Clips Studio

Clips Studio

Generate a short video clip through deliberate stages — brainstorm → draft cheaply → produce the final at quality — using fal.ai. The moving-image sibling of image-studio. The point of the staging is cost and control: video is the dearest thing on fal (roughly 10–100× a still), so you lock the idea on a cheap model first, then spend on a quality model only once, on the agreed clip.

This skill generates files locally for the user to review and use. It never posts, publishes, or sends anything as final collateral.

Scope and routing

Use this skill only when all of the following are true:

1. The task is generative video — a clip from a prompt, animating a still, or a camera move over a still — not slide/deck production, charting, dashboarding, or design-template automation.
2. The user is comfortable with fal.ai egress and paid API usage.
3. The local helper workflow is available, or the user is asking you to prepare the brief for it.

Do not use this skill for:

• Still images (use image-studio), Canva-style templates, slide decks, data charts, dashboards, flowcharts or diagrams.
• Confidential or sensitive image/document processing.
• Any host environment where a native video-generation tool is explicitly mandated.

Three modes — choose this first

Pick the one that matches what the user has and wants:

• Text-to-video (generate) — a clip from a prompt, with no source image. Best for concept, abstract/motion-graphic, brand-mood or b-roll-style clips with no still to start from. It invents everything, so it is never the way to depict a real place, product or person — animate a real photo for that.
• Animate a still (animate) — bring an existing image to life: a product turning, people interacting, a scene, foliage/water/light. The clip animates what is in the frame.
  • Adding a new subject to an EMPTY scene (people to a room, product to a set) is a two-step job. Video models animate what they see; they don't reliably invent believable new subjects. So first add the subject to the still with image-studio (an instruction edit), review it, then animate the populated still here.
• Camera move (camera) — extrapolate a camera motion over a still: a slow push-in, pan, tilt, shallow orbit or pull-out (a "3D"/parallax feel; an interior "3D view"). The subject can be static; the camera moves. This is the riskiest mode for honesty (it invents unseen geometry) — keep moves gentle and read references/motion-honesty-guide.md first.

All three use the same staging below and the same scripts/falvid.py helper (generate / animate / camera).

Before you start — egress and preflight

Generating a clip sends the prompt (and for animate/camera, the start image you provide) to fal.ai, a third-party US service, and the result clip is downloaded from its CDN. That is external data egress.

Before any API call:

1. Confirm the task is in scope.
2. Confirm explicit user go-ahead for fal.ai egress and paid API usage before the first generation in a session.
3. Confirm explicit user go-ahead again before the costlier Stage-3 production run — quote the estimated cost (video clips can be several dollars each).
4. Check that scripts/falvid.py exists, dependencies are installed, FAL_KEY is set, and the working directory is writable.
5. For animate/camera, use only non-confidential images the user has rights to process through fal.ai.
6. Use the exact output paths printed by falvid.py; do not infer filenames from examples.

Never feed confidential or sensitive imagery to fal.ai — e.g. a private person's photo, confidential documents, or anything under NDA. If the user asks to animate something sensitive, stop and flag the egress issue rather than uploading it.

Brainstorming in Stage 1 is pure chat and has no egress, so you can always draft the brief first and confirm the send afterwards.

Setup needed: a fal.ai account with billing, and the FAL_KEY — either the environment variable, or just saved in a text file in the working folder (any filename, e.g. fal key.txt). The helper finds the key automatically — env var first, then any small text file in the working folder, then the home dir — detecting it by content (a FAL_KEY=your-key line or the raw id:secret key), so don't ask the user for a key before checking; only prompt if none is found. It uses the fal-client package (pip install fal-client requests). If no key is found the helper fails with a clear message — generation cannot proceed without it, but Stage 1 still works. (Keep any key file local; never commit it.)

Stage 1 — Brainstorm the brief (no API call)

A good clip starts from a precise brief, so invest here before spending. Interview the user and agree:

• The source — for animate/camera, which still are we using? (For animate of an empty scene, has the subject been added via image-studio yet?) For generate, there's no still — agree the scene to describe. Keep any original in _workings/ untouched.
• The motion / subject — name the action, not a mood. "A nice product video" is vague; "the bottle slowly rotates on a plinth, soft studio light sweeping across the label" is concrete. For camera, name the move in cinematographic terms ("slow dolly push-in", "pan left", "shallow orbit").
• Length — default 5 seconds. Keep it short; cost scales with every second. 4–6s suits a social/web loop.
• Aspect & orientation — anchor to the destination: 16:9 web/hero, 9:16 reel/story, 1:1 social. For animate/camera, match the output to the source's orientation and pass --aspect explicitly (see the check below). For generate there's no source, so choose the target aspect.
• Audio — FLUX 3 generates audio by default (native, included free). The script sends generate_audio=true for FLUX 3 models automatically — pass --no-audio to disable. For non-FLUX-3 models (Kling, Seedance, Veo), audio is off by default — opt in with --audio. So the brief must cover sound for FLUX 3, not just motion. Agree with the user:
  • Ambient sound — what's naturally in the scene (rain patter, traffic, birds, machinery hum).
  • Music — say "no music" if unwanted, or name the genre/feel ("soft ambient piano", "upbeat electronic"). Each layer lands separately.
  • Speech — a quoted line becomes speech only if a speaker is visible on camera. Without one it renders as burned-in text. Quote the line, describe the speaker, and add "no on-screen text, no subtitles" to prevent burned-in captions.
  • Silence — if the user wants no audio at all, pass --no-audio (FLUX 3) or simply don't pass --audio (other models).

