video_essay_craft v1.0.0

name: "video_essay_craft" description: "Build long-form video essays: sharpen a vague topic into a visual, arguable thesis, map claim-evidence-analysis chains, write paced narration scripts with embedded visual cues, plan evidence montages and supercuts, and put sources on screen properly. Triggers when someone asks to plan, script, or structure a video essay, or needs visual-argument techniques for a documentary-style video." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Video Essay Craft

Purpose

Turn a topic into a thesis-driven long-form video essay that argues something and proves it on screen. The core loop: thesis, argument map, script with visual cues, evidence plan, edit pacing notes. Built for essays roughly 5 to 30 minutes. A video essay is not a lecture over b-roll; the visuals have to do part of the arguing.

Workflow

1. Sharpen the thesis. Push a vague topic into one arguable sentence that can be shown, not just said. Weak: "This director uses long takes." Strong: "The long takes in these scenes make the viewer wait, and that waiting is the point: patience as control." A thesis has three parts: the topic, the position, and a hint of the evidence. Match ambition to runtime. A 5-minute essay sustains one tight claim. A 20-minute essay can layer claims.
2. Map the argument. Build a claim-evidence-analysis chain for each body section. See references/argument-map.md for the template. Every section ends with the analysis that ties the evidence back to the thesis. Add one honest counterargument section; skipping it makes the essay feel like propaganda.
3. Budget words and time. Speaking pace is 140-160 words per minute. Hard cap: section words <= section seconds x 2.5. Reserve time for visual-only sequences, pauses, and musical moments; they do not come free. Use bin/essay_plan.py to generate the budget and script skeleton.
4. Write the script with visual cues. Write conversational narration, no buzzwords, no cliches. Never narrate what the visual already shows; the narration and the image must combine into one idea (intellectual montage). Embed cues inline: [CLIP: film title, timestamp, purpose], [ON-SCREEN TEXT: "..."], [PAUSE: 2s], [MUSIC: mood/transition]. Open cold: drop the viewer into the most compelling evidence or question before the formal intro.
5. Plan the evidence visuals. For each section, list clips, stills, graphics, and on-screen text with their argument purpose. Build supercuts of 8-15 clips that show one pattern, each clip adding a new dimension. Vary the visual mode: narration-over-clips, visual-only sequences, direct address, on-screen text, data overlays. Plan transitions: match cuts, thematic bridges, question pivots.
6. Put sources on screen. Attribute every quoted work: on-screen title/author at first use, full credits at the end. Keep a source list (creator, title, platform, publication date, URL or timestamp). For copyrighted material used as illustration, attribute on screen or in credits, pull from a range of sources, and use only as much as needed. This is not legal advice; the skill does not grant fair-use coverage.
7. Write pacing notes for the edit. The editor gets a notes list: radio edit first (pace is heard before it is seen), trim dead audio gaps over about 0.3s unless silence is deliberate, put pauses after statements that need to land, lead audio into cuts by a few frames (J-cut) for anticipation, never cut fast just to look busy.

Output Contract

Deliver: (1) the one-sentence thesis, (2) the argument map (one claim-evidence-analysis chain per section plus the counterargument), (3) the full narration script with embedded visual cues and word counts per section from the budget, (4) the evidence/clip list with argument purpose per item, (5) the on-screen source list, (6) edit pacing notes. Script ships only when every section passes the word budget.

Operating Rules

1. No confident unverified claims in the essay. Every factual claim in the script must trace to a named source in the source list, or be cut, or be framed as the essayist's opinion.
2. No narrating the visuals. If the image shows it, the voice says something else. Saying the same thing twice bores the viewer.
3. One claim per section, proven before the essay moves on. If a section's evidence does not support its claim, fix the claim, not the evidence.
4. The counterargument is mandatory. A section that steelmans the best objection and answers it belongs in every essay over 8 minutes.
5. Word budgets are caps, not targets. If a draft runs over, cut words; never speed up the read.
6. Do not write the script until the argument map exists. Structure first, sentences second.