code-film

code-film

A motion film whose every frame is a pure function of its timestamp: a page exposes window.__seek(t), ui:render --profile film seeks it to each frame, captures, proves the sequence deterministic, checks it against the photosensitivity floor and its declared format, and encodes it with ffmpeg. No paid video provider, no live playback. The values for film motion live in references/film-motion.md; the page contract in film-page.

When to use

• The user asks for a short motion film built from their own material — a product launch clip, a showreel, kinetic typography, an animated chart, a process explainer, a looping brand animation.
• The film has to render the same twice, sit on a beat or a declared tempo, or ship as an MP4 at a stated size.

When NOT to use

• A prompt for a generative video provider (Veo, Kling, Sora) → motion-choreographer.
• An animation inside a UI — hover, scroll reveal, page transition → fe-design § Motion.
• Cutting or captioning existing footage → the /video cluster.
• A single static or looping SVG asset → svg-authoring.

Procedure

1. Inputs. Ask only what the recipe lists as variable: purpose, format and pixel size, palette as hex, one typeface, audio (none, a supplied file, or a declared tempo), end card. On "just make it", state the defaults you used.

2. Direction. Pick one recipe from the corpus and state the one concept every shot serves:

   node <skills-root>/corpus-grounding/scripts/ground.mjs search \
     --manifest <skills-root>/code-film/data/manifest.json "<the brief>"
   

3. Bans. Pull the tells for the brief (--domain tell) and write each ban with its alternative into the plan.

4. Grid. Tempo and bars from the supplied track (allin1.sh when installed; otherwise a declared tempo, reported as declared), then an ordered shot list with times. Hold every text for its reading time (3 words per second).

5. Explainers only — claims. List every on-screen figure, name and date with its source, or mark it as the user's. Invent none.

6. Build. Write the page on the seek contract: window.__seek(t), window.__videoMeta, no wall clock, seeded randomness, local fonts. Choose the renderer from --domain renderer; plain HTML is the default and a licensed renderer is suggested only after its license question is answered.

7. Contact sheet. Render once, read contact.png, fix clutter, overlap and off-beat timing. At most three passes.

8. Render.

   agent-config ui:render film/index.html --profile film --out film/out.mp4 [--audio track.wav]
   

   Exit 0 is clean, 2 carries findings (determinism, flash, dead time, format, network), 1 means not assessed, 3 means no browser driver.

9. Report. Quote the manifest: the seek form, every check as ran or skipped: <reason>, the findings, and verification. Say verified only when the manifest says it and its file digest is the file you deliver.

Status — what each word may mean

• verified — every applicable check ran on this machine and the encoded file's digest is the one recorded. It says nothing about whether the film is good.
• static-only — frames were captured and hashed, but a check that needs ffmpeg (flash floor, encode, format) did not run. Name the missing tool.
• unassessed — nothing was seen: no browser driver, no seek form, or no declared length. Name the install or the missing declaration.

Output format

1. The film path and its SHA-256 from the manifest.
2. The checks table (ran / skipped: …) and every finding.
3. The contact sheet path.
4. For an explainer, the claims list with sources.

Gotcha

• A page that uses Math.random or Date.now renders differently in the reverse pass; the manifest names the first diverging frame. Seed from t.
• The flash floor is a safety floor: a strobe fails and no flag lowers it.
• The film profile runs the page's scripts with the network off. A font or image fetched from a CDN does not load — ship it next to the page.
• Determinism is proven per machine; fonts and GPUs differ between machines.
• A page built on a timeline framework is seen through window.__timelines (paused, seekable entries); embedded footage is held at t − data-start. Encode footage all-intra (-g 1), or a seek lands between keyframes.

Do NOT

• Do NOT paste prompt text from an external gallery into a plan or a recipe — write it fresh from the corpus.
• Do NOT bundle or install a renderer without asking; detect and route.
• Do NOT call a film done from the code alone — the frames decide.
• Do NOT claim a film is good, on-brand or "less AI"; report what was measured.

See also

• motion-choreographer — generative-provider motion prompts.
• svg-authoring — the same witness vocabulary for single assets.
• corpus-grounding — the engine behind data/.