Directing Stickman Videos
Two modes, one Skill
Keep the existing installation and name. Route by the requested deliverable:
- A · Director: proposals, storyboards and standalone video-generation prompts. A1/A1.1/A1.2 map to Style 1 light/dark; A2/A2.1/A2.2 to Style 2/2A/2B; A3–A6 to Styles 3–6. Follow the unchanged Director contract below.
- B · Autopilot: a finished local video with narration, captions, meaningful illustrations, local motion and SFX. Read Autopilot, then its selected B-style reference. B1 is 极简手绘风. B styles have their own assets and numbering; do not silently reuse an A-style prompt or sample.
If the mode is ambiguous, ask one short question. Honor previously supplied choices. Do not run Director's ten-second clip rules, no-visible-text rule or Phase B prompt workflow for Autopilot. Autopilot can start with a topic, promotion brief, post, article or story script; it is not story-only. English is the default narration language, but the user's language and voice choices take precedence.
Voice is mode-specific: B uses the selected TTS voice as provided, with no added style description. Director's frozen profiles in references/voice-continuity.md apply only to A.
A and B share an installation, not a production contract or style library. All sections from A · Director to the end of this file apply only to A1–A6, including phrases such as "all styles". For B, use only Autopilot's production rules and the selected B-style reference; do not inherit A's setup, approvals, pacing, prompts, voice or visual constraints. Each B style owns its visuals, captions, voice, pacing and SFX; never inherit B1 by default, and preserve A's rules when revising B.
First use and next steps
Use one shared guide in the requested or current language, falling back to the host/local setting when unclear. Keep guidance language separate from narration/subtitles; do not select it from the README edition.
Read first-use and stage guidance for installation handoff or first use, and apply its progress guidance throughout both modes. After a verified installation, show a plain-language quick-start immediately; otherwise introduce the Skill on first invocation. Explain outputs, suitable uses, tools to prepare, the production sequence and a copyable request, tailored to what the user knows. Reuse the supplied brief instead of restarting an intake interview. At each completion or blocker, say what is done, what is missing and the concrete next action, separating your work from the user's choices. Do not turn progress updates into approval gates or repeat the welcome every turn.
A · Director
Core contract
Turn one source into a confirmed director's proposal and then N standalone prompts for approximately ten-second Gemini Omni Flash clips (where N = target duration in seconds / 10; default 6 clips for 60 seconds). Preserve the source's meaning while structuring it through a high-completion 5-stage emotional narrative arc.
Setup gate
Require these before planning:
- source material
- aspect ratio:
16:9or9:16 - target duration: in multiples of 10 seconds (e.g.
30s,60s,3min; default60s/ 6 clips if unspecified) - visual style and theme:
Style 1 (Classic Minimalist): light (white background, black figure) or dark (black background, white figure)Style 2 (Modern Beanie Zeke):Style 2A (Modern Studio Tech): pure white high-key studio, subtle light-gray perspective grid, floating cyan/blue glass UIStyle 2B (Cinematic Story): full-color narrative environments, cinematic lighting & depth
Style 3 (Prehistoric Hand-Drawn / Dark Comedy): expressive white filled heads, black stick limbs, animal-hide costumes and earthy prehistoric settings; story-specific castingStyle 4 (Cozy Storytelling / 治愈故事风): expressive minimalist white-filled characters with dark stick limbs in full-color 2D cartoon environments; varied story locations and cinematic shot changesStyle 5 (Historical Cartoon / 历史卡通风): white-filled round heads, simple black oval eyes and thin black stick limbs in era-specific costume, with cel shading and full-color painterly historical settingsStyle 6 (Modern Anime / 现代动漫风): cinematic anime humans with expressive faces, layered hair and costume, built from character sheets in painted atmospheric settings
If aspect ratio or visual style is missing, ask for all missing items in one concise message and stop. If duration is omitted, default to 60 seconds (6 clips). If a user provides a duration not divisible by 10, round to the nearest 10-second multiple. If a user specifies only light or dark theme, default to Style 1. Never select an aspect ratio or style silently. Do not re-ask choices already supplied.
Urgency, generation cost, client pressure, and requests to "pick normal settings" do not waive this gate.
Workflow
- Read
references/storyboard-template.md,references/style-catalog.mdandreferences/voice-continuity.md. Structure the narrative using the 5-Stage High-Completion Heartbeat Engine (Golden Hook → Disrupted Assumptions → Insider Secrets → Truth Revelation → Elevation & Discussion), with timing dynamically scaled to the target duration. Produce Phase A in the user's language, with English VO and a reference translation. - Stop after the director's proposal and request explicit approval.
- If the user changes ratio, duration, style, theme, narration, scene structure, or global direction, recompose Phase A and request approval again.
- Only after approval of the current Phase A, read
references/omni-flash-prompt-contract.mdand produce Phase B. - Use
references/examples.mdonly when a concrete end-to-end example would resolve ambiguity.
Topic approval, schedule pressure, or approval of an older draft is not approval of the current Phase A.
Output rules
For Style 3, read references/prehistoric-dark-comedy.md before planning. Its casting, story rhythm, palette and continuity rules override the generic no-idle, device-count and five-stage discussion-ending rules below. Use setup → escalation → ironic payoff for narrative shorts; do not force a discussion question into a visual punchline. This is a visual storytelling style, not a claim about actual prehistory.
For Style 4, read references/cozy-storytelling.md before planning and prompt assembly. Default each new ten-second segment to a different recognizable story setting, unless the user explicitly requests one location or approves a deliberate return. Preserve characters, drawing grammar, important props, movement direction and narrator—not an identical table or background across the whole video. Name the location cuts and any time jumps in Phase A. This is full-color cartoon storytelling, not a hand-drawn/sketchbook mode and not a claim of photorealistic 3D backgrounds.
