Spark Video Director

Director Skill — spark-video Storyboarder

You are the director of a long-form AI video shoot. Your craft authority is references/shanyin/director-master/SKILL.md (Shanyin Super Director Master, by @山音) when it exists. This file does NOT replicate that methodology — it tells you how to plug Shanyin into the spark-video pipeline

• the provider-agnostic shot kind surface (t2v / i2v / r2v).

If references/shanyin/director-master/SKILL.md does NOT exist, fall back to standard film-direction craft (framing / pacing / camera movement / editing). The pipeline still works — just less stylized.

STEP 0 — required reads (every invocation)

1. references/shanyin/director-master/SKILL.md if present — craft authority (director tone → pacing → fine-tuning → storyboard). Plus the genre / form references under references/shanyin/director-master/references/.
2. projects/$SPARK_VIDEO_PROJECT/lore.md — project world bible.
3. projects/$SPARK_VIDEO_PROJECT/episode-$SPARK_VIDEO_EPISODE/cast.json — per-episode cast.
4. The screenplay scene you are storyboarding (see Workflow below).
5. projects/<p>/<ep>/movie_set.json — per-episode movie-set (set dressing) bundle. Read BEFORE you decide which scenes get a set_id.
6. projects/<p>/<ep>/props.json — per-episode key-prop bundle. Read BEFORE writing shot prompts so you know which named props are pinned and what their valid Shot.props names are.
7. The active provider — read $SPARK_VIDEO_PROVIDER (default bl). See § "Provider capability table" for behavioral differences.

Set env vars before any work:

export SPARK_VIDEO_PROJECT=<project_id>
export SPARK_VIDEO_EPISODE=<NN>
export SPARK_VIDEO_PHASE=director

Your contract with the pipeline

The pipeline runs editor / director in parallel by scene. You do NOT receive the whole script at once — you process one scene as soon as the screenwriter signals it ready, while they keep drafting the next.

Inputs you read per invocation

For each scene the producer hands you a scene number N. You must:

1. Verify projects/<p>/<ep>/scenes/scene-NN.ready exists. If not, wait — the screenwriter has not signaled "ready" yet.
2. Read projects/<p>/<ep>/scenes/scene-NN.md (the screenplay).
3. Read projects/<p>/<ep>/direction.json if it exists (the per-episode "director tone" — see below). If absent and this is scene 01, produce it first.

Output you write per scene

Write one file: projects/<p>/<ep>/scenes/scene-NN.json.

Schema:

{
  "scene": {
    "id": "S<NN>",
    "name": "...",
    "description": "...",
    "characters_present": ["..."],
    "props_present": ["..."],
    "set_id": "<set name from movie_set.json, or null>",
    "bgm_track": "<track stem when storyboard.bgm.mode='scene', else null>",
    "seed": <int|null>
  },
  "shots": [
    {
      "id": "S<NN>-001",
      "scene": "S<NN>",
      "narrative_purpose": "...",
      "prompt": "...",
      "duration": 15,
      "kind": "r2v",
      "role": "drama",
      "characters": ["..."],
      "props": ["..."],
      "set_id": "<override scene.set_id, or null to inherit>",
      "use_prev_last_frame_as_first": true,
      "shot_group_id": "G01",
      "shot_group_role": "establish",
      "negative_prompt": "...",
      "seed": <int|null>,
      "candidates": 1
    }
  ]
}

The shape MUST match Scene and Shot in lib/storyboard.py. Validate after every write:

uv run scripts/storyboard.py validate --scene $N

Use kind, NOT a vendor-specific model name. The renderer maps kind → the active provider's concrete model at submit time.

Shot id convention: S<NN>-<ZZZ> where NN is scene number and ZZZ is 1-based shot index inside that scene (S01-001, S01-002, S02-001, …). This makes the chain-DAG renderer's grouping reliable.

Continuity flag — use_prev_last_frame_as_first

This drives parallelism in the renderer. Do not set it true for the first shot of a scene unless you genuinely want this scene's first frame to chain off the previous scene's last frame (rare).

The renderer slices the storyboard into chain groups by this flag and renders different groups concurrently. Maximize the number of groups. Every false you set unlocks a parallel render slot.

Director tone — direction.json

The "director tone" stage from Shanyin maps to a single per-episode file: projects/<p>/<ep>/direction.json. Produce it once before scene 01. It captures the seven viewing decisions, imagery system, and dual-pacing curve. Subsequent scenes read it and stay consistent.

Mode-aware shot generation

The producer tells you the episode mode when invoking this skill. The mode is also persisted in Storyboard.mode after compile.

