The creator instruction manual

Start with Workflow; copy cards from Prompt library. Copy the blank production forms into your film project and follow the complete worked studio run. Historical examples and limits are in Evidence.

Prerequisites

Have a story outline, access to the intended generation account/project, an editor, a media player with frame stepping, storage for originals, and a defined budget. Optional ffprobe/ffmpeg can inspect media; a successful decode is not a substitute for viewing and listening. Record licensing/consent and destination requirements relevant to your material. Verify actual model controls; never assume controls exist because a template mentions them.

1. Set up the production

Community edition: save one starter draft in this browser, download its text packet, and use the blank CSV ledger. For separate browser-local projects, revision checks, checklist JSON and full ZIP backups, open My projects at /projects/. Nothing is uploaded or synchronized. Keep production records in your own project folder.

Before dispatch, select solo, small-crew or studio mode from Roles and handoffs. Record each function’s owner, backup, allowed actions and budget/publication limits in 00_admin/roles.md. Use Multi-agent studio when work is delegated. Roles do not create extra headcount or confer permission.

Create the following inside a new project, leaving original media unchanged:

00_admin/brief.md decisions.md budget.csv status.md
01_canon/canon_v001.md assets.csv continuity.csv
02_references/exploratory/ approved/ superseded/
03_story/script_v001.md shot_list.csv storyboards/
04_scenes/S001/packet.md prompts/ renders/ reviews/ boundaries/
05_audio/dialogue/ ambience/ foley/ score/ mix/
06_approved_clips/
07_edit/project/ proxies/ edl.csv
08_delivery/review/ masters/ platform_versions/ receipts/
09_archive/manifest.csv lessons.md

Name files PROJECT_S001_SH010_C01_v001_STATUS.ext. Never overwrite a source with a trim. Maintain one active-version pointer in status.md. An asset registry row contains ID, version, type, local path, platform project/ID, provenance, approved scope, excluded scope, status, approver and date. Clip rows add prompt version, references actually attached, model/mode, cost, job ID, source duration, usable in/out and review status.

2. Recover an existing project

List media, prompts, edit projects, review notes and submissions. Read dated task outcomes and job records. Distinguish local master, uploaded master and submitted master. Match by filename, duration, visual content and checksum where available. Reconcile stale notes with later evidence without deleting history. Record contradictory claims as unresolved until a stronger source resolves them. Do not start paid work merely to discover what already exists.

3. Write and lock the brief

Use P01. Write the audience promise, beginning/change/ending, runtime and delivery constraints. Include titles/credits/packshot time in the runtime budget. Separate assumptions from decisions. Use P02 for canon and P03 for the asset inventory. Pick the intended reference, generate on the required platform only if the project requires it, inspect the resulting image, then register its real ID. Local draft approval alone does not prove on-platform creation.

4. Prepare a shot

Use P04. For each scene, specify beginning state, emotional change and ending state. Divide into shots with framing (wide/medium/CU/ECU), camera side, primary action, sound and edit point. Design separate coverage for a setup, action and consequence if needed. A storyboard can guide planning without being attached; attach only frames that the chosen generation mode can use without producing a collage or reference flash.

Add the relevant department decisions

Use the department matrix and cards to assign specialist work within the existing nineteen functions. Copy the scene packet: its paired beat tables use the same timing to connect camera/focus/axis, light, action/contact, performance/gaze, dialogue, Foley/SFX, ambience, music/silence and edit boundaries. Choose only relevant M01–M31 modules, append them to P04/P05/P17/P19 as needed, and turn their checks into the task acceptance criteria. Resolve cross-department conflicts before preflight: for example, a camera move that hides the decisive hand contact must yield to the scene's causal purpose or receive separate coverage.

The Cameron/Spielberg practice map supplies source-backed inspiration and explicitly labelled AI adaptations. Apply playable emotional beats, legible geography, planned light/physical interaction and sound hierarchy to your genre. No director name belongs in the generation prompt as a shortcut. The worked run includes a filled timed example; Night Watch has its own restrained application.

