Short Video Production Bible

Short-Video Production Bible

Purpose

In the canonical product/direction/story workflow, story-to-reusable-prompt invokes this skill internally during Stage 3 after story approval and during timed audiovisual-plan drafting. Users normally approve its compact output together with that plan rather than calling or approving it as an extra standalone step. Direct invocation remains valid when the user specifically requests a production-bible extraction or audit.

Create one compact source of truth between the approved story/draft audiovisual plan and video-prompt compilation:

approved story
→ draft timed audiovisual plan
→ compact production bible
→ joint plan+bible approval
→ video-prompt compilation

The bible prevents downstream guessing and cross-segment drift. It does not add a separate approval round: present it with the audiovisual plan and approve both together.

Scope

Handle:

• stable character identity and recognizable appearance;
• scene identity, usable layout, time, light, and spatial access;
• immutable product and prop appearance plus state paths;
• shot-entry, action, and shot-exit states;
• dialogue, voice, sound, and silence inheritance;
• generation-boundary continuity and reference-asset requirements;
• compact ID-based handoff and payload selection.

Do not repair plot causality, add events, choose a different creative direction, redesign shot timing, finalize missing dialogue, write storyboard/reference-image prompts, or produce generator-facing video prompts. Route those tasks to their owning skills.

Input and Authority

Infer the narrowest run mode:

RUN_MODE = INTERNAL_STAGE_3 | STANDALONE_BUILD | STANDALONE_AUDIT

Normalize the latest available inputs to the same field names used by the main workflow and Stage 5 compiler:

CURRENT_USER_CORRECTIONS
LOCKED_STORY
SELECTED_SHOT_STRUCTURE
AV_PLAN_DRAFT
TOTAL_DURATION
TARGET_MODEL
TARGET_PLATFORM
TARGET_COUNTRY
VOICE_LANGUAGE
ASPECT_RATIO
PRODUCT_REFERENCES
PRODUCT_IMMUTABLE_FIELDS
PRODUCT_STATE_PATH
PROP_REFERENCES when supplied
CHARACTER_REFERENCES
SCENE_REFERENCES
CAMERA_LOCKS
FINAL_DIALOGUE
SPEAKING_WINDOWS
SILENCE_LOCKS
SOUND_LOCKS
ENDING_FRAME
CONTENT_BOUNDARIES
REFERENCE_ASSETS when already supplied

Accept legacy aggregated names such as PRODUCT_AND_PROP_REFERENCES, CHARACTER_AND_SCENE_REFERENCES, FINAL_DIALOGUE_AND_SPEAKING_WINDOWS, SILENCE_AND_SOUND_LOCKS, or CAMERA_OR_STYLE_LOCKS, but normalize them internally instead of emitting a second vocabulary.

INTERNAL_STAGE_3 requires an approved LOCKED_STORY, a selected or user-locked shot structure, and AV_PLAN_DRAFT. A timed plan also requires TOTAL_DURATION. Dialogue, windows, silence, sound, camera, ending, and content boundaries may arrive inside the plan or as named locks; bind them without duplication. If story approval or the draft plan is missing, return the missing upstream artifact to story-to-reusable-prompt instead of inventing it. A standalone audit may inspect partial material, but must label the result NOT_HANDOFF_READY rather than imply approval.

Apply authority in this order:

1. current explicit user corrections;
2. approved story and user-named locks;
3. draft audiovisual plan for proposed shots, timing, dialogue, sound, and state changes;
4. supplied reference assets and product facts;
5. fictional casting or environment proposals authorized by a request to build or optimize the production bible;
6. open technical details that can remain flexible.

Never convert an inference into a user fact. Do not infer ethnicity, skin tone, body type, disability, class, profession, morality, or nationality from clothing, behavior, location, or another demographic field. Treat ethnicity or visible ancestry and skin tone as separate fields.

Classify unresolved issues before asking or blocking:

• UPSTREAM_LOCK_CONFLICT: the approved story, selected structure, draft plan, current correction, or supplied reference disagree. Return the exact conflicting fields to the owning main stage; do not resolve them inside the bible.
• BIBLE_CRITICAL_GAP: a missing casting, scene, product, prop, state, audio, or boundary choice would materially change what must be rendered or would cause visible continuity drift. Resolve it under the authority rules or return it for the joint review.
• DEFERRED_PACKAGING_DETAIL: model-call segmentation or another adapter-level choice is not decided yet but the approved creative states are sufficient. Keep a shot-boundary ledger or flexible field; do not block Stage 3 merely because Stage 5 packaging is unknown.

Deliverable wording controls proposal authority:

• build, complete, or optimize the production bible authorizes one reversible, story-compatible proposal for missing fictional casting and environment fields that pass the criticality test;
• extract, audit, or check only preserves missing fields and reports material gaps without filling them;
• neither mode authorizes product facts, operating instructions, claims, real identities, relationships, occupations, locations, or story events not already supplied or separately authorized.

