Branded reel pipeline

Branded Reel Pipeline

Reusable framework that produces a premium short-form brand reel end to end. It is the premium layer on top of media/short-form-video-production (ideation, hook, retention, captions craft). Use those for the creative craft; use this for the premium branded assembly with real on-brand visuals and live data.

The proven stack (do not deviate without reason)

1. Script — hook-first, retention-structured. Borrow craft from content-creation (Hook→Tension→Payload→CTA) and short-form-video-production. Beat table: t | OST | VO.
2. Visuals + music — higgsfield-generate skill. GPT Image 2 for hero frames (9:16, 2k, brand palette), sonilo_music for the bespoke bed. Frames are premium connective tissue; live screens carry conversion.
3. Voiceover — ElevenLabs eleven_v3, stability 0.30, default voice id cjVigY5qzO86Huf0OWal ("Eric"). Key from environment. Calm-operator delivery.
4. Live-data capture — reference/live-data-capture.py (Playwright). Parameterized: URL + auth method + selector / API path. The differentiator: real dashboards, real numbers count up on screen.
5. Assembly — Remotion with brand-preset tokens (templates/remotion-template/). Parameterized by aspect ratio. Count-ups, curve-draws, glass device frames, the audio-reactive orb. 1080x1920 @ 30fps for 9:16.
6. Render + verify — remotion render → ffprobe confirms duration/resolution/codec.

Input: the brief

A reel is driven by a brief object:

{
  "subject": "Our AI agent that posts daily and tracks every number",
  "brand_preset": "my-brand",
  "format": "9:16",
  "mode": "gated",
  "live_data_source": {
    "url": "https://your-dashboard.example.com/api/analytics?days=30",
    "auth": { "method": "session_token", "mint": "node scripts/mint-session-token.js" },
    "capture": "json",
    "selector": null
  },
  "script": null
}

• subject (required): what the reel is about.
• brand_preset (required): a dir under presets/ matching your brand.
• format: 9:16 (default) | 1:1 | 16:9.
• mode: gated (default) | auto.
• live_data_source (optional): { url, auth, capture: json|screenshot, selector }.
• script (optional): pre-written beat table; if null the pipeline writes one in Stage 1.

A brief can originate from a Notion Content Factory database that appie-content-intelligence feeds: pull a row (subject + angle + target), map it onto this schema, run the pipeline.

Staged workflow (default mode: gated)

A run lives in a workspace dir projects/reels/<brief-hash>/ (or projects/<name>-reel/ for a one-off). Cache keyed by brief hash (see Token optimization).

STAGE 1 — Script + assets plan

1. Hash the brief → workspace dir. If cache hit on script, reuse.

2. Resolve the brand preset (presets/<name>/preset.json + prompt fragments).

3. If script not supplied, write the beat table (script.md): t | OST | VO rows, target 18-24s, hook in first 1.5-3s, abrupt end. Pull retention craft from short-form-video-production. Honour brand voice rules.

4. Write the shot list / assets plan (assets-plan.md): which beats are generated hero frames vs live-screen proof; the Higgsfield prompts (brand palette baked in); the music brief; the VO script.

5. Confirm the live-data source is reachable (dry probe), but do NOT generate paid assets yet.

   GATE 1 (gated mode): stop. Present script.md + assets-plan.md for approval. In auto mode, continue without pausing.

STAGE 2 — Generate assets + capture live data

6. Generate hero frames via higgsfield-generate (one prompt per generated beat, brand palette + 9:16). Cache by (brief-hash, beat-id, prompt-hash) so re-runs reuse.

7. Generate the music bed via sonilo_music (brand music brief). Cache.

8. Generate VO via ElevenLabs (reference/elevenlabs-vo.sh). Cache by VO-text hash.

9. Capture live data via reference/live-data-capture.py (URL + auth + capture). Output live-data.json and/or capture.png. Crop screenshots if needed.

10. Place all assets into remotion/public/.

    GATE 2 (gated mode): stop. Present the hero frames, the captured data/screens, the VO file, and the music for approval before the (compute-heavy) render. In auto mode, continue.

STAGE 3 — Assemble + render + verify

11. Copy templates/remotion-template/ into the workspace remotion/ (if not present), wire the preset theme + brief data (beats, KPIs, captured json) into src/.
12. npm i (first run) then npm run render → MP4 (preset-driven aspect/fps).
13. ffprobe verify: duration within target, resolution matches format, h264/aac.
14. Emit RUN-REPORT.md: assets used, cache hits, token budget, ffprobe output, MP4 path. Reel is delivered for posting (posting is a separate runtime step — never auto-post).

Flipping to auto

Set "mode": "auto" in the brief (or pass --mode auto). The two gates become no-ops and the pipeline runs Stage 1→3 unattended. Flip this once a brand preset has produced a clean reel 1-2x. Quality floor still applies: if Stage 3 verify fails, stop and report, never ship a broken MP4.