Aspect & orientation — check the source before you generate (applies to animate/camera). Compare the source still's orientation to the intended video frame (usually 16:9 for web, 9:16 for reels). If they differ — e.g. a portrait or square phone shot for a 16:9 video — don't just generate:

1. First, ask the user for a properly-oriented photo — a landscape shot for a landscape clip, a vertical shot for a vertical clip. A source that already matches the target frame is the cleanest, most honest result.
2. If the user wants to proceed with the mismatched source anyway, check in on which approach — never decide it silently:
   • (2) Pillarbox / letterbox — keep the source's orientation and place the clip inside the target frame with side/top fill (bars, or a soft blur of the same shot). Honest — nothing is invented; you just get bars. Usually a step in the user's video editor.
   • (3) Generatively extend (outpaint) the still to the target aspect first, then animate — full-bleed, but the model invents the surroundings that weren't photographed. Combo with image-studio (an instruction edit at the target --aspect). Two musts before any video spend: (a) ground the extension — ask the user for reference images of what's actually around the subject so the model reconstructs the real context rather than inventing it; (b) confirm the extended still with the user BEFORE animating — take corrections, re-edit, approve, then animate. Illustrative only; never present it as the real setting.
3. Never (1) force-crop to the target aspect — on a mismatched source the model centre-crops and discards most of the subject (a tall building loses its top and bottom). It is off the table.

When the orientation does match, still pass --aspect to match the source so the helper doesn't fall back to 16:9 and crop.

Save the agreed brief to _workings/ (for example _workings/brief_[slug].md) so the run is auditable. Keep prompts free of confidential detail. This step replaces a cheap prototype for the idea — confirm the brief (and the start image, for animate/camera) before the first paid call.

Prompting craft. Read references/video-prompting-techniques.md before the first generation in a session — it covers grounding real subjects, audio layer control, multi-shot syntax, speech vs burned-in text, and continuation/chaining. These techniques work across all fal.ai video models, not just one. The short version: write plain prose (not keyword tags), ground anything with a real checkable appearance, and specify what matters — what you leave out is the model's call.

Stage 2 — Draft cheaply

Render a draft on FLUX 3 Draft (cheap, HD only, native audio included) so you can react for a fraction of the full cost — $0.06/s vs $0.17/s for the full render.

• animate — default FLUX 3 Image-to-Video Draft (blackforestlabs/flux-3/image-to-video/draft, ~$0.06/s → ~$0.30 for 5s, native audio):

  python scripts/falvid.py animate \
    --prompt "[the agreed motion, including audio description]" \
    --image _workings/[source-still].png \
    --duration 5 --aspect 16:9 \
    --run-log _workings/run-log_[slug].md \
    --out-dir _workings --name vid_[slug]_draft
  

• generate (text-to-video) — default FLUX 3 Text-to-Video Draft (blackforestlabs/flux-3/text-to-video/draft, ~$0.06/s → ~$0.30 for 5s, native audio):

  python scripts/falvid.py generate \
    --prompt "[the scene to create, including audio description]" \
    --duration 5 --aspect 16:9 \
    --out-dir _workings --name vid_[slug]_draft
  

• camera — default Seedance 1.5 Pro (unchanged — strongest camera control); --move offers gentle presets (push-in, pull-out, pan-left/right, tilt-up/down, orbit, crane-up), and --static locks the camera entirely:

  python scripts/falvid.py camera --move push-in \
    --image _workings/[still].png --duration 5 --aspect 16:9 \
    --out-dir _workings --name vid_[slug]_draft
  

Save the draft's seed — it's printed in the run log and cost log. You need it for Draft Enhance (Stage 3) to re-render the same motion at full quality.

Watch the draft for motion problems — warping faces/hands (the hardest thing for every model; see references/motion-honesty-guide.md), the camera drifting through walls, objects morphing, jittery motion. On feedback, the first move is a better prompt, not a pricier model: tighten the action, reduce the number of moving subjects, slow the camera, then re-draft. Loop cheaply until the motion is right. Always use the exact saved paths printed by the helper.

