Workflow: launch, promo or release film from a repo, a site or a brief

Read this when the user wants a launch, promo, announcement, "hero" or release video for a product ("make a launch video for this repo", "a 30-second promo for acme.dev I can post on X", "a video for v2.0"). For a what's-new tour of several changes in one release use changelog-video.md; for a click-by-click walkthrough, tutorial.md; for a teaser that withholds the product, trailer.md.

See it done: 01 Launch video · 10 showtime's own launch video · 17 Product promo, 1:1

Essentials#

• A video to match ("same style as this"): showtime reference <video> --job <job> first; its brief and style.css override the defaults below (reference §2)
• Brand first: showtime brand capture <repo|url> --job <job> before any plan; showtime new launch applies the kit; no kit only with showtime brand skip <job> --why "..." (§ Brand first)
• Defaults, stated not asked: 30 s (20 s short, 45 s site hero), 16:9 1920x1080 30 fps, 9:16 only for a vertical-first platform or on request, template launch, a produced catalog track, no SFX, voice or captions (§ Defaults)
• 4-6 scenes, one message each: hook (complete at frame 0, >= 9 % of the frame height), verb, proofs in the same window (match), end card on the music's swell held 3 s after its last element lands (§ Scene grammar)
• Camera still inside every scene; at most one through (hook into product), else match or a 0.8-1 s blur-dissolve/dip, at most one hard cut; no punch-ins, shake, bounce, pan, push, whip-pan (§ Camera and motion rules)
• Holds: a result rests 1.5-3 s, then the next beat; dead_air (check) and frozen (qa) warn from 3.5 s in launch films: fix each one with a beat or a shorter scene, never accept it; the end card holds 3-4 s (§ Camera and motion rules)
• One display face + one mono, at most three sizes, headlines >= 6.5 %, commands >= 3.5 % at 16:9 with data-st="fit"; one ground, one accent, text >= 7:1 (§ Type and colour)
• Every word traces to a source; terminal text is copied from <job>/work/evidence/<name>.txt; version and install command verbatim (§ Honesty)
• Steps: showtime job init <product>-launch --goal "..." --platform <...>, evidence and captures, contract and scene table, showtime new launch <job>/project --duration <len>, replace every SLOT: (§ Steps)
• Music: showtime audio cuts --for launch --apply <job>/project; rerun after any length or scene change, never retime by hand (§ Music, § Pitfalls)
• showtime check and showtime look at every delivered aspect (--size 9:16): 0 errors at every size (§ Steps)
• Final: showtime render <job>/project --job <job> (plus --size 9:16); showtime qa <job> quoting verdict, LUFS, true peak and the rhythm line; then showtime review-pack <job> and the critic (quality mode, the default; lean: publish-bound only) (§ Steps, § Checklist)

The bar: what premium measures like#

Measured on launch films that viewers rate premium, and on ours that read "choppy and cheap":

The launch template, the camera transitions and showtime audio cuts build the left column by default. showtime qa measures it (rhythm line: layouts, how each change is made, hard cuts, still stretches, music dynamics) and warns on the right column.

Brand first#

Launch films that viewers pick start from the product, not from a template: its colours, its type, its words, its real screens. So step 1 is always showtime brand capture <repo | url> --job <job>: it scans the repo (CSS variables, Tailwind, fonts, logo), serves and captures its site folder or the running app (--url http://localhost:<port>), reads the README and CHANGELOG, and writes <job>/brand/brand.json, brand.md (the storyboard's source sheet: wordmark, ground/ink/accent, the code-block look, the copy verbatim with file:line, the real UI) and capture/ (screens per aspect, contact sheet). showtime new launch <job>/project then starts in that look: the ground, the ink, the accent, the product window in the product's own code colours, installable fonts, and the end card's wordmark, value line and install command filled from the kit. No brand to capture (the user wants a house style, nothing was given)? Record why: showtime brand skip <job> --why "...". showtime check warns on a launch job with neither, and on a kit that exists but the page ignores (brand_not_applied: a generic look).

• Real product moments over abstract shapes: the terminal running the README's commands (saved as evidence), the captured screens in a browser-frame, the app mid-action; never gradients or blobs standing in for the product when a brand exists.
• The user's words beat the kit; a brand colour too weak for text is deepened for text only (reported).

Defaults (state them in the opening line, don't ask)#

The length the request gives; otherwise by kind: teaser 10-15 s, feature video 30-40 s, launch film 45-60 s (a post on X or LinkedIn with no length given: 30 s). 16:9 at 1920x1080 30 fps (X and LinkedIn play it as is), plus a 9:16 cut of the same page only for a vertical-first platform (Reels, TikTok, Shorts) or when asked; template launch (5 scenes); a produced catalog track cut to the film (showtime audio cuts), no sound effects; no voice-over; no captions (there is no voice). Ask at most one question, only when nothing hints at platform or length.

Three rules for every length: the 2-second hook (frame 0 already says the promise or the problem in the product's words, readable at phone size; nothing important arrives after 2 s in scene 1), works on mute (every message is on screen as text; the music only lifts it; a voice-over needs captions), and the end card holds 3-4 s after its last element lands (name on the swell, then stillness).

