SyedBahjat/stickman-shorts

Stickman Shorts

Flat-2D animated videos built as SVG React components in Remotion, in any aspect ratio.

• Built-in format: vertical (1080×1920, 30 fps) stick-figure "You Decide" story shorts. Each part is ~75–90 s, told in second person ("you…"), ends on an A/B choice the audience votes on; the next part opens with "Most of you said…" and follows the winning path.
• Any other format: give it an example video and it rebuilds that format (layout, pacing, captions, sound) with original content. See references/CLONE-ANY-VIDEO.md and references/FORMATS.md.

0. Find or set up the engine

The engine is the Remotion project from https://github.com/SyedBahjat/claude-stickman-shorts.

• If the working directory has src/kit/Stick.tsx, you are in the engine. Use it.
• Otherwise ask where to create the project, then: git clone https://github.com/SyedBahjat/claude-stickman-shorts <folder> && cd <folder> && npm install
• Needs Node 18+, ffmpeg on PATH, Python 3 with pip install -r requirements.txt (numpy, scipy) for SFX and the reference analyzer, and a TTS (see references/AUDIO.md; VoiceStudio is free and local).
• Smoke test: npx remotion still src/index.ts FreshCo-P2B out/test.png --frame=300, then look at the PNG.

1. Pick the job

The user wants…	Do this
A new series from an idea	Pitch 3 loglines → write the whole branching season in stories/<story>/script.md (references/STORY.md) → build Part 1
The next part ("people chose B")	Read stories/<story>/script.md + continuity.md, build Part N for that path, open with MostOfYouSaid
To copy an example video (any type)	references/CLONE-ANY-VIDEO.md: analyze it, classify it, match the look and sound, write original content
A different kind of video (explainer, top-5, quiz, chat story, horizontal…)	references/FORMATS.md → start from src/templates/Starter.tsx (--props='{"format":"horizontal"}')
To change voices / sound	references/AUDIO.md

2. Build (details in references/WORKFLOW.md)

1. Shot sheet + lines TSV → user approves the script and the A/B options.
2. Voices: node scripts/voiceover.mjs <name> "<line>" --voice <id> --trim --loud -16 (or --from <wav>). Transcribe every line to check the words.
3. Copy the closest episode in src/stories/ (start from src/stories/freshco/FreshCoP2B.tsx), replace the timeline (LEN, SHOTS, CAPS, SFX), register it in src/Root.tsx, npm run typecheck.
4. Render stills at every key beat and frame strips of every moving shot. Look at them before rendering.
5. npx remotion render src/index.ts <Id> out/raw.mp4 --concurrency=6, then loudnorm to −17 LUFS.
6. Hand over the MP4 plus a title, description (with the A/B question and "comment A or B"), and hashtags for YouTube Shorts / TikTok / Reels.

3. Rules that matter most (for the house style; cloned formats follow the reference instead)

• Look: follow references/STYLE.md exactly: muted dark palette, ink outlines, dot eyes, no mouths, identity = body colour + one accessory, the viewer's character YOU always wears a red arm band.
• Story: second person, short sentences, numbered rules, a held reveal, a genuinely hard A/B choice.
• Motion: calm upright walks driven by distance (no foot sliding), hands touch things through reach targets that glide in, props in holdF/holdB, hard cuts with slow push-ins.
• Voices: never time-stretch or silence-squash lines (sounds shattered), never use a "broadcast" effect, characters sound clearly different from the narrator.
• Mix: voices −16 LUFS, beds ducked with makeDuck, final −17 LUFS. All SFX/music synthesized in scripts/audio/, so nothing gets copyright-claimed.
• Before reporting: look at the stills and strips; never auto-play audio on the user's machine.
• Don't bake "like and subscribe" asks into the video; put them in the description.

References

• references/STYLE.md: palette, characters, sets, HUD, captions, cards, camera
• references/STORY.md: part structure, writing rules, shot sheet, branching
• references/AUDIO.md: TTS options, human-sounding voices, SFX list, mix levels
• references/WORKFLOW.md: code layout, rig API, motion rules, render + final checklist
• references/CLONE-ANY-VIDEO.md: recreate any example video's format
• references/FORMATS.md: beat structures and build notes for 12 common video formats