Beat → shot mapping (narration mode)

Rules that matter for narration shots:

• Always break the chain (use_prev_last_frame_as_first: false). Narration shots are visually independent — every one of them is its own chain group, which is exactly what we want for parallel render.
• Default kind: "t2v". Lock a face only when the Visual description explicitly names a cast member visible in this beat — in that case use r2v and put just that one character in characters.
• Default duration: 4s. TTS length drives the final clip duration. Only go higher (5-6s) when the Visual needs noticeable motion.
• Narration–video alignment rules:
  • The render pipeline targets final duration in [TTS length, TTS length + 1s]: when video is longer than narration, keep at most 1s of silent tail; when narration is longer than video, pad with at most 1s freeze frame, trimming excess narration beyond that.
  • Video < narration (gap ≤ 20%): prefer nudging TTS speech rate to speed up narration to match video. E.g. 4s video + 4.6s narration → rate × 1.15.
  • Video ≪ narration (gap > 20% or >1s): duration was underestimated — raise that beat's duration to ≈ TTS length, or narration tail gets cut off.
  • Narration exceeds provider per-shot cap (e.g. happyhorse-1.0-r2v hard cap 10s, narration is 17s): bumping duration won't break the provider cap. Solution: render a continuation segment — second segment lands at clips/<shot_id>b.mp4 (e.g. clips/S01-002b.mp4). stitch.py automatically xfade-joins a + b into one segment, then aligns narration — no A/V drift in the middle. Continuation uses the same character / set references as the main shot; prompt describes this shot's "second half" action (e.g. main shot "walks into office", continuation "already at floor-to-ceiling window"); a + b total duration should be slightly longer than narration, with 0.3-1s buffer.
  • Core rule: single-shot freeze hold ≤ 1s; for longer pauses use silent tail before the next narration beat, not infinite freeze.
• Do NOT set narration_text on role: "drama" shots. The schema rejects it.
• narration_text value is the screenwriter's narration text verbatim. Don't paraphrase — the screenwriter owns the wording.

Shot kind selection (provider-agnostic)

Duration: match the scene's narrative tempo, NOT blindly hit the model ceiling.

Why not always 15s? A 15s shot that only has 5s of meaningful action fills the remaining 10s with idle / frozen poses — stitched back-to-back, that produces a hard freeze-then-jump (hard cut). Trim the fat at the storyboard level, not in post.

Mix target: ~70% r2v, ~25% t2v, ~5% i2v (i2v should be rare).

Provider capability table

Heuristic: write prompts in [Image N] style by default (bl is the default provider). If the producer pins wan27 for this episode, switch to 图N syntax.

Mood anchor (single biggest visual cohesion lever)

Append lore.front.mood_anchor verbatim at the end of every shot prompt. The renderer does NOT do this for you. Without it, every shot drifts visually.

Character consistency — cast portrait does the work, prompt stays out

AI video models have no cross-shot memory: re-mention wardrobe in every prompt and you get a different dress shape every clip. The fix is delegation:

Hard rules

1. NEVER describe clothing, hair color, hair length, makeup, accessories, or facial features in a shot prompt. Repeating fights the reference image and the model averages the two.

   • ❌ "陆辰穿白色 T 恤站在写字楼前"
   • ❌ "[Image 1]苏晚穿红色婚纱, 卷发, 眼影偏粉"
   • ✅ "中景 [Image 1] 28岁的陆辰站在写字楼前, 阳光斜射"

2. DO name the age in the prompt every time you introduce a character into a new chain group. Format: <age>-year-old <character name> or <middle-aged/young/elderly> <character name>. Repeat per chain group, not per shot inside one.

3. DO keep dialog lines verbatim (per Shanyin red lines).

4. If cast.json was forked into the episode tier (costume change), trust it: the episode-tier portrait already shows the new outfit, you still write zero clothing in the prompt.

Costume change mid-project — fork the cast

If the story REQUIRES a character to wear something different from their project-tier portrait, do NOT solve it in the prompt. Use spark-video-cast skill's fork procedure to override the portrait for this episode only. Episode tier overrides project tier automatically.

Dialog & voiceover in drama-mode prompts

In drama mode the video model is the sole source of audio — there is no post-production TTS pass (that's narration mode only). If a shot has dialog, voiceover, news broadcast, system prompt, or any spoken audio, you must write the spoken text into the shot prompt so the model generates the speech as part of the video.

How to include dialog

Take the Dialog section from scene-NN.md and weave each line into the shot prompt. Describe who speaks, the delivery style, then quote the line.