Scene grammar#

• 20 s: 4 scenes (drop scene 4). 45 s: 6 scenes (add a "range" scene before the end card: several real results side by side, entered with a dissolve).
• Each proof is "verb, then result": the command types, the output lands, the result line is marked, and it holds at least 1.5 s. The camera does not move. One result per scene, never a list of features.
• A web product: the window is a browser-frame with a real capture (data-src), a mobile app a device-frame, a video tool its real output clips (VP9 proxies, stage-api.md). Keep data-match="win" on the window in every scene that shows it.
• Scene 1 holds a line only the product can say; "Introducing X" is a label, not a hook (story.md §3).

Camera and motion rules#

Every camera move must have a reason; if you can't say it, cut it. Viewers read an unmotivated zoom or pan as noise ("the zooms didn't make sense"); a calm, still frame with lively content reads as premium.

• Default handoffs: match (the product window carries across, only its content changes) and a soft blur-dissolve or dip (0.8-1 s) where the picture really changes (into the end card). At most one hard cut, on a downbeat.
• At most ONE fly-through per film (through): from the hook into the product, and only when the hook's key word is big (>= 9 % of the frame height) and the product appears inside its letter. Otherwise a dissolve. Never a second one, never pan, push, whip-pan, zoom-through, glitch, flash or shader transitions in a launch film.
• The camera is still inside every scene: no pushes, zooms or drift on the proof scenes or the end card. The one exception is the hook's lean toward the portal letter after about 2 s: it is the start of the fly-through, not a second move. Motion comes from the content: the command typing, the output landing line by line, the result line being marked a beat later, the end card's words arriving. (The camera component stays available for a real reason, e.g. a UI detail too small to read: say the reason in the plan.)
• Never: punch-in zooms, shake, bounce or overshoot (back, springs under 1), floating or breathing loops on text, any text leaving the frame.
• Entrances ease out over 0.4-0.9 s; words arrive 0.1 s apart; nothing exits on its own (the transition is the exit).
• Holds: a settled result rests 1.5-3 s, as long as its text needs to be read twice (pacing.md), then the next beat arrives (the next command, the result line marked, the headline's second half, the match into the next scene). Mid-film still stretches of 3.5 s or more read as a frozen video (the round-4 judges marked every 3.6-4.9 s hold): showtime check (dead_air) and qa (frozen) warn from 3.5 s in launch films. Fix each one (a beat, or a shorter scene; after audio cuts --apply moved a scene change, look again), never accept it. The end card holds 3-4 s after its last element lands.

Type and colour#

• One display family and one mono: the product's own fonts (brand.json, the site's CSS), else Geist and Geist Mono (the template's). At most three sizes on screen.
• Hook >= 9 % of the frame height at 16:9 (13 % of the width at 9:16, filling it on 2-3 lines), held still and complete; headlines >= 6.5 %, commands and UI text >= 3.5 % at 16:9. Terminals and command lines carry data-st="fit": their type shrinks until the longest line fits the window at every size (at 9:16 real commands land near 2 % of the height; keep commands short).
• One message at a time: the headline and the window that proves it. No bullets, no feature grids, no second caption under the headline.
• One ground for the whole film (the template's world layer: a slow key light, vignette, grain) and one accent: the brand's, else the template's. Accent on the key word, the prompt and the result line only. Text >= 7:1 on the ground.

Music: a produced track, cut to the picture#

1. showtime audio cuts --for launch --apply <job>/project (or a track id from showtime audio music search): it picks the catalog track, fetches it once (announced, with its size), finds the excerpt that starts calm and swells where the end card starts, moves the scene changes onto its phrase starts (retime --cuts) and writes the excerpt into audio/mix.json. It prints the plan: excerpt, scene starts, how many land on phrases, the swell, the dynamics.
2. Run it again after any length or scene-count change; --offset keeps an excerpt you chose.
3. No sound effects by default. At most one soft effect (a low whoosh under the through), never one per cut. No voice unless asked; with a voice, duck the track under it (sound-design.md).
4. Credits are automatic: credits.txt, the block in share.txt and the end card's credit line. Keep the credit in the post's description (the composer's Content ID reads it).

Honesty#

Every word on screen traces to the README, CHANGELOG, site or docs, or to a run you saved: terminal text is copied from <job>/work/evidence/<name>.txt (command + exact output), never typed from memory. No speed claims, counts, users, stars or quotes that the sources do not state. The version and the install command are verbatim. A plausible detail (a backup file name, a flag, an output line) that nobody ran is an invented claim.

