Character-Locked Scene for a Multi-Clip Video

Use case: Product teaser (template 1)

| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Subject | A matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe |
| Action | 1) A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim; 2) the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn; 3) the final second holds still on the dripper's front, copper rim catching the light |
| Scene | A walnut kitchen counter by a window, early morning just after sunrise, a faint haze of steam in the air, uncluttered background |
| Angle / Move | Vertical close-up at counter height, slightly above eye level / slow dolly in |
| Lens | 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field, kitchen background in soft bokeh |
| Light / Palette / Mood | Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim on the copper / matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut, soft cream highlights / calm, quiet, unhurried |
| Style / Time | Premium commercial look, photorealistic / real-time pace, steady trickle throughout, still hold in the last second |
| Audio | Close, clear coffee trickling into glass, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music |
| Negative | text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look |

Final prompt (paste into Veo / Gemini / Flow):

Premium commercial look, photorealistic, vertical close-up at counter height of a matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper with a thin polished copper rim, sitting on a clear glass carafe on a walnut kitchen counter by a window in the early morning just after sunrise. A thin stream of dark coffee trickles from the dripper into the carafe while soft steam curls up from the rim, and the dripper and carafe turn a slow quarter turn. Slow dolly in, 85mm-style telephoto feel, shallow depth of field with the kitchen background in soft bokeh. Soft low-angle morning sunlight from a window on the left with gentle fill and a warm rim light catching the copper, palette of matte black, warm copper, honey-brown walnut and soft cream highlights, calm and quiet mood. Real-time pace; the final second holds still on the dripper's front.
Audio: close, clear sound of coffee trickling into a glass carafe, a faint soft drip, quiet low morning room tone, no music.
Negative prompt: text, logos, letters, labels, hands, people, clutter, reflections of people, plastic look

Settings: 9:16, 8 seconds, audio on.

Beat sheet

| Beat | Purpose | What the viewer must get | Seconds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hook | A reporter in the rain, recording a source who is trusting him with something | 4 |
| 2 | Problem / stakes | The recording is precious and private; the small device in his wet hand is what holds it | 4 |
| 3 | Reveal | Later that night, at home, he sets Fieldnote down and starts it working | 4 |
| 4 | Proof | The words appear on its own e-ink screen: transcribed on the device, no laptop, no cloud | 8 |
| 5 | Payoff + CTA | He has every word, privately; music enters; end line | 4 |

Storyboard table (shots 1–3 of 6)

| # | Sec (gen → use) | Framing | Camera move | Subject action | Dialogue / on-screen text | Audio / ambience | Continuity notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 → 4 | Medium shot, eye level, over the source's shoulder (her back soft in frame-left foreground); he stands under the awning facing screen left | Slow handheld push-in | Holds Fieldnote out toward her at chest height; listens; gives one small nod | Source (on camera, from behind): "They said it would stay between us." | Location A bed; her voice close; rain on the awning | Location A. Faces screen left. Recorder in his right hand, red light on. Jacket zipped halfway, wet shoulders. |
| 2 | 4 → 4 | Extreme close-up on his right hand holding Fieldnote, the source's coat a soft blur beyond | Static | Rain beads on the graphite body; the red light glows steadily; his thumb shifts once on the edge | VO: "What they tell me stays with me." | Location A bed, close rain ticks on the device | Location A. Recorder points screen left. Screen pale grey and blank. Ends with recorder centred, for a match cut. |
| 3 | 4 → 4 | Medium close-up on the kitchen table under the pendant lamp | Static | His right hand enters from frame right and sets Fieldnote down, centred; his thumb presses the round button; hand withdraws | none | Location B bed; soft tap of the recorder on wood; one button click | Location and lighting change (B). Match cut from shot 2 on recorder position. Device dry now, red light off. |

[The full answer continues with shots 4–6 and a coverage alternate, the ten-line continuity block pasted word for word into all seven shot prompts, each prompt's first and last frame, and the stitch plan with voice-over script, caption placement and export settings.]

Settings: model `sora-2` · size `1280x720` · seconds `8` · characters: none

Before

A cool cinematic shot of a woman drinking coffee in a nice cafe, make it 10 seconds.

After

Style: Contemporary 35 mm film look, natural and understated, soft contrast, fine grain, warm-neutral grade.

A small neighbourhood cafe on a quiet weekday morning. A woman in her early 30s with shoulder-length dark hair tied loosely back, wearing an oatmeal knit sweater, sits alone at a round marble table by a large street-facing window. In front of her: a white ceramic cup of black coffee on a matching saucer and a folded paper napkin. Behind her, out of focus, a wooden counter with an espresso machine and a barista moving between shelves of cups. Thin steam rises from the cup and catches the window light.

Cinematography:
Camera: medium close-up, eye level, from across the table at a slight angle; slow dolly-in
Lens: 50 mm feel; shallow depth of field, sharp on her face and the cup, background soft
Lighting: soft morning daylight through the window from camera left as key; warm tungsten pendant glow from the counter as background fill
Palette anchors: cream, warm walnut brown, soft white, muted sage, coffee black
Mood: calm, quiet, unhurried

Actions:
- She wraps both hands around the cup and lifts it slowly (first two seconds).
- She blows lightly across the surface, then takes one small sip.
- She lowers the cup to the saucer and looks out the window with a faint, relaxed smile (final two seconds).