Stage 3 — Produce the final

Once the motion is approved on the draft, confirm the go-ahead and the cost again — this is the main spend. Put the estimate to the user explicitly, e.g. "final as a 5s FLUX 3 clip at 720p, native audio, ~$0.85 — go ahead?"

Preferred: Draft Enhance (same seed + motion, full quality)

If you drafted on FLUX 3 Draft (Stage 2), the most efficient path to the final is Draft Enhance — re-render the approved draft at full quality using its same seed, so the motion and composition carry over exactly. You only pay the full-render cost (not another draft + full):

python scripts/falvid.py enhance \
  --prompt "[the same prompt used for the draft]" \
  --image _workings/[source-still].png \
  --seed [the draft's seed from the run log] \
  --duration 5 --resolution 1080p --aspect 16:9 \
  --run-log _workings/run-log_[slug].md \
  --out-dir . --name vid_[slug]_final

This is the default workflow when you drafted on FLUX 3 Draft. The seed locks the motion; the full render adds fidelity, corrects artefacts, and upgrades to 1080p.

Alternative: full render from scratch

If you didn't draft on FLUX 3, or want a fresh render from the locked prompt:

• animate / generate (people, product, general realism) → FLUX 3 (blackforestlabs/flux-3/image-to-video, or …/text-to-video) — best real-world understanding, native audio included free; $0.17/s (720p) / $0.29/s (1080p). Up to 20s. Leaner: Kling 3.0 Pro (fal-ai/kling-video/v3/pro/...). Premium: Veo 3.1 (fal-ai/veo3.1/image-to-video, $0.20/s no-audio / $0.40/s audio).

• camera (camera move) → Seedance 1.5 Pro (fal-ai/bytedance/seedance/v1.5/pro/image-to-video) is already the camera default — strongest camera control and a true camera_fixed lock; ~$0.26 for a 720p/5s clip. For a premium native 4K move, Kling v3 4K (fal-ai/kling-video/v3/4k/image-to-video).

python scripts/falvid.py animate \
  --prompt "[the approved motion, including audio]" --image _workings/[source-still].png \
  --model blackforestlabs/flux-3/image-to-video --duration 5 --resolution 1080p --aspect 16:9 \
  --run-log _workings/run-log_[slug].md \
  --out-dir . --name vid_[slug]_final

Save the finished clip at the work-folder root as vid_[slug]_final.mp4, or whatever exact filename the helper prints. Tell the user the file path and remind them it is a draft clip for review — not published material, and not a literal record of a real place, product or person.

The honesty line

A moving clip is more persuasive than a still, so the discipline scales with how real the subject is (full detail in references/motion-honesty-guide.md):

• Don't fabricate facts about a real thing. Don't invent a feature, finish, view or capability a real product/space doesn't have; don't imply an occupancy, clientele or popularity that isn't real. Text-to-video invents everything → never use it to depict a real, identifiable subject; animate a real photo instead.
• Camera moves invent geometry the camera never saw. A slow push-in or a locked camera invents almost nothing; an aggressive orbit or fly-through hallucinates whole spaces. Prefer gentle moves, prefer --static where it works, and never present an extrapolated clip as a real walkthrough or a faithful layout.
• People & likeness. Use generated, non-identifiable people for mood; never animate an identifiable real person without consent, and never upload a private person's photo.
• When literal accuracy matters (a listing, a spec claim), a real shoot or a proper 3D capture is the faithful gold standard — this is a fast first-pass marketing draft.

Model choices

The helper defaults to FLUX 3 for draft and full renders — best real-world understanding, native audio included free, up to 20s clips, and a Draft Enhance workflow that re-renders the approved draft at full quality with the same seed. Override with --model [endpoint-id]. The current verified endpoint IDs, their role and approximate cost live in references/fal-video-models.md. fal.ai's catalogue changes — if a model ID errors, check that reference and the fal.ai model gallery rather than guessing. Anything marked (verify) there has not been confirmed against the live gallery in this build (several text-to-video IDs/rates are (verify) — confirm before relying on the cost). Stick with the proven defaults unless a result is genuinely unsatisfactory; the first fix is a better prompt or a gentler move, not a model hunt.

The helper — scripts/falvid.py

One script, three generation subcommands plus costs. It reads FAL_KEY from the environment, uploads any local --image to fal storage, calls the model via fal_client.subscribe (which polls the async video queue and blocks until the clip is ready — this can take several minutes; don't interrupt it), downloads the MP4 locally, and prints the saved path plus an estimated cost. Run python scripts/falvid.py -h or python scripts/falvid.py [subcommand] -h for all options.