Criticality Test

Retain or resolve a detail only when at least one condition is true:

• leaving it open could visibly recast an entity across generated segments;
• it controls physical action, blocking, camera access, reveal, product use, or continuity;
• it distinguishes two otherwise confusable characters, scenes, products, or props;
• it is required to select or use a reference asset;
• the user explicitly locked it.

Omit decorative detail that does not affect recognition, execution, continuity, or the requested effect. Do not complete a checklist merely because a field exists.

Workflow

1. Bind the approved story, any SELECTED_SHOT_STRUCTURE, and current draft plan. Preserve canonical Beat, Block, Shot, Panel, and Segment identities, meanings, and order. The selected structure's audience relation, viewpoint, coverage density, cut policy, proof emphasis, and ending grammar constrain the plan but are not separate entity-card content.
2. Extract every supplied or reviewed stable fact before proposing anything new.
3. Build short canonical entity records with stable IDs such as CHAR_01, SCENE_01, PROD_01, and PROP_01.
4. Apply the criticality test. Separate global locks, shot-local state changes, flexible fields, and unresolved material choices.
5. In build/optimize work, propose the smallest coherent completion of production-critical fictional casting and environment fields. Mark every such choice as proposed until the user approves the combined plan and bible. In extract/audit-only work, report those gaps instead.
6. When a missing choice is material and outside this proposal authority, do not hide it inside a default. In INTERNAL_STAGE_3, return one concise grouped 待确认的关键缺口 to story-to-reusable-prompt, which owns the user interaction and joint review. In standalone mode, ask the user directly. Never create a separate internal-helper approval round.
7. Bind each shot to referenced entity IDs and its existing action, then record only entering state, state change, and leaving state. Reference the plan action rather than copying it unless a minimal action fragment is necessary to explain the state transition. Do not restate unchanged entity cards.
8. Build full boundary records only for actual generation or edit boundaries already known. When model-call packaging is still open, preserve the approved per-shot exit/start states in a compact shot-boundary ledger and let Stage 5 materialize call boundaries without changing creative states.
9. Identify reference assets that materially improve identity or geometry stability. State the asset and its role; do not write the image-generation prompt.
10. Compress the result and run the applicable gates before returning it with the audiovisual plan for one joint approval.

Read references/production-bible-schema.md when building or revising a bible. Use references/regression-cases.md when materially revising this skill.

Character Rule

For each visually persistent foreground person, build one compact identity fingerprint from relevant approved or authorized fields. “Persistent” includes recurrence across Shots, Panels, reference assets, or independent generation calls, not only recurrence across final model segments. Check, without forcing invisible or irrelevant fields:

• role and character ID;
• age range and gender presentation;
• visible ancestry or facial identity when material;
• skin-tone depth and undertone when material;
• height band or relative height;
• body build and useful proportions;
• face shape, hair color/texture/style, facial hair, eyewear, or one distinguishing feature;
• stable wardrobe layers, footwear, accessories, posture, or movement signature.

Separate immutable identity from beat-level condition. Emotion, pose, dirt, wetness, injury, carried objects, open/closed garments, and wardrobe changes belong in shot states when they change over time.

Without a controlling character reference, the fingerprint for a named or recurring foreground human must normally resolve every major casting axis that is visible in the approved coverage: age band, gender presentation, a concrete facial/phenotypic identity anchor, skin-tone depth, height or relative height, body build/proportions, hair, stable wardrobe, and at least one useful distinguishing or movement anchor. Use a facial description instead of an ethnicity label when that is sufficient. Omit an axis when the framing cannot show it or it cannot affect recognition. Never leave “man,” “woman,” “young person,” or wardrobe alone as the full fingerprint when later Shots or calls must preserve the same person.

If the source says only “a man around 30 with short hair, a dark-gray jacket, jeans, and a canvas bag,” preserve those facts and identify only the missing casting choices that would materially alter generation. In build/optimize mode, supply one coherent proposed completion for joint review; in extract/audit-only mode, leave them unresolved. Never present a proposed height, build, visible ancestry, skin tone, or other appearance as a supplied or approved fact.

Compression and Payload Economy

• Define each stable fact in one authoritative location.
• Give each entity a short VISUAL_FINGERPRINT; keep supporting fields only when they change execution.
• In shot records, reference IDs and record only deltas from the canonical entity state.
• Keep provenance, rejected options, approval history, calculation ledgers, and internal gate results out of downstream prompt payloads.
• Mark REFERENCE_ONLY details that are reliably carried by an attached asset; retain only the text needed to preserve required identity or state.
• A generator call must receive the relevant entity fingerprints and local states it needs to stand alone, never the entire bible by default.
• Repetition is allowed once per independently submitted generator call when the repeated identity anchor is necessary for that call to remain self-contained.