For Style 5, read references/historical-cartoon.md before planning and prompt assembly. Keep its drawing grammar fixed while changing the era pack. Confirm story-specific cast cards, setting, palette, props and exact narration in Phase A; repeat the full approved style and visible cast descriptions in every Phase B prompt. Its historical palette, music, physical-action pacing and story ending override generic three-color, mandatory-piano, device-count, no-idle and discussion-ending rules below. Apply the existing shared voice contract; do not apply this style's character rules to Styles 1–4.
For Style 6, read references/modern-anime.md. Build approved character sheets plus location and prop plates; repeat each full sheet in prompts, keeping identity and costume fixed while expressions change. Use its anime humans, shot language and endings instead of the stick-figure and discussion-ending rules below. Never render stick figures, chibi bodies or 3D. Do not apply its character rules to Styles 1–5.
- Structure every script using the 5-stage high-completion flow:
- Golden Hook: Instant curiosity trigger via a counter-intuitive question or visual paradox. Timing is flexible based on duration (e.g. within the first 2–5 seconds in short videos, up to 10–15s in long videos); never open with generic platitudes.
- Disrupting Assumptions: State what everyone thinks is true, then shatter it in one sentence to build cognitive conflict.
- Unveiling Insider Secrets: Pull back the curtain on hidden mechanics, counter-intuitive details, or the real obstacle.
- Ultimate Truth Revelation: Deliver the underlying business logic or human psychology truth with maximum cognitive payoff.
- Elevation & High-Engagement Discussion: Conclude with a memorable punchline and an irresistible discussion prompt that sparks debate in the comments.
- Scale English VO to approximately 20–25 words per 10-second clip (e.g. ~60–75 words for 30s, ~120–150 for 60s, ~360–450 for 3min, ~600–750 for 5min).
- Give each clip three timed beats, at least four relevant visual devices, and a visual change every two to three seconds.
- Keep character proportions, line weight, style, and narrator consistent across all clips.
- For Style 1, freeze the concise anchor from
references/style-catalog.mdand repeat it verbatim in every clip. Keep two arms and two legs, one current pose per limb, stable proportions and uniform medium line weight; a moving arm replaces its previous pose. Keep the figure monochrome and accents on props/graphics; occasional simple line expressions are allowed, but the head stays hollow. Do not replace the anchor with "same character", ellipses or numeric anatomy. Keep actions and effects separate from design. Treat consistency as a visual check, not a guarantee from repeated text. - For Style 1, limit accents to three saturated colors named descriptively (e.g. vivid red, electric blue, warm gold). For light theme, keep a flat, digitally pure-white canvas with no textures, gradients or 3D depth.
- For Style 2 (Modern Beanie Zeke), enforce character consistency:
- Clip 1:
A minimalist 2D animated stick figure wearing a bright red beanie (smooth knit, no pom-pom) and a yellow t-shirt, with simple black stick limbs and shorts. Simple black lines, vibrant colors, smooth 2D animation style. - Clips 2–N:
The same minimalist 2D animated stick figure in a bright red beanie and yellow shirt... Simple black lines, vibrant colors, smooth 2D animation style. - No detailed eyes, pupils, or photorealistic features (avoids bug-eye deformation).
- Clip 1:
- For Style 2A (Modern Studio Tech), enforce:
in a modern bright white studio space with subtle light-gray perspective grid lines on the floor plane. High-key studio lighting, clean white negative space, sleek glowing cyan and electric blue glass holographic UI elements.Always include negative constraint:STRICTLY MINIMALIST, NO CIRCUIT BOARD TEXTURES, NO SCI-FI WALL PANELS, NO CRACKED CONCRETE. - For Style 2B, use full-color cinematic settings while keeping the 2D stick-figure design.
- For Style 4, freeze each approved character's full anchor and repeat it where that role appears. Separate static design from first-frame positions, prop transfers and final states; a scene change does not reset prop ownership or the narrator. Read its reference for shot variety and acceptance checks.
- For all styles, avoid abstract liquid/shape morphing. Drive motion with concrete character actions (leaping, touching glass, drawing luminous lines, opening doors) with timed beats across
[0–3s],[3–7s], and[7–10s]. Never leave the character idle. - For all styles, apply
references/voice-continuity.md: choose a complete video-level voice profile in Phase A, then repeat its full frozen English block verbatim in every clip. Different videos may choose different voices; a scene/style/character change must not recast the narrator. Lock timbre, register, accent, texture, delivery, pace and recording treatment, not just "same narrator". Keep emotional progression in visuals/music. Style-specific music rules never override this shared voice contract. Mandate BGM continuity from clip 1. - Treat narration as audio-only (
Audio voiceover only, strictly no speech bubbles, no dialogue boxes). Quote exact dialogue and forbid alteration, repetition, captions, subtitles, or visual transcription. - Never place technical color notation (hex, RGB, Pantone) inside generation prompts.
- Default generated clips to no visible words, letters, numbers, or interface copy. Put optional two-to-five-word overlays in a separate post-production note.
- Match every clip ending to the next clip opening through action, an important prop, screen direction or a planned cut. Style 4 uses deliberate scene changes or approved time jumps; it does not require the same background in adjacent clips.
- Do not invent unsupported facts, statistics, quotations, or product claims.
Revision rules
Recompose rather than rename:
16:9: stage action across left, center, and right; use lateral tracking and negative space.9:16: use depth, stacked motion, vertical reveals, and interface-safe placement.
Theme, ratio, duration, or style changes require a fresh visual balance check. A global change invalidates prior approval.
Final check
Apply the checklist in the loaded reference. Repair any failed condition before responding.