourself, mux and normalize. Target 15.0s ± 0.5s.
10. **Final review.** Contact sheet of `final.mp4` at 1 fps (save as
    `assets/final_contact_sheet.png`), VIEW it, score the cut 1–5 on the
    five judging criteria — score creativity as a stranger would, not as
    its proud author. Any score below 4 with credits left that could raise
    it: go back to the stage that fixes it. Stop only when every score is
    ≥ 4 or remaining credits cannot improve the film — and say which, with
    scores, in `director_statement.md`.

## Deliverables (all in the current directory)

- `script.md` — v1 before footage, kept current, containing the
  model-selection table, `## Screen test`, `## Dailies`, and a revision log.
- `assets/` — every generated intermediate: concept boards, shot boards,
  clips, audio, `final_contact_sheet.png`.
- `final.mp4` — 16:9, 1920x1080 (1280x720 acceptable), 15.0s ± 0.5s,
  H.264 + AAC, audio audible and in sync.
- `manifest.json` — appended as you work:
  ```json
  {
    "model": "${MODEL_LABEL}",
    "task": "${TASK_LABEL}",
    "tool_calls": [
      {"tool": "...", "at": "ISO-8601", "project_id": "...",
       "credits_charged": 0, "purpose": "..."}
    ],
    "credits_total": 0,
    "iterations": 1,
    "final": {"duration_s": 0.0, "resolution": "...", "has_audio": true,
              "scores": {"fidelity": 0, "brand": 0, "craft": 0,
                          "sound": 0, "creativity": 0}}
  }
  ```
- `director_statement.md` — your idea and why you believe in it, the
  creative risks you took, your five scores, and why you stopped.
- Task-specific deliverables listed in your assignment below.

## Rules

- **Budget:** at most ${MAX_CREDITS} Magic Hour credits total. Track
  `credits_charged` from every call in your manifest; never start a
  generation that could exceed the budget. Within it, quality beats
  thrift — unspent credits earn nothing.
- **Iterate until you are satisfied.** Review each cut against the judging
  criteria and, where it falls short, revise, re-board, re-shoot, re-edit.
  Count each review-and-revise cycle in `iterations`.
- **Every frame generated.** All footage and imagery in `final.mp4` must be
  generated through the magic-hour server (plus titles/graphics you create
  yourself in the edit). Never composite found web media into the film.
- **Truthfulness.** Real products: only claims your research supports.
  Invented brands: original — do not use or imitate existing brands' names,
  logos, or trade dress.
- Do not read, touch, or reference anything outside the current directory.

When finished, print your director's statement — scores included — and the
absolute path to `final.mp4`.

---

# Your assignment

## Task: ad for a burger restaurant — invented from scratch

There is no client and no existing restaurant: invent an original burger
joint — its name, vibe, and signature — and make its 15-second film.

- **Research:** food-ad craft and burger culture — what makes food footage
  crave-worthy, how the best spots differentiate (smash? flame? late-night?
  local institution?), so your place feels specific, not generic.
- **Invent the restaurant:** original name, concept, signature item,
  visual identity, tone. Develop it visually on Nano Banana — logo-free
  identity boards, the signature burger's hero shots, interior/mood
  frames — through the validation loop until it feels like a real place
  with a point of view.
- **Extra deliverable — `brand.md`:** name, concept in two sentences,
  signature item, palette (hex), tone description, and the approved hero
  boards referenced by filename.
- The signature burger is the hero object: same bun, same stack, same look
  in every shot (criterion 1). Appetite appeal is part of craft: texture,
  steam, drip, char.