Background Sound:
Low hiss of the espresso machine, soft clink of cups at the counter, muffled murmur of a few voices; no score.

What changed and why

- Removed "make it 10 seconds". Duration is an API parameter, not prose, and 10 is not a supported value (4, 8, 12, 16, 20). Set `seconds: 8` in the call; the prompt now fits 8 seconds of action.
- "Cool cinematic shot" became a named style. A specific aesthetic instead of a vague adjective, set first so it frames everything else.
- "Drinking coffee" became three timed beats. Lift, blow and sip, lower and look out. Beats with timing cues are far more reliable than a single vague verb.

[five more changes in the full answer: subject anchors, concrete nouns, one camera move, named light sources, background sound]

Ledgerly launch film: storylines (source: README.md and public/landing.html; every claim quoted from them)

The one thing: "Bookkeeping that files itself." In the viewer's words: "I only spend ten minutes on Friday confirming a few transactions." Spine: one freelancer, one Friday review, one real transaction travelling from the bank feed to the tax-ready report.

A. "Friday, 4:50 pm" (recommended). Device: a moment in someone's day. Form: object-to-object chain. A freelancer's week ends with a notification, "12 transactions to confirm", and the viewer expects an evening of spreadsheet work. Instead each thing they touch opens the next: the notification becomes the review queue, a confirmed row becomes a paid invoice whose reminders stop, the invoice becomes the line in a tax-ready report, and the export button becomes the Ledgerly mark. First two seconds: a laptop desktop at 16:50 on a Friday, a notification slides in, the cursor is already moving toward it. Look: the brand's ink-dark ground #01010d, one violet glow behind the product only, Bricolage Grotesque 800 titles, mint #88f9c0 rationed to the confirm tick, the paid stamp and "Start free". Sound: warm minimal pulse ~110 bpm, soft ticks on each confirm, a "paid" chime when the reminders stop.

B. "The 3%". Device: a number lands. Form: an endless zoom. A bank feed scrolls past too fast to read, everything sliding into place on its own; the camera dives into the few rows that did not, the "3% you need to confirm", and each confirm zooms into the next world.

C. "Files itself" (the bold one). Device: type carries the argument. Form: one frame that rebuilds. "Bookkeeping" breaks into transaction rows, "files" becomes folders the rows drop into, "itself" folds into the export button, the full stop becomes the mint dot of the logo.

Assumptions: 18–22 s, 16:9 1920×1080 at 30 fps, music and effects, no voice. Only you can answer: the landing page has no product screenshot; can you send the Friday review queue, an invoice with its reminder schedule, and the report export? Without them those beats use labelled placeholders.

SPEC.md (storyline A, excerpt)
GOAL: a freelancer feels "my Friday admin is ten minutes now" and clicks Start free.
TIME: 20 s × 30 fps = 600 frames. Music 110 BPM = 16.4 frames per beat.
MOTION: enter power3.out 18 f; move power2.inOut 14 f; exit power2.in 10 f; one spring (damping 0.55) on the paid stamp only; row stagger 3 f.
S1 0–48 Hook: desktop, clock "Fri 16:50", notification in by f6, click at f40.
S3 120–168 Reveal: "Bookkeeping that files itself." 104 px, "files itself." in mint, rows file themselves behind it.
S4b 244–320 Proof, chase: reminder chips Day 3 / 7 / 14 light in turn; money lands, chips stop, paid stamp springs.
S7 528–600 End card: Export button collapses into the mark f528–546, "Start free" lands f564 and holds.
BANNED: the purple glow anywhere but behind the product window; a title over a dimmed screenshot; the logo strip (no source says they are customers); any claim beyond the source; "Introducing" as the first line.
Next, with the CLI: npx hyperframes init ledgerly-launch --skip-skills → scenes → npx hyperframes check --json → snapshot --review → preview. […]

8-second cinematic product teaser, one continuous shot.

Subject: a fictional woman in her thirties at a wooden desk, white shirt with rolled sleeves.
Action: she closes her laptop, exhales, and lets a slow smile arrive; the laptop closes exactly at second 4 and nothing else happens.
Camera: slow dolly push-in from a medium shot to a medium close-up, steady speed, slight handheld feel, holds for the last 2 seconds.
Lighting: golden-hour window light from frame-left with a warm desk lamp filling the shadow side; skin tones warm and natural; subtle film grain.
Setting: a quiet home office, plant on the sill, no readable text, no logos, no legible screen.
Audio: quiet room tone, the soft click of the laptop at second 4, very soft piano entering at second 5 and resolving at second 8. No voice-over.

Leave clean negative space on the right third for a headline overlay.

Render notes: the push-in ends tighter than expected — if the headline space is compromised, change "medium close-up" to "medium shot" and re-render; everything else holds.

Image-to-video, 8 seconds, from the attached reference still.

Locked (must not change): the woman's face, pose and wardrobe; the café table, the window and every object on the table; the cream-and-sage palette; the camera angle and framing; the light direction from the window.
Motion (subtle, continuous): steam rising from the coffee cup; a few strands of hair lifting in a soft breeze; she turns one page of the book.
Timing: the page turn happens once, at second 3; steam and hair are ambient and barely visible.
Camera: static.
Audio: quiet café ambience with distant cups, one soft paper rustle at second 3. No music.

Result: the photograph breathes — the frame is identical to the still at second 0 and second 8; the page turn is the only event. Render 2 of 3 drifted the background chair; rendered again with the same prompt and kept render 3.