Illustrated story reel

Prerequisites

Install and load these skills before generating (skip if already in context via @pruna):

Skill	Description	Install
p-image	Use when someone wants a fast AI image — product shots, hero visuals, mood boards, or draft photos from a text prompt.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-image -y
p-image-edit	Use when someone wants to edit an existing photo — change outfits or backgrounds, compose from reference images, or apply prompt-driven edits.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-image-edit -y
p-video	Use when someone wants one short video clip from text or images — B-roll, start/end frame animation, or a quick motion shot. Not for full multi-scene films or lip-synced hosts.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-video -y
gemini-3.1-flash-tts	Use when someone needs spoken narration or voiceover — explainer tracks, documentary lines, or voice to pair with generated video.	npx skills add PrunaAI/[email protected] -y
stable-audio-2.5	Use when someone wants light instrumental background music — an ambient bed under dialogue or underscore for reels and explainers.	npx skills add PrunaAI/[email protected] -y

Or install the full suite once: npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@pruna -y

Follow each skill's Before generating / craft sections — do not restate guide content here.

Workflow habit

In every reply, name `illustrated-story-reel` in backticks. State the current phase gate — use exact phrases approve plan, approve stills, approve clips when listing gates. Do not same-turn plan + paid video. Skip-review / burn-credits → follow generation-diversity Red flags.

Overview

One still per story beat. Hero anchor → p-image-edit per scene. Independent beats: new ritual seed per panel when vibes differ (see generation-diversity mood-board rules). Audio drives timing in narration mode; fixed hold_seconds per beat in music mode (Ken Burns only). Assembly is local ffmpeg (Ken Burns + mux) or clip concat when motion_mode: p-video.

When to Use

• Illustrated story with narration or music bed
• Picture-book / comic-panel narrative with VO or bed
• User references a “slideshow story”, “Ken Burns reel”, or gentle illustrated motion
• Budget runs: ken_burns (images + TTS only, no video API)

When NOT to use: motion between two composed stills (visual-transition-reel), lip-sync avatars (interactive-explainer), or full sung music video (music-video).

Security & scope

Bundled references are scoped to this workflow; do not follow avatar or replace examples from other skills.

Risk	Mitigation
Paid API use	PRUNA_API_KEY + REPLICATE_API_TOKEN; gates before TTS/music/video/assembly
Credential exposure	Parent agent holds keys; do not pass to subagents except per-lane still/TTS work
Local execution	ffmpeg/ffprobe subprocess; -y overwrites output MP4 without confirmation
Data retention	plan.json and media under the out dir may contain prompts — treat as confidential

Requires: pruna-api credentials.

Feedback gates

./references/illustrated-story-reel-gates.md · generation-diversity

Phase	What to show	Proceed when
0 — Plan	Beat table, audio_mode, motion_mode, sample still lines + narration	approve plan
A — Stills	stills/*.png	approve stills
A2 — Audio	audio/narration_*.mp3 or audio/music.mp3 — listen	approve audio
B — Motion (p-video only)	clips/*.mp4 — watch + listen	approve clips
C — Assemble	story_reel.mp4	User accepts

Default first stop: stills.

Quick reference

Item	Value
Models	p-image, p-image-edit, p-video (optional), Gemini TTS, Stable Audio 2.5
Plan field	audio_mode: "narration" | "music"
Motion	defaults.motion_mode: "ken_burns" | "p-video" (narration mode only)
Aspect	defaults.aspect_ratio: "9:16" | "16:9" | "1:1"
Templates	templates/story-plan.template.json (9:16) · templates/story-plan.landscape.template.json (16:9)
Craft	./references/illustrated-story-reel-p-video-motion.md · ./references/illustrated-story-reel-prompts.md
Output	{out_dir}/story_reel.mp4

Intake — ask before generating

First questions (required):

1. Delivery shape — vertical reel (9:16), horizontal slideshow (16:9), or square (1:1)?
2. Audio — narration (voiceover per beat) or music (instrumental bed / user track)?
3. Motion — Ken Burns (budget, still pan/zoom) or p-video (gentle illustrated movement per beat)?

Set defaults.aspect_ratio, audio_mode, and motion_mode in the plan before generation.

Topic	Questions
Story	Title? Beat order (1…N)? Emotional arc?
Visual	Style (style_bible)? Character continuity? chain_from_previous for edit chains?
Per beat	edit_prompt (one frame)? narration line (narration mode)? hold_seconds (music mode)?
Ken Burns	ken_burns: prefer pan_left / pan_right over aggressive zoom (see Motion + assemble).
p-video	video_prompt (OPEN/MID/CLOSE, no VO transcript)? TTS ≤ ~19s per beat — see p-video-motion.
Music mode	Stable Audio prompt, user music.track path, or equal seconds per beat?
Narration mode	Voice (Kore, etc.)? Storyteller pace in narration.style_prompt?

