FilmForge Painter

What does FilmForge Painter do?

You turn the shot list into paintings that belong to one film. Every prompt is assembled from locked parts (the style lock, the ledger, the shot list), never improvised, so the same character is described with the same words in every shot. The lint proves it before money moves.

Paths: scripts/, templates/ and config/ below are folders inside this skill (the base directory shown when it loads), put there by ./install.sh. Working from a clone of the repository, they are tools/, templates/ and config/ at its root.

Inputs

shotlist.yaml (retimed), style-lock.yaml, continuity.yaml, the sheets and plates in art/sheets/.

Step 1. The ledger, shot by shot

For every shot, write its entry in continuity.yaml: which characters are in frame, which props (with their holders), which states (a wound, soot, a ribbon on the wrist). Props and states carry spans (from, until).

python3 scripts/ledger.py check continuity.yaml --shotlist shotlist.yaml

It fails on drift: a prop missing inside its span while its holder is in frame, a prop or state outside its span, an unknown id, a character list that disagrees with the shot list. Fix the ledger before writing a prompt.

Step 2. Write each prompt (prompts/<id>.md)

Follow the style lock's grammar, slot by slot (forge-style-lock, references/prompt-grammar.md):

1. LOOK: the look for this shot (look: in the shot list, else the default), word for word.
2. REFERENCES: one clause per attached asset, from style-lock.yaml references:, in the order you attach them; the relight clause.
3. SHOT: the shot list's framing, camera height, lens feel, positions on thirds.
4. SUBJECT AND SCALE: per character, handle + anchor + scale lock from the ledger; counts.
5. MOMENT: the shot's beat as one instant.
6. SETTING: place, weather, time of day, the background.
7. LIGHT: direction, quality, temperature, and its source in the world.
8. COLOUR: the scene's colour-script words.
9. TEXT AREA, when the shot has text_area or narration over it.
10. CONTINUITY: the ledger's props and states for this shot, word for word.
11. LOCKS: every forbid clause covering this shot, word for word; shot-specific negations.
12. AVOID: the tail, word for word.

The file format, exactly:

# s02: the last match

Model: gpt-image-2.5, high, 2K, 16:9. Attach: sheet_girl, sheet_moth.

```
<the prompt, slots 1 to 12 as paragraphs>
```

The first fenced block is the prompt; everything else is notes for people.

Step 3. Lint before spending

python3 scripts/ledger.py prompts continuity.yaml --prompts prompts --style style-lock.yaml --shotlist shotlist.yaml

It fails a prompt that does not open with the look, does not end with the avoid tail, misses a character's handle or scale lock, a prop or state anchor, a forbidden-colour clause, or contains a character's name. production.py spend refuses paint-stage spends while it fails. In the engine's example, the lint catches s03's missing scale lock; the painting made from that prompt drew the moth at a sixth of its size.

Step 4. Paint in batches of four

• Order: sheets and proofs (style stage), then hero frames, then the rest scene by scene. Reuse shots and code shots cost nothing; paint them never.
• Batch: four prompts, each with its references attached in the order its REFERENCES slot names them. Log the spend first: production.py spend 11.0 --item "s05-s08 batch 2".
• Files: art/film/<id>_<slug>.png (s07a_child_reaches.png style: id first, then a slug). A repaint is <id>_<slug>_v2.png; a graded code fix is <id>_<slug>_g.png. The tools pick the newest version by name.
• After each batch: forge-frame-qa reads every painting at full size before the next batch is painted. A fault found in batch one is fixed in the prompts of batch two before it repeats.

Step 5. Repaints

A repaint comes from forge-frame-qa with its cause and a corrected prompt. Put the corrected prompt in prompts/<id>.md, lint, log the spend, paint _v2, and send it back to QA. If the cause was in the ledger or the style lock (a lock missing for everyone), fix it there and re-lint every prompt.

Special cases

• Picture-book pages: name the layout (spread 3:2, page 3:4, vignette 1:1 on a transparent background) and the text area in every prompt. All words are set in the book, never painted.
• Video keyframes: paint the first frame (and the last when the move must end somewhere exact) through this same grammar; the motion prompt is a separate step, run only after the keyframe passes QA.
• Key poses (poses: 2): one prompt per pose, identical except the MOMENT slot, so they snap cleanly.
• Plates: empty locations, no characters, reused across shots; they carry the setting so prompts stay short.

Output

• prompts/<id>.md for every painted shot, all passing the lint.
• continuity.yaml with every shot's entry, passing ledger.py check.
• art/film/ paintings, named by id, ready for QA.

Checklist before each batch

• ledger.py check passes
• ledger.py prompts passes for this batch
• References attached in REFERENCES order; the right sheet versions
• Spend logged; batch of four or fewer
• The previous batch has its QA verdicts

Repair table

Lint or QA finding	Which slot to fix
does not open with the style lock	1: paste the look, unedited
handle or scale lock missing	4: paste from the ledger; add the ratio to something in frame
prop or state anchor missing	10: paste from the ledger
forbidden-colour clause missing	11: paste the rule's prompt
uses a name	4 and anywhere else: replace with the handle
wrong size or wrong count in the painting	4: scale lock and an exact count; then the sheet's scale bar
subject lit flat	2: the relight clause; 7: a light with a source
text or letters painted	9 and 12: the text area is for code; "text" in the avoid tail

References

• references/batching.md: batch planning, naming, versions, and a worked batch from a real film