--- name: Make AI Short slug: make-ai-short category: Automation description: Make AI Short builds a 1080×1920 generative video short end to end, using a locked character, video-model clips, voice, captions, and a seamless loop. Use it when you want an AI video short made from video-model pixels rather than TSX animation or a layered collage. github: "https://github.com/hassancs91/claude-faceless-shorts-creator/tree/main/.claude/skills/make-ai-short" language: TypeScript stars: 214 forks: 89 install: "npx degit https://github.com/hassancs91/claude-faceless-shorts-creator/tree/main/.claude/skills/make-ai-short ~/.claude/skills/make-ai-short" installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/make-ai-short source_path: .claude/skills/make-ai-short/SKILL.md collection_size: 5 category_size: 1956 collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/hassancs91/claude-faceless-shorts-creator" added: 2026-09-05T05:28:34.723Z last_synced: 2026-09-05T05:28:34.723Z canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/make-ai-short" --- # Make AI Short Make AI Short builds a 1080×1920 generative video short end to end, using a locked character, video-model clips, voice, captions, and a seamless loop. Use it when you want an AI video short made from video-model pixels rather than TSX animation or a layered collage. **Install:** ```bash npx degit https://github.com/hassancs91/claude-faceless-shorts-creator/tree/main/.claude/skills/make-ai-short ~/.claude/skills/make-ai-short ``` ## README # make-ai-short — generative shorts, end to end The pixels come from a video model; Remotion only composites clips + captions. Proven on blue-man #1 "The Door". Sibling of `/make-short` (100% TSX) — same discipline, plus three gates TSX never needed: **cost stated before generating**, **character locked from character.json**, **loop pinned via end-frame conditioning**. Run everything from the repo root. Needs `FAL_KEY` (clips + images) and `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` (voice) in `.env`. ## The three iron rules 1. **NEVER generate a character from text twice.** `ai-shorts//character.json` + `character.png` is the locked reference. Every still that needs the character is `gen_image.py --ref character.png`; every clip is image-to-video from a frame that already contains him. If a character sheet doesn't exist yet, making ONE (and getting the user's eye on it) is its own step before anything else. 2. **STATE THE COST BEFORE SPENDING IT.** Derived, not quoted: Seedance 1080p audio-off = `h×w×24×dur/1024` tokens × $1.2/1M ≈ **$0.0583/s** (fal pricing API validated 2026-07-14 — see ai-shorts/IDEAS.md for the full table + the Wan/Veo-Lite traps). Always `generate_audio:false` — voice is ElevenLabs, sound is our SFX pipeline. 3. **Loop by CONSTRAINT, not luck.** Shot 1's true frame 0 (extracted from the clip, not the prompt image) is the loop target. The final shot passes it as `end_image_url` (Seedance/Kling), and the composition settles onto that exact still over the last ~10 frames (`LoopSettle` pattern in `remotion/src/shots/ai-1/Ai1Door.tsx`). ## Artifact contract ``` ai-shorts// script.md · beats.json — same contract as /make-short (vo[] with real word times) character.json — THE LOCKED REFERENCE (+ video_model block = the picked model) shots/NN-slug.png — per-shot START frame (gen_image.py --ref character.png [--ref scene]) shots/NN-slug.json — gen_clip sidecar (model, payload, request id) shots/upload-urls.json — fal storage urls (uploads are reusable across re-rolls) voice/ · sfx-plan.json · output/ [voice/output gitignored] remotion/src/shots/ai-N/ — composition + vo.gen.ts media/projects// — THE clip copies for staticFile() (committed — pixels are not reproducible; shots/*.mp4 working copies are gitignored) ``` ## Order of operations (voice before pixels) 1. **Script** — script.md + beats.json. Hook composed at frame 0; thesis should WANT the loop (blue-man #1: "arrival is a myth" → ending = walking toward the same door). ~80-100 words, 2.5-2.7 wps windows. **No engagement-CTA outro, ever** — end on the payoff, loop is the ending. 2. **Voice FIRST** — `python tools/gen_voice.py --beats ... --emit-ts remotion/src/shots/ai-N/vo.gen.ts` (George JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb + eleven_v3 tags for narrators). Real word times decide the shot windows; Seedance takes integer 4-12s durations, so round shot lengths UP from windows. 3. **Start frames** — one per shot, `python tools/gen_image.py --model pro --aspect 9:16 --ref character.png` (+ the shot-1 scene still as a 2nd ref when a location/prop must match across shots). **QA every PNG before any video call** — this is where drift is cheap to fix. - Watch hands, clothing details, proportions — name them explicitly in the prompt on re-rolls. - **Geometry must be walkable** (the shot-6 lesson, cost 2 re-rolls): with an end-frame pin, the start frame must let the motion REACH the end state by walking forward — if the end frame's character is CLOSER to camera than the start's, the model spawns a clone instead. Start him larger/nearer than the end state so forward motion shrinks him into it. 4. **Clips** — state the total derived cost, then `python tools/gen_clip.py` per shot in parallel (`--set image_url= --set 'duration="N"' --set resolution=1080p --set generate_audio=false`, final shot `--set end_image_url=`). Upload refs once via `bakeoff_clip.upload_ref`; keep urls in shots/upload-urls.json. Prompt every clip with: exact character phrase + "EXACTLY ONE character in the scene for the entire shot" (clones are the #1 failure) + camera move + "no morphing" + style line. 5. **Clip QA, frame by frame** — start/mid/end strip per clip + a side-by-side of the final clip's last frame vs the loop target. Re-roll failures (state the re-roll cost); a 5s 1080p re-roll is ~$0.29 — cheap next to shipping a clone. 6. **Composition** — Sequences of `OffthreadVideo` over ONE timeline, ~8-frame crossfade underlaps (clips are ~1s longer than their windows — that's the slack), `Captions` + `ProgressBar` at root, `LoopSettle` dissolve at the tail. Copy final clips to `media/projects//`. `npm run gen`, frames.mjs at boundaries + heroes, READ every PNG, then render-all --scale=1 and mux voice.wav. 7. **SFX** — /suggest-sfx flow. **Gappy-VO calibration (blue-man #1):** cues in VO gaps get no masking and no duck — they need **~7-8 dB LESS** than the dense-narration table (gap whooshes -9..-13, not -3..-5). Verify with volumedetect RMS against a speech-mean reference; hero layer may kiss voice level once. Audition mix awaits **the user's ear** (hard gate). 8. **Save back** — catalog used_in, beats.json real timings (gen_voice writes them), sidecars committed, cost ledger in the final report. ## Done = character consistent in every frame of every clip (frame-by-frame QA'd) · loop verified (last frame vs frame 0 side-by-side) · captions on real word times · costs stated before each spend and totalled after · SFX audition rendered, awaiting the user's ear · no CTA outro.