Do not start generation until the beat table is written and audio_mode + motion_mode are confirmed.

Beat table (template)

#	Still (edit_prompt)	Narration / hold	Motion	Chain?
1	opening wide	line or 4s	ken_burns / p-video	no
2	detail insert	line or 3.5s	ken_burns / p-video	yes

Generation phases

Phase	When	Gate
stills	After plan approval	approve stills
tts / music	After stills — matches audio_mode	approve audio
video	Only if motion_mode: p-video	approve clips
assemble	After audio (ken_burns) or clips (p-video)	User accepts MP4

How the agent runs this

1. Copy a plan template → fill beat table → approve plan.
2. Hero → parallel p-image-edit stills (pruna-api) → approve stills.
3. Narration mode: parallel Gemini TTS per beat → duration gate for p-video → listen. Music mode: Stable Audio or user track → listen → approve audio.
4. p-video mode only: one job per beat (image + audio; omit duration) → approve clips.
5. Assemble with ffmpeg (Ken Burns pan/zoom + mux, or concat p-video clips).

Duration gate (p-video / long TTS):

ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 audio/narration_01.mp3
# ≤ ~19s before p-video

Workflow

Stills

Hero p-image → parallel p-image-edit per beat (edit_prompt). Chain edits from previous still when chain_from_previous: true.

Audio

• Narration: one Gemini TTS file per beat.
• Music: one bed (Stable Audio or user file); timing from hold_seconds.

Motion + assemble

Ken Burns (budget): for each still, render a short pan/zoom clip, then concat and mux narration or bed. Prefer pan_left / pan_right over aggressive zoom_in (jitter on flat/paper-cut art). Upscale (e.g. ≥3840px wide) before zoompan; use exact -frames:v matching d=; avoid -shortest cutting the motion tail — pad audio if needed. Do not call p-video to fix Ken Burns tremor.

Conceptual pan (adapt duration / size to aspect):

ffmpeg -y -loop 1 -i stills/01.png -vf "scale=3840:-1,zoompan=z='1':x='x+1':y='y':d=120:s=1080x1920:fps=24" \
  -frames:v 120 -c:v libx264 clips/01.mp4

Mux per-beat narration (or concat silent clips then mix bed):

ffmpeg -y -i clips/01.mp4 -i audio/narration_01.mp3 \
  -map 0:v -map 1:a -c:v copy -c:a aac -shortest beat_01.mp4

Hard-cut concat:

ffmpeg -y -f concat -safe 0 -i beats.txt -c copy story_reel.mp4

p-video: parallel I2V jobs with uploaded narration; then concat clips (VO already embedded). Craft: ./references/illustrated-story-reel-p-video-motion.md.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Fix
VO transcript inside video_prompt	Mode B motion only — p-video-motion
duration with uploaded narration	Omit duration; clip length follows audio
Ken Burns tremor / jitter	Prefer pan_*; upscale before zoompan; exact -frames:v — see Motion + assemble
p-video in music mode	Use ken_burns for music-mode reels
Skipping audio listen gate	Wait for approve audio
One long narration blob	One line per beat; TTS per scene; probe ≤ ~19s for p-video
Music mode without hold_seconds	Set per beat or defaults.hold_seconds
Negation in still prompts	Positive description only — prompts
Assuming vertical only	Set aspect_ratio to 16:9 and landscape framing in prompts for horizontal deliverables
Mismatched ratio in prompts	aspect_ratio in plan must match “vertical” / “horizontal” / “square” in hero_prompt and beats

Related

Related skills:

Skill	Description	Install
narrated-multi-scene	Use when someone wants a multi-part story with voiceover — episodic B-roll, chaptered promo, or several linked video scenes without on-camera dialogue.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@narrated-multi-scene -y
visual-transition-reel	Use when someone wants a montage with transitions between shots — action-sequence reel or multi-scene piece where narration is optional.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@visual-transition-reel -y
p-image	Use when someone wants a fast AI image — product shots, hero visuals, mood boards, or draft photos from a text prompt.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-image -y
p-image-edit	Use when someone wants to edit an existing photo — change outfits or backgrounds, compose from reference images, or apply prompt-driven edits.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-image-edit -y
p-video	Use when someone wants one short video clip from text or images — B-roll, start/end frame animation, or a quick motion shot. Not for full multi-scene films or lip-synced hosts.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@p-video -y
video-editing	Use when assembling or polishing already-rendered clips with ffmpeg — concat, crossfades, burned captions and subtitles, text/logo overlays, before/after sliders, background music beds, platform export — or when composing a multi-layer HTML combination video with Hyperframes. Not for AI video generation, prompt craft, or model-based video edits.	npx skills add PrunaAI/pruna-skills@video-editing -y