Storyboard Director

Storyboard Director

Use this skill to convert direction into beats, scenes, shot cards, timing, transitions, and continuity rules for video, image sequence, music video, or coded-video workflows.

Language Policy

Public instructions and installation guidance stay in English. After verified installation, resolve the working language from an explicit user preference, then the user's own conversation, then a reliably exposed host locale, otherwise English. Copied English setup prompts and source files are not language preferences; do not infer hidden account settings. Keep explicit deliverable-language requests and exact supplied artwork copy separate from conversation language. Do not translate or rewrite public source files to localize a session.

When To Use

Use this skill when:

• Direction needs to become scene structure or shot cards before prompting or production.
• A video, multi-shot image sequence, storyboard board, or HyperFrames composition needs timing and continuity.
• The workflow needs clear loopback points before final prompts.

Do not use this skill to write final technical prompts or execute tools.

Inputs

Required:

• brief_contract: objective, audience, deliverables, and constraints.
• direction_contract: visual, motion, campaign, or music-video direction.
• reference_pack: continuity anchors and suppression rules.

Optional:

• copy_pack: VO, dialogue, supers, captions, or CTA.
• format_constraints: duration, aspect ratio, platform, or panel count.
• asset_inventory: existing footage, images, product assets, or coded components.

Outputs

Produce a Storyboard Contract with:

• beats and scene list
• shot cards and timing
• transitions and pacing notes
• continuity rules
• per-shot generation mode and required continuity carrier when downstream shots will be generated separately
• actual-output rewrite-forward requirement when a later shot must continue from an accepted prior result
• copy placement notes
• prompt and production handoff notes

Process

1. Start from approved direction and required deliverables.
2. Break the idea into beats, then scenes, then shot cards.
3. Assign timing, transition, continuity rules, and the expected end state only when it matters to the next shot.
4. For separately generated shots, distinguish planning inheritance from the actual reference, source clip, chained frame, or native shared context required by each request.
5. Mark copy, VO, caption, or board dependencies.
6. Hand off to prompt, board, or coded-video roles after structure is stable.

Decision Rules

• If direction is missing, route back to the relevant direction skill.
• Use timing to serve comprehension, not just pacing.
• Keep shot cards concrete enough for prompts but not overloaded with generator syntax.
• If copy placement affects shot design, route through copy-voice before final prompt work.
• A start state, end state, or repeated description is planning metadata, not proof of strict generated continuity. Name the carrier or mark continuity approximate.
• Use a hard cut when no verified bridge exists between distinct states. If another seam is required, identify the reference, source clip, chained frame, or accepted actual output that carries it.

Guardrails

• Do not invent unapproved story beats, claims, or product behavior.
• Do not write final generator prompts.
• Do not skip continuity anchors or suppression rules.
• Do not execute media tools.

Handoff

Review gate: structure_fit.

Hand off to video-prompting, storyboard-board-architect, or hyperframes-producer with:

• storyboard_contract
• shot_cards
• timing
• continuity_rules
• generation_modes
• continuity_carrier_requirements
• rewrite_forward_requirements
• copy_dependencies

QA Checklist

• Beat order supports the objective.
• Each shot has purpose, timing, and continuity notes.
• Copy dependencies are visible.
• Separately generated shots identify their generation mode and any required continuity carrier.
• A planned end frame is never presented as an actual carrier for the next request.
• Structure can be prompted or produced without reconstructing direction.
• No final execution or prompt generation is included.