---
name: story-to-short
description: Help a learner develop an idea, choose a short or longer format, and plan, revise, and optionally produce a story video from their own materials using story, asset, timing, and delivery review gates.
---

# Story-to-Short project instructions

Use these instructions when the learner asks for help with their story-video
project. This is a standalone agent brief from Ellie Lab, not a supplied
application, media library, or automatic installation. The learner can attach
this file or paste its contents into their agent conversation.

## Goal and starting point

Help the learner turn a small story into a clear production plan, then optionally
an edited video. Start with their idea and materials. Do not assume access to
Ellie's repository, scripts, recordings, images, or a student ZIP.

The course default is a roughly 20-second, vertical 9:16 story with four beats:
setup, question, discovery, payoff. Use one main character and at most two speaking
roles. Treat these as assignment defaults; honor the learner's stated brief when
it differs. Actual speech duration takes priority over an estimated target.

Establish the premise, audience, emotional promise, chosen length/format, selected
pathway, available tools/materials, and
any deadline or budget. Use answers already given. Ask only for missing choices
that affect the next step; if no pathway is specified, begin with plan-and-present
and state that assumption. Offer a small original premise if the learner needs
one, identifying it as a proposed idea.

## Develop the idea before production

Follow the creative process from Lesson 02 before turning an undeveloped premise
into finished media. Use work the learner has already done rather than restarting.

1. If the idea is still open, offer three distinct premises, each with a character
   goal, obstacle, choice, and consequence. Keep the learner's audience and
   intended feeling central; explain what may be hard to show or understand.
2. For the selected premise, compare a short treatment with a longer treatment.
   A short can focus on one question and a turn or discovery. A longer version
   needs attempts, choices, consequences, and a payoff that justify its scenes.
   Duration examples are creative constraints, not platform limits. Screen shape
   and story length are separate decisions.
3. Explain what each added scene changes in the action, understanding, or feeling.
   Remove repeated scenes that only fill time. If a short needs excessive setup,
   simplify the idea or revise the chosen length.
4. Test an honest opening question, a middle linked by cause and effect, and an
   ending that resolves the setup under the established rules. Keep room for
   reactions and purposeful pauses instead of demanding constant novelty.
5. Revise structure before polishing dialogue or generating a full set of assets.
   Ask what the viewer understood and where they were confused. Compare a focused
   revision with the previous version and record its effect at G1.

Record the premise, emotional promise, chosen format and rationale, alternatives,
and revision evidence in the brief and story notes. The core course assignment
remains a four-beat short; expand the script, storyboard, and timeline together
only when the learner chooses a longer extension. Do not force a longer story
into four lines or stretch a small idea to meet an arbitrary duration.

## Choose the pathway

- **Plan and present:** a script, cast notes, sound plan, storyboard panels
  or descriptions, a timing table, credits, and a revision record. No installation
  or generated media is required. A live reading and sketches are valid outputs.
  Use four panels for the core short; add panels only when an expanded story needs them.
- **Video editor:** create the same plan, then use the learner's own editor and
  media to assemble and export the sequence. Give concrete editing steps if you
  cannot operate the editor yourself.
- **Code:** create the same plan, then build in the learner's selected environment.
  Inspect an existing project before changing it; otherwise scaffold a minimal
  project appropriate to their tools. Consult current official setup guidance
  when needed. Do not invent package scripts or claim that course-specific
  commands already exist. Verify a short render before a full export.

Do not silently turn a planning request into a coding project. If a required
capability is unavailable, complete the useful planning work and identify the
specific remaining production step. Do not claim to have generated or inspected
media you could not access. Publishing, purchases, and external uploads require
the learner's instructions; a request to create a local project is not a request
to publish it.

## Suggested project structure

This is a proposed structure to create for the learner's own work, not a set of
files they should already have. Adapt it to an existing project instead of moving
or overwriting their work. Create only the directories needed for the chosen
route. The names describe roles, not mandatory software conventions.

```text
my-story/
  skills.md                 # these agent instructions
  brief.md                  # premise, audience, pathway, constraints
  story/
    script.md               # four labelled spoken beats
    cast.md                 # speaker and delivery notes
  visuals/
    style-guide.md          # character, props, palette, framing rules
    storyboard.md           # picture and caption area for each beat
    images/                 # optional: original/reference/final pictures
  audio/
    sound-plan.md           # speech, pauses, optional music
    speech/                 # optional: recordings or generated takes
    music/                  # optional: permitted music with source notes
    mixed/                  # optional: reviewed audio mixes
  edit/
    timeline.csv            # timed beat list
    captions.srt            # optional: captions based on actual timing
    project/                # optional: editor project or video code
  review/
    gates.md                # G1-G4 status and evidence
    revisions.md            # changes and affected checks
  credits.md                # asset sources and required attribution
  exports/
    previews/               # optional: short review exports
    final/                  # optional: finished deliverables
```

For plan-and-present, the written sections can live in one document instead.
Do not create empty media files or placeholder exports that appear complete.
Preserve originals and name revised takes clearly, such as `beat-02-v02.wav`.
Keep secrets out of project notes and shared files.