Approval and Revision

The production bible shares the audiovisual-plan approval gate. Before approval, label proposed casting, environment, or state choices clearly. After the user approves the combined plan and bible, treat all included stable facts, shot states, dialogue/audio locks, and boundary records as APPROVED_PRODUCTION_BIBLE.

Use PRODUCTION_BIBLE_STATUS: DRAFT while it is presented with AV_PLAN_STATUS: WAITING_FOR_CONFIRMATION. Joint approval promotes that same reviewed version to PRODUCTION_BIBLE_STATUS: APPROVED_WITH_AV_PLAN; do not regenerate a different bible or request another approval. A standalone partial audit remains NOT_HANDOFF_READY until its required upstream artifacts and blocking gaps are resolved.

• A changed premise, event, relationship, reveal, or speech meaning reopens story approval.
• A changed shot, final line, speaking window, or material production-bible field reopens only joint audiovisual-plan/bible approval.
• A compatible technical change inside an approved flexible field needs local validation, not a new creative review.

Output Contract

Return only the sections needed by the case under one 制作圣经（随音画分镜一并确认） heading:

1. 全局固定项 — compact entity fingerprints and true global locks;
2. 分镜状态差量 — per Block/Shot entity references, entry state, change, and exit state;
3. 跨段连续性 — only actual generation/edit boundaries;
4. 参考资产需求 — only assets whose role is material;
5. 待确认的关键缺口 — blocking choices only; omit when empty;
6. 下游可自由决定 — meaningful technical fields intentionally left open; omit when empty.

Do not duplicate the full story or audiovisual plan. Do not emit video-model prompt prose. If a blocking choice remains, the combined plan stays WAITING_FOR_CONFIRMATION; after resolution, update only affected entity, shot, and boundary records.

The approved artifact must be directly embeddable as APPROVED_PRODUCTION_BIBLE inside the main workflow's LOCKED_VIDEO_HANDOFF. Preserve canonical entity IDs, source Shot/Block IDs, reference roles, flexible fields, and state boundaries so short-video-visual-prompts can select a segment-local payload without renaming entities or recreating production design.

Validation

• INPUT_READINESS_GATE: internal Stage 3 has an approved story, selected structure, draft audiovisual plan, and required timing; partial standalone audits are not mislabeled ready.
• AUTHORITY_GATE: no proposed/default detail overrides approved or supplied content.
• UPSTREAM_CONFLICT_GATE: contradictions between the story, structure, plan, corrections, or references are returned to the owning stage rather than silently resolved.
• STRUCTURE_INHERITANCE_GATE: state extraction and reference planning do not change the selected viewpoint, coverage density, actual editorial cuts, reveal strategy, proof emphasis, or ending grammar.
• VISUAL_IDENTITY_GATE: persistent characters and products have enough approved identity to avoid material recasting.
• MAJOR_CASTING_AMBIGUITY_GATE: a named or recurring foreground human is not handed downstream with only age, hair, and clothing when visible height, build, skin tone, or facial identity remain free to drift.
• SCENE_EXECUTION_GATE: layout, access, light, and essential prop positions support the approved actions.
• STATE_PATH_GATE: character, product, prop, and environment changes have clear entry and exit states.
• BOUNDARY_GATE: every actual generation boundary has compatible end/start states.
• AUDIO_INHERITANCE_GATE: exact lines, speaker, windows, mouth state, sound, and silence are inherited without rewriting.
• REFERENCE_ROLE_GATE: each requested asset has a defined entity and purpose; no unnecessary reference list is generated.
• COMPRESSION_GATE: stable facts appear once, shot records contain deltas, and downstream selection can omit unrelated entities.
• APPROVAL_GATE: no material AI-created choice is represented as approved before joint plan+bible confirmation.
• HANDOFF_COMPATIBILITY_GATE: the approved bible can enter LOCKED_VIDEO_HANDOFF with the same entity and Shot/Block IDs and without a second naming system or first-time production design.

Adjacent Handoffs

• story-to-reusable-prompt is the canonical main entry and owns story repair, story approval, timed audiovisual planning, final dialogue, invocation of this Stage 3 helper, and the joint approval interaction.
• This skill normalizes the draft plan and approved story into APPROVED_PRODUCTION_BIBLE; it does not own either story or shot design.
• short-video-visual-prompts consumes the approved bible and plan, selecting only the relevant records for each generation segment.
• short-video-storyboard-prompts creates requested reference-image boards or prompts from the identified asset requirements.
• short-video-prompt-architect may inherit the approved bible when compiling fixed and variable boundaries into a reusable project Prompt.