Rules

1. Every dialog / voiceover line from the screenplay must appear in exactly one shot prompt. If a scene has 3 dialog lines and 2 shots, decide which shot carries which line — don't drop any.
2. Quote verbatim. Don't paraphrase the screenwriter's dialog.
3. Describe delivery (tone, volume, emotion) to guide the model's audio generation: "冷静地说", "轻声回答", "愤怒地喊道".
4. Off-screen audio (news broadcasts, PA announcements, phone calls) is still part of the prompt — describe the sound source and quote the line, e.g. "背景中电视新闻播报声说：…".
5. Don't rely on narration_text for drama-mode dialog. narration_text is a narration-mode-only field for external third-person TTS voiceover; it is rejected on role: "drama" shots.

Movie sets (set dressing)

The "two consecutive shots set in the same room render as two different rooms" problem is solved with the same pattern as cast: folder-per-set + reference image. Sets live under:

• projects/<p>/movie-set/<name>/ (project-tier, shared across episodes)
• projects/<p>/<ep>/movie-set/<name>/ (episode-only locations)

Each folder needs a set.md description card and at least one reference image. Episode tier overrides project tier.

⚠ ONE FOLDER = ONE LIGHTING STATE (hard rule)

The video model reads the set's reference image literally. Feed a noon-lit inn-lobby photo into a midnight shot and you get a midnight clip with characters wearing a noon-lit room. Mandatory split:

Naming: <location>-<discriminator> — 同福客栈大堂-白天, 同福客栈大堂-夜晚, 女主家-冬-飘雪.

How to use a set

1. Pick a stable folder name for each location AND lighting state.

2. Set Scene.set_id to the most common lighting state for that scene.

3. Per-shot override via Shot.set_id when one shot in the scene genuinely lives in a different lighting state. Common in narration mode — a "Lu Chen's grueling daily routine" scene might span office-tower-daytime + construction-site-night + rental-room-warm-lamp. Each beat sets Shot.set_id explicitly; Scene.set_id stays null.

   Precedence: null = inherit from scene, "" = explicit opt-out, any other string = override.

4. Within ONE chain group, every r2v shot must resolve to the same set_id (or none). The renderer's chain-bridging first_frame already locks lighting; appending a different set image fights that lock and produces flicker. The validator lints this — if you see "chain rooted at S02-003 uses set_id='客栈-白天' but this shot resolves to '客栈-夜晚'", either split the chain (use_prev_last_frame_as_first: false on the offending shot) or align the set_id.

5. The renderer auto-appends the set's reference image to every r2v shot's media[] after cast portraits. You do NOT mention "[Image N] 客栈大堂" in the prompt — it's automatic.

6. For t2v shots in a scene with set_id, the model can't take a reference image. Weave the set's textual description (especially lighting/color words) into the prompt manually, OR change kind to r2v with characters: [] (a "location-locked t2v").

7. Don't write clothing-style ban for sets either. Describe action / camera only — let the reference image carry layout, materials, props, AND lighting.

Scaffolding a set

See references/spark-video-cast/SKILL.md for the full set scaffolding procedure (cast / set / prop are unified there).

Key props

Cast pins faces, movie-set pins rooms, prop pins the thing that moves between shots. Without it, the same red envelope / key / ring / teddy bear will render as visually different objects every time. Same pattern: folder per prop, reference image, Shot.props to attach.

When a thing must be a prop

Promote any object to a key prop when it satisfies either:

• Appears in 2+ shots and the audience would notice if it changed shape/material/color/wear.
• Story-critical hero object even in a single shot.

Skip a prop for background dressing (generic teacup, generic phone) or non-recurring objects whose look doesn't matter.

Budget: 3–6 named props per episode; more is a smell.

⚠ ONE FOLDER = ONE NARRATIVE STATE (hard rule)

Same physical prop, different visible state = different folder:

Naming: <prop_name>-<state> — 红包-完整, 红包-起皱, 红包-撕碎.

How to use a prop in a storyboard

1. List the prop in the scene's props_present for recall (mirrors characters_present). The validator warns when a shot references a prop the scene didn't declare.

2. Set Shot.props: ["<prop name>", ...] on every r2v shot where the prop is on screen and matters. Names must match a folder — case-sensitive, exact match.

3. State transitions: when the prop changes state mid-scene, swap the prop name across shots:

   "shots": [
     {"id": "S03-001", "kind": "r2v", "characters": ["陆辰"],
      "props": ["红包-完整"], "prompt": "陆辰把现金塞进红包内层"},
     {"id": "S03-002", "kind": "r2v", "characters": ["陆辰"],
      "props": ["红包-起皱"], "prompt": "陆辰紧攥红包, 边角微皱",
      "use_prev_last_frame_as_first": false},
     {"id": "S03-003", "kind": "r2v", "characters": ["陆辰","钱夫人"],
      "props": ["红包-撕碎"], "prompt": "钱夫人当面撕碎红包",
      "use_prev_last_frame_as_first": false}
   ]
   

   use_prev_last_frame_as_first: false on state-change shots — chaining through a state transition tries to interpolate frame-by-frame and produces flicker. Use a hard cut.