5. Preflight the actual composer

Use P06 immediately before Generate:

• Confirm project/account, exact model and mode, duration, resolution, aspect ratio, audio, quality and batch.
• Compare the complete entered prompt, including its final line, with the approved text. Prefer paste over long simulated typing; re-read after entry.
• Open or inspect each selected reference thumbnail. Compare expected IDs/count against actual selected chips. A checkbox click is not proof of selection.
• Confirm that start-frame mode contains the correct start image, rather than an unrelated whole video or final frame.
• Record displayed cost and remaining authorized attempts. Stay within already approved limits.
• Submit once and capture job ID/status. If the UI fails, inspect existing jobs before trying again.

6. Review before continuing

Download the completed output and keep its job record. Play at normal speed with audio; compare critical mechanics frame by frame. Review both neighbours and first/last frames. Use P07 and the workflow rubric. Save the approved usable interval and a boundary frame at the actual chosen cut, not automatically the render's last frame. Record pose, gaze, held prop/hand, object count, camera side, screen direction, lighting and audio tail. A generated clip is not automatically approved.

7. Diagnose failures

8. Assemble and mix

Build a rough cut from approved intervals. Keep source-time and timeline-time in the EDL. Review causal story order; add editable titles/slates in the editor. Match exposure/colour across joins conservatively. Use continuous location ambience, synced Foley and a coherent separate score. Preserve the score's timing during picture-only repair unless the director approves changing it. Measure loudness/peaks against the destination's confirmed target and listen for clipping, sync, uneven levels and transitions. Do not interpret “contains an AAC stream” as “good sound.”

9. Deliver and close

Export a new version. Probe duration/streams; decode end to end; watch and listen through the actual file. Inspect all cards, crops, watermarks, packshots and cut boundaries, including replacements. Hash the approved master. For private/local handover, deliver that exact approved file to the named recipient or storage location and verify access and playback. For public release or a competition entry, upload that exact master and verify transcoded playback, visibility, title, thumbnail, captions and link; save the publication or submission confirmation separately. Archive originals, edit project, fonts/licensing notes, stems, EDL and receipts. Use P10 for lessons and update status immediately.

Worked generic example: The Last Parcel

Brief: a courier leaves a repaired toy at an empty workshop, revealing reconciliation without dialogue. Three-shot scene: wide arrival; CU parcel placement; reaction/empty doorway hold. Canon: one courier, blue coat, rectangular paper parcel with a single red cord, fixed left-hinged workshop door, overcast dawn. Sound: cloth, parcel contact, street air; score separate.

For the placement clip: approved hand/coat, parcel and bench references; incoming parcel held in the right hand; locked CU; one action places parcel on bench, fingers release, end on still parcel. Render duration is the supported setting chosen at preflight, with a brief hold after contact. Review cord count, parcel scale, contact/shadow, fingers, screen direction and clean head/tail. If the parcel duplicates, reject that interval and correct the reference/action block. If only the first few frames show a reference plate, trim them and recheck the arrival-to-placement join. Record the chosen boundary for the next shot. Never infer forgiveness through an unrequested smile or added dialogue.

Operating the approval and change log

For every gate G00–G19, record the accountable owner, candidate version, evidence, decision and affected next tasks. Use the gate register in ROLES_AND_HANDOFFS.md as the single ownership authority. On a material canon change, CC identifies affected descendants, AR retires old active pointers, DR approves the revised creative state, and PM reschedules within EP’s mandate. Pause only invalidated work. When a recipient cannot use an output, return a timecoded or field-specific defect and requested repair; do not restart an entire phase.

10. Use the instructor-derived sequence

For a new film, use P20 for capability/feasibility, P01 for the brief, P15/P02/P03 for asset options and canon, P16 for voice/performance, and P17 for timed boards. P04/P14 compile a packet and P05 supplies the media prompt. Only after P06's observed composer check and valid authority may a real production proceed. P07 reviews; P08 repairs; P19/P09 guide edit and delivery; P10 closes the session. The source map explains what was retained and corrected.

P18's reference experiments are optional research, not obligatory film production. Hold model, shot, action and settings fixed when comparing one attachment method; unlike scenes cannot isolate the cause of a better result. Explore options before identity lock; thereafter make views/state variants of that same identity. Do not regenerate every finalized asset merely because a historical lesson did: first verify whether the current project requires that provenance.

For Night Watch use the separate adaptation; its current submitted master remains preserved. For an unrelated film use the generic forms and variables, not Night Watch's cast, palette, score or runtime.