Token optimization (priority)

Documented budget per run, and the levers that keep re-runs near-free:

• Brief-hash cache. Everything generated (script, each hero frame, music, VO) is cached under cache/<brief-hash>/ keyed by content hash. A re-run with an unchanged brief regenerates nothing — it re-assembles from cache. Editing one beat only invalidates that beat's frame + that VO line.
• Reuse hero frames across formats. 1:1 and 16:9 re-use the same 2k hero frames; only the Remotion composition re-renders. No new Higgsfield calls for a format change.
• Cheapest competent tier for non-creative steps. Brief parsing, hashing, cache lookups, ffprobe checks, JSON reshaping → plain shell / python, no model. Script writing is the only step that wants a strong model; route the rest cheap.
• Single-pass generation. One Higgsfield prompt per generated beat (no iterate-loops unless a gate rejects). One VO pass. One music pass.
• Reference, don't inline. Pass asset paths between stages, not asset bytes.

Token budget per run (design target):

Step	Tokens (orchestrator)	Cost driver	Cached re-run
Brief parse + hash	~0 (shell)	—	~0
Script write	1-3k	model (1 pass)	0 (cache)
Higgsfield frames (N~5)	~0 orchestration	Higgsfield credits (~1/frame)	0 (cache)
Music (sonilo)	~0	Higgsfield credits	0 (cache)
VO (ElevenLabs)	~0	EL chars	0 (cache)
Live-data capture	~0 (script)	—	re-run if data stale
Remotion render	~0 (shell)	local CPU	re-render only on edit
Verify (ffprobe)	~0 (shell)	—	~0

Net: a fresh reel costs ~1-3k orchestrator tokens + Higgsfield/EL credits. A re-run after an approval tweak costs only the changed beat. A format add (1:1/16:9) costs zero generation credits.

Brand presets

Each preset is a dir under presets/<name>/:

• preset.json — the tokens (colors, fonts, easing, motion language, music brief, VO voice id + settings, default format) consumed by the Remotion theme.
• higgsfield.md — the visual-prompt fragment (palette + style) prepended to every hero prompt so all frames are on-brand.
• (optional) notes.md — brand voice / do-not rules.

Add a brand preset

1. cp -r presets/example presets/<your-brand>
2. Edit preset.json: colors, fonts (@remotion/google-fonts names), easing, music brief, VO voice id, default format.
3. Edit higgsfield.md: the palette + style sentence for hero prompts.
4. (optional) notes.md for brand voice rules.
5. Reference it in a brief: "brand_preset": "<your-brand>". No code changes.

Add a live-data source

reference/live-data-capture.py is parameterized. In the brief's live_data_source:

• url: the page or API endpoint.
• auth.method: none | session_token | cookie | header. For session_token, set auth.mint to a command that prints the token.
• capture: json (fetch + parse an API response) | screenshot (render + crop a live dashboard into a glass device frame).
• selector: CSS selector to wait for / crop to (screenshot mode).

The captured live-data.json is wired into the Remotion composition as count-up KPIs and per-channel tiles; capture.png drops in as an <Img>/<OffthreadVideo> proof layer.

Invocation examples

# 1. From a brief file (gated — default; pauses at GATE 1 and GATE 2)
python3 reference/run-pipeline.py --brief templates/brief.example.json

# 2. Auto mode (no gates) once a preset is proven
python3 reference/run-pipeline.py --brief my-brief.json --mode auto

# 3. Add a 16:9 cut of an already-rendered reel (zero new generation)
python3 reference/run-pipeline.py --brief my-brief.json --format 16:9 --reuse-assets

The orchestrator reads this SKILL, resolves the brief, and runs the stages: it calls higgsfield-generate for visuals/music, elevenlabs-vo.sh for VO, live-data-capture.py for data, and the Remotion template for assembly — pausing at the two gates in gated mode. run-pipeline.py is the deterministic skeleton (hash, cache, dirs, gate prompts, render, verify); the creative calls are delegated to the existing skills.

Verification checklist

• Brief validates against schema; brand_preset exists
• Script: hook in first 1.5-3s, abrupt end, brand voice
• Hero frames are native 9:16 (or target aspect), on-brand palette
• Live data captured is REAL (not fabricated); KPIs match the source
• Gates respected in gated mode; skipped cleanly in auto mode
• ffprobe: duration in target window, resolution = format, codecs h264/aac
• Cache populated so re-runs reuse; format-add uses zero generation credits
• RUN-REPORT.md written with token budget + asset manifest

Cross-references

• media/short-form-video-production/SKILL.md — ideation, hook, retention, caption craft.
• higgsfield-generate skill — image/video/music generation (GPT Image 2, sonilo_music).
• creative/appie-content-intelligence — feeds the Content Factory; benchmarking.