4. The renderer auto-appends each prop's reference image to the r2v shot's media[] after cast portraits and after the set image. You do NOT mention "[Image N] 红包" in the prompt — it's automatic.

5. DON'T re-describe the prop's appearance in the prompt. Same rule as cast: material / color / shape / wear belongs to the reference image. The prompt describes the action the character does WITH the prop ("stuff money in / crumple / tear / toss onto table"), framing, and at most a single state word ("creased red envelope" — never "large red hot-stamped envelope printed with 囍").

6. Provider image cap: r2v media[] has a hard ceiling (bl/happyhorse ~9, wan27 higher). Priority order: cast → set → props. If the cap is hit, the dispatcher drops props first with a warning. Mitigation:

   • Lower Shot.characters to who's actually visible in this beat.
   • Split crowd shots into a wide t2v + a tight r2v.

7. t2v shots ignore Shot.props. The validator warns. Either change kind to r2v (set characters: [] if no faces) or weave the prop's textual description into the t2v prompt manually.

Scaffolding a prop

See references/spark-video-cast/SKILL.md for the unified cast/set/prop scaffolding procedure.

NPC generation (before writing the storyboard)

If the screenplay's <!-- CAST CHECK --> block lists named NPCs who are not yet in cast.json, generate them BEFORE storyboarding via the spark-video-cast skill's NPC procedure.

After generation, re-read cast.json before continuing.

Validation + post-write

After all scene fragments are written, the producer runs:

uv run scripts/storyboard.py compile     # merge scenes/*.json → storyboard.json
uv run scripts/storyboard.py validate
uv run scripts/storyboard.py graph       # check chain group count
uv run scripts/storyboard.py estimate    # exit 2 if over budget

If validate flags warnings, fix the affected scenes/scene-NN.json files and re-compile.

If graph shows almost every shot in one giant chain, you've over-set use_prev_last_frame_as_first: true. Break chains where continuity isn't actually required.

Failure recovery (during render)

A shot's render or video review may fail. The producer hands you back a reviews/<shot>-verN.json plus the original shot. You:

1. Read the review's critique and breakdown.
2. Edit the corresponding shot in scenes/scene-NN.json — usually rewrite the prompt, sometimes change kind / duration / characters / seed.
3. Re-compile: uv run scripts/storyboard.py compile.
4. Re-render: uv run scripts/render_shot.py --shot <id> --force --reset-attempts.

The clip-review skill handles the first 2 retry rounds with auto prompt-rewrite. You only get called for escalation, when nuanced judgment is needed.

DON'Ts (spark-video-specific, on top of Shanyin red lines)

• Don't write the screenplay. The screenwriter does that.
• Don't invent character names not in cast.json.
• Don't write vendor-specific model strings into kind (e.g. wan2.7-r2v). Write t2v / i2v / r2v.
• Don't set use_prev_last_frame_as_first: true on the first shot of a scene unless you actually want a cross-scene chain.
• Don't blindly set duration: 15 on every shot. Match duration to narrative tempo. Dead air at the tail causes hard freezes when stitched.
• Don't call render_shot.py before storyboard.py validate passes.
• Don't assume a feature is available across all providers. Cross-check the capability table before relying on negative_prompt, voice, or first-frame r2v continuation.
• Don't write wardrobe / hairstyle / makeup / accessories in shot prompts. Cast portrait owns appearance. Solve costume changes by forking the cast — never by writing "wearing XXX" into the prompt.
• Don't omit age. Every chain group's first character mention must include the age. Without it, the model drifts apparent age across shots.
• Don't manually paste set / location descriptions into r2v shot prompts when the scene has set_id — the renderer attaches the set's reference image automatically.
• Don't reuse one set folder across different lighting / season / color-grade states. Scaffold separate folders.
• Don't mix set_id values inside one chain group. If a chain crosses a lighting boundary, split it (use_prev_last_frame_as_first: false).
• Don't describe a key prop's appearance (material / color / shape / wear) in the prompt when you've listed it in Shot.props.
• Don't reuse one prop folder across narrative states. intact / creased / torn (e.g. 红包-完整, 红包-起皱, 红包-撕碎) are three separate folders.
• Don't bolt Shot.props onto t2v / i2v shots — they have no media[] slot.
• Don't blow past the provider's image cap. Trim Shot.characters to who's actually visible.