Steps#

1. Brand and real UI first. showtime job init <product>-launch --goal "<the request>" --platform <x|linkedin|youtube|reels>, then at once showtime brand capture <repo or url> --job <job> --aspect 16:9,1:1 (add 9:16 for a vertical cut; --url http://localhost:<port> for a running app). Read <job>/brand/brand.md and look once at capture/contact-sheet.jpg. State the look as an assumption in one line ("the site's paper ground #fbf8f1, ink, green accent #2f6f5e; its wordmark; Geist for its system font"). Nothing to capture: showtime brand skip <job> --why "...". Done when: brand.json exists or the job records why not.
2. Evidence. Read the repo in the order of capture.md §2 (README, manifest, CHANGELOG). CLI or library: run each command you will show (brand.md lists the README's) on a small sample input and save command + output to <job>/work/evidence/<name>.txt. Web product: the captured screens (copied into the project as shots/brand/<aspect>/), or showtime demo record for the app mid-action. Done when: you have the promise in the product's words, three results you can show from evidence or captures, and the install/CTA line verbatim.
3. Plan. Contract ("This video tells ___ that ___", story.md §1), then the scene table above filled in: per scene the words on screen, the evidence file or capture, and the handoff. Log it: showtime job note <job> --stage plan --verified "contract: ...". Done when: every scene has one message and a source, and there are 4-6 scenes.
4. Project. showtime new launch <job>/project --duration <len> (it applies the brand kit and fills the end card from it; check the printed lines). Replace every remaining SLOT:: the hook (complete at frame 0; the key word in <em>, one of its letters with a closed counter in <span data-portal="counter">), the window (terminal lines from the evidence files; .hist repeats the previous command with its whole output or none, never only the last line, so it reads as one session), the headlines, the end card. Brand: already applied (<style id="st-brand">; re-run showtime brand apply <job>/project after editing brand.json); an open font the kit names but this machine lacks: showtime assets font "<family>", then brand apply again (components.md §7). Done when: grep SLOT finds nothing.
5. Music. showtime audio cuts --for launch --apply <job>/project (step "Music" above). Done when: the plan says the swell lands on the end card, or you chose another excerpt and said why.
6. First look, at every aspect you deliver. showtime check <job>/project and showtime look <job>/project, then the same with --size 9:16 (and 1:1 when asked): the page re-lays itself per size, and a command that fits at 16:9 can be cut off at 9:16. Judge every look (looking.md) with the checklist below (text inside the frame and its box in every still, the hook still and large, no type sliding or shimmering). Show the user in one line and keep going (quick mode). Done when: 0 errors at every size (cut-off or off-frame text is an error), every WARN read.
7. Final. showtime render <job>/project --job <job> (16:9, final.mp4), and for a vertical cut also showtime render <job>/project --job <job> --size 9:16 (1080x1920.mp4: the same page re-laid; it checks the layout at that size first and stops when text would be cut off).
8. Verify. showtime qa <job> (and showtime qa <job>/1080x1920.mp4): quote the verdict, LUFS, true peak and the rhythm line. Then showtime review-pack <job> and the critic (quality mode, the default; lean: publish-bound only), whose brief carries the checklist below.
9. Deliver. Write the post copy into share.txt above the credit block that render put there (1-3 sentences in the product's voice, only claims the video makes, the install line or link), exports on request (showtime deliver exports <final> --targets x,linkedin), the delivery card (modes.md §5).

Checklist (self-review and the critic's)#

• [ ] 4-6 scenes; qa rhythm: layouts <= 6, 0-1 hard cuts, every scene change a move.
• [ ] Frame 0 is the hook, complete and readable at phone size; it says what the product promises (the 2-second hook).
• [ ] In the product's look (check says brand), or the job records why not; the real product on screen, not shapes.
• [ ] Works on mute: every message is on screen as text.
• [ ] Each scene has one message and one proof, held >= 1.5 s after it lands; nothing mid-film is still for 3.5 s or more (the end card holds 3-4 s).
• [ ] One display face + one mono, sizes at or above the floors above, one accent, one ground.
• [ ] Every camera move has a reason you can say (at most one fly-through, hook into product); otherwise the camera is still. No punch-ins, shake, bounce, pops or per-cut effects.
• [ ] The music is a produced track with dynamics (qa music dynamics >= 3 dB); scene changes sit on its phrases; the name lands on the swell; it ends on a fade or a cadence, not a cut, with no more than 2 s of silence after it (qa warns on a longer silent tail).
• [ ] Every claim, command and output line traces to a source or an evidence file; the install/CTA line is verbatim.
• [ ] End card: name (the product's wordmark), value, install/CTA, URL, credit line; held 3-4 s after it lands.
• [ ] The 9:16 cut keeps every word inside the feed safe zone and nothing smaller than the floors.

Pitfalls#

• A layout per feature. Three features are three commands in one window, not three designs.
• The window left empty while a long command types: keep commands short and type them fast (data-fit 0.8-1.2 s); show the output within 3 s of the scene start.
• A made-up UI presented as the product. If capture fails, stop and say so; a recreation is labelled.
• Music chosen by name. Read showtime audio music info <id> (moods, energy, ending) and the cut plan's numbers; a track whose excerpt has no swell makes an end card with nothing to land on.
• Retiming by hand after audio cuts: rerun it instead, or the cuts leave the phrases.

Read next#

references/story.md, references/components.md (camera, browser-frame, typewriter), references/transitions.md (through, match, pan), references/music.md, references/capture.md, references/brand-kit.md, references/qa.md, references/platforms.md.

View or edit skills/showtime/references/workflows/launch-video.md on GitHub