## Work through the four gates

Make a small, reviewable artifact at each stage. Record gate status as
`not checked`, `revise`, or `pass`, with the evidence and reviewer. Separate a
planning check from a finished-media check. A planned voice or image is not proof
that a recording or render works. Do not fabricate viewer feedback or mark
listening/viewing checks passed solely because a file exists.

### G1 — Story

Draft the core short as four beats, or expand a chosen longer treatment into
scenes. Identify speaker, spoken words, action, and purpose. Keep delivery
notes separate from words to speak. Read or review the complete story: the opening
sets up one idea, the middle changes the situation, and the ending resolves it.
Identify the speaker of every line.

**Pass evidence:** a stated audience and emotional promise, a reason the format
fits, an explanation of the setup and payoff, and a coherent complete reading/review. If a learner or viewer read-through is still needed, record it as
pending. **Revise:** rewrite the unclear beat, then review the whole script again.

### G2 — Sound and pictures

Write a cast brief, visual rules, and one storyboard panel per beat. Plan speech,
pauses, caption space, and any music. For production, create or use the learner's
own materials, review individual speech takes, and compare images for consistent
characters and visible action. Music is optional; it must not hide spoken words.

**Pass evidence:** for a plan, a clear sound plan and labelled storyboard; for a
video, an actual review of the selected recordings, images, crops, and mix.
**Revise:** rerecord, redraw, regenerate, recrop, or rebalance only the affected
material, then compare it with the approved story.

### G3 — Timing

Build the edit plan from a timed live reading or actual recordings. When no
measurements are available, label the times as estimates and retain the timing
review as pending. Track pauses explicitly. Use this table schema:

```csv
beat,speaker,spoken_text,start_seconds,end_seconds,picture,caption,sound_note
```

Quote CSV fields containing commas or quotation marks appropriately. Check that
end times follow start times and that the total matches the intended sequence.
Explain intentional gaps or overlaps. Captions must match the words and allow
time to read; split long lines when appropriate.

For code, calculate frame boundaries from cumulative times and the chosen frame
rate. Round boundaries consistently, then derive each duration from adjacent
boundaries so rounding does not introduce drift. Four seconds at 30 fps is 120
frames; this is an example, not a required frame rate.

**Pass evidence:** arithmetic checks and a rehearsal or preview that confirms
speech, pictures, and captions agree. **Revise:** adjust the affected durations,
recalculate later starts, and check the sequence again.

### G4 — Delivery

Review the actual deliverable: a performed plan, an editor export, or a rendered
video. Check that a viewer can understand what changed for the character. Review
readability, audibility, crop, captions, media loading, and credits as applicable.
A successful encode alone does not prove the video is ready.

**Pass evidence:** what was reviewed, by whom, on which presentation/device, and
the result. Report any pending learner or viewer checks plainly.
**Revise:** use the routing rules below, repeat the affected gates, and review a
fresh presentation or export. Do not keep generating variants without identifying
the problem and a reason the next change should address it.

## Route revisions to their source

| Change or problem | Return to | Checks to repeat |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premise or ending changes | G1 | Story, affected sound/pictures, timing, delivery |
| Spoken words or duration change | G1/G2 | Delivery of the line, later timings/captions, final review |
| Picture or crop changes | G2 | Visual consistency, caption placement/motion, final review |
| Music masks speech | G2 | Mix and affected transitions, then final listening |
| Captions drift or gaps appear | G3 | Cue/shot boundaries and a fresh preview |
| Export has missing media or wrong framing | G2/G3 | Repair the source or composition and inspect a new export |
| Attribution is missing | G4 | Complete credits; reopen G2/G3 if an asset is replaced |

Record revisions in this form:

```text
Version or date:
Problem and evidence:
Change made:
Gates reopened:
Result of each repeated check:
Pending learner/viewer review:
```

## Credits and handoff

Track each third-party asset's creator, title, source, usage terms, modifications,
and required credit. Do not infer permission from an asset being online or
included in a course example. For original work, note who created it. If no music
is used, say so rather than adding an unrelated attribution.

If the learner actually uses Ellie's music, preserve this credit:

```text
Music: Through The Woods by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
```

Track source: https://www.silvermansound.com/free-music/through-the-woods
License: CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Describe any trimming, looping, fading, or mixing applied to the track.

At handoff, provide the completed artifacts, selected pathway, a concise G1-G4
status summary, revision notes, and the next specific action for any pending
check. Explain one meaningful tradeoff so the learner understands the choices.
Distinguish a completed production plan from a finished video.

Optional course references (the workflow above is self-contained):
- https://sidneyshapiro.com/courses/video/chapters/02-creative-process.html
- https://sidneyshapiro.com/courses/video/pathways.html
- https://sidneyshapiro.com/courses/video/chapters/07-build-your-own.html
- https://sidneyshapiro.com/courses/video/credits.html