Key flags:

• generate (text-to-video) — --prompt (required), --duration, --resolution, --aspect, --audio, --seed, --model, --out-dir, --name. No --image.
• animate — --prompt (required), --image (required), then --duration/--resolution/--aspect/ --audio/--seed/--model/--out-dir/--name.
• camera — --move (gentle preset) and/or --prompt, --static (lock the camera), --image (required), then the same flags.
• enhance — FLUX 3 Draft Enhance: --prompt (required), --image (required), --seed (required, from the draft's run log), --mode (generate or animate, default animate), then the same flags. Re-renders the draft at full quality using the same seed — locks motion, upgrades fidelity.
• costs — print the running cost tally for the session, with --reset to clear it.
• recommend — the recommended default model per mode (generate/animate/camera), with live pricing. Read-only, no spend.
• search "term" — search the live fal catalogue (--category, --limit); each hit shown with its live price, category and licence. Read-only. Find a model the defaults don't cover — then still prefer the default unless it genuinely falls short.
• --arg key=value / --arg-json '{...}' — escape hatch to pass a raw model parameter the flags don't cover (e.g. --arg negative_prompt='blurry, distorted', --arg end_image_url=...).
• --run-log _workings/run-log_[slug].md — append a human-readable markdown audit log.
• --verbose — stream the model's own progress logs. Off by default.

The helper maps the start-image argument per model (image_url, or start_image_url for Kling v3), casts --duration to the type each model wants, only sends generate_audio to models that accept it, and applies camera_fixed for --static on Seedance (or adds a "static shot" instruction for models without the parameter). If a call fails because the fal balance is exhausted, it prints clear guidance rather than a raw stack trace. A worked end-to-end run is in examples/example-run.md.

Costs and balance

Video billing is messy — per-second (Kling, Veo) or per-clip/per-token (Seedance, Hailuo), and the exact figure depends on output duration, fps, resolution and audio, which the API does not return. So falvid.py leads with a verified-rate estimate from its registry (mirrors references/fal-video-models.md) computed from the requested duration and clearly flagged as an estimate (there is no live pricing-API lookup for video). The fal dashboard is the authoritative charge. Each run is appended to ./_falvid-costs.jsonl; run python scripts/falvid.py costs for the session breakdown. Quote the estimate before the final render and keep drafts cheap and short. Balance is shown only if a fal Admin key is set in FAL_ADMIN_KEY; the normal FAL_KEY cannot read billing (HTTP 403).

Principles

• Drafts, not advice — outputs are drafts for a person to review, not finished published material.
• Never invent — do not fabricate costs, model IDs, capabilities, or output paths. If uncertain, say so. Don't fabricate facts about a real subject in a clip.
• Deterministic where it counts — cost tracking, file naming and model routing are deterministic; the LLM handles creative judgment only.
• Honesty and calibration — flag uncertainty, don't overstate quality, show costs.
• Workspace hygiene — deliverables at the work-folder root; interim files in _workings/; superseded versions in _superseded/.

Data handling

Prompts and any start image sent to fal.ai leave the user's control to a third-party tool, so follow a PII / data-egress rule: do not send confidential or sensitive content to fal.ai. Keep real source and output files on the local machine. When in doubt, do not egress; ask the user first.

Pitfalls

1. Match the source orientation — the models don't reliably inherit it; Seedance defaults to 16:9 and centre-crops a portrait/square still. Pass --aspect to match (a 3:4 source → --aspect 3:4).
2. Hands and fine object interaction break — holding/pouring/gripping is the hardest motion for every model. Design it out (park object-handling subjects), don't pay a pricier model to fix it.
3. Screens/TVs fabricate content — any "alive" cue makes the model cut/zoom the on-screen image; keep screen motion out of the brief, or let a camera move mask it.
4. Confirm before Stage 3 — that's the main spend; a 5s Veo clip with audio is ~$2.
5. Use actual saved paths — examples are placeholders; use the paths printed by falvid.py.
6. Text-to-video is never for a real subject — it invents everything; animate a real photo.
7. Video is slow — a single clip can take several minutes; the helper blocks while fal renders it.
8. Text-to-video rates are (verify) — sanity-check the first generate cost on the dashboard.

Verification checklist

• Scope is video generation, not deck/chart/diagram/design-template work.
• User confirmed fal.ai egress and paid API usage before the first API call.
• Source orientation checked; --aspect passed to match (or the mismatch handled via pillarbox / grounded+confirmed outpaint — never a force-crop).
• Brief saved to _workings/; drafted cheaply and iterated before the quality render.
• Actual printed output paths were used, not inferred paths.
• User confirmed go-ahead and saw the cost estimate before Stage 3.
• Text-to-video was not used to depict a real, identifiable subject.
• Final clip saved at the work-folder root; user told the path and reminded it is a draft.
• --run-log used, or the JSONL cost log reviewed; cost summary printed via falvid.py costs.