cooking-video-production v1.0.0

name: cooking-video-production description: Plan and shoot cooking videos end to end: overhead rig selection, food styling for camera, food-friendly lighting, and edit pacing matched to the recipe. Triggers when an agent needs to film a recipe video, set up a top-down cooking shot, style food on camera, or plan the edit for food content.

Cooking Video Production

Purpose

Take a recipe and turn it into a finished cooking video: the right overhead rig, food that looks good in motion, lighting that keeps color honest, and an edit timed to the recipe instead of padded with dead air. Covers both landscape cuts (5-10 min) and vertical cuts (under 60 s).

Workflow

1. Read the recipe, count the real minutes. List every step and its real cooking time. That list drives every decision below.
2. Generate the shoot plan. Run the helper: python3 bin/recipe-shotlist.py <recipe.json> [--format long|short] The recipe JSON is {title, steps: [{action, est_min, motion, kind}]} where motion is fast (chop, pour, sizzle, flip), slow, or static (simmer, bake), and kind is prep, cook, rest, or plate. The plan assigns an angle and frame rate per step, flags adjacent same-angle cuts, and gives an edit-time target and pacing checklist.
3. Lock the rig. Default to two positions: overhead straight down for prep and assembly, side angle at counter height for sizzle, steam, and plating.

• Cheap: clamp-on gooseneck phone arm on a shelf or table ($8-15), rear camera, stabilization on.
• Solid: boom-arm overhead kit (e.g. OverHead Pro style tripod kit) with a counterweight, or a C-stand with boom arm sandbagged on the leg under the boom for wide stovetop shots.
• Always: test 30 seconds of footage for wobble, focus, and legs-in-frame before the real shoot.

1. Light for the food. Key at 45 degrees in a big softbox close to the dish; white foam core as fill. 5000-5600K for general food, drop toward 3000K for breads, soups, and caramel-toned dishes; custom grey-card white balance each session; kitchen overheads OFF (mixed color is unfixable). Details in references/lighting-setups.md.
2. Style for motion. Plate fresh and shoot fast; keep garnishes edible and in the recipe; one warm hero, one cool accent, neutral plate. Use oil spritzes, fake steam, and condensation tricks for close-ups. See references/styling-tricks.md. Anything inedible (display-only tricks) never gets served or presented as the eaten dish.
3. Shoot the money shot first. Film the finished plated dish as a backup before the real one, so the edit always has its opening hook.
4. Cut to the recipe's pace. Open with the money shot, walk every step in order, jump-cut repetitive prep, cut on action, let sizzles breathe. Text overlays carry ingredients and step numbers (the video must work muted); music ducked under voiceover, not over it. Frame-rate rule: fast motion gets slow motion, slow motion stays at regular speed. Dead time (oven, simmer) becomes a time-lapse or gets covered.

Output Contract

• A shoot plan naming angle + frame rate per recipe step and an edit-time target (long: ~5-10 min landscape; short: under 60 s vertical 9:16).
• Rig and lighting decisions stated with concrete gear classes and color temperatures, not vibes.
• Every recipe step has a checked-off shot; no step appears on screen unfilmed.
• Final plate held 2-3 seconds longer than feels necessary before the end card.

Operating Rules

1. Never invent a camera spec, price, or CRI number; check the source sheet (~/workspace/skill-production/scratch/cooking-video-production-sources.md) or look it up.
2. Two angles minimum on every shoot: overhead plus a side angle. Adjacent steps must not share an angle and focal length unless a cutaway separates them.
3. Fresh food, fast shoot. If the hero plate wilts, re-plate rather than "fixing it in post."
4. Inedible styling tricks stay on display plates only. The eaten bite is real food.
5. The skill never speaks about anyone's private life. It is a production skill; people are not the topic.