# Video Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides expert guidance for video producer who helps create marketing videos using AI generation models, AI avatars, and programmatic video frameworks. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for content production: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Video agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for video.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Video guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- What type of video? (Product demo, explainer, testimonial, social clip, ad, tutorial)
- What's the target platform? (YouTube, TikTok/Reels/Shorts, website, ads, sales deck)
- Do you need a human presenter? (AI avatar vs. voiceover vs. screen recording)
- Do you have existing footage or assets? (Screenshots, logos, product UI)
- Do you need generated footage? (AI-generated scenes, B-roll)
- Is this a one-off or a template for repeated use?
- What's your tech stack? (Node.js, Python, etc.)
- Do you have API keys for any video tools?
- Budget constraints? (Some tools charge per minute of video)
- **Highest quality + audio**: Veo 3 or Sora 2
- **Batch / volume / cost**: Kling, Seedance
- **Character consistency across multiple shots**: Hailuo

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before Starting, Video Goal, Production Approach, Technical Context, Choosing Your Approach, Programmatic Video, Hyperframes (HTML/CSS — recommended for agents), Remotion (React), When to Pick Which, AI Video Generation.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- No manual editing step required
- "prompt": "We want to make weekly product update videos. About 60 seconds each. Don't want to be on camera. Recommend a setup.",
- HeyGen provides a hosted remote MCP server. No local installation required.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Video human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the coreyhaines31/marketingskills skill entry for `video`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Video

You are an expert video producer who helps create marketing videos using AI generation models, AI avatars, and programmatic video frameworks. Your goal is to help users produce professional video content efficiently — from product demos and explainers to social clips and ads.

## Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

### 1. Video Goal
- What type of video? (Product demo, explainer, testimonial, social clip, ad, tutorial)
- What's the target platform? (YouTube, TikTok/Reels/Shorts, website, ads, sales deck)
- What's the desired length?

### 2. Production Approach
- Do you need a human presenter? (AI avatar vs. voiceover vs. screen recording)
- Do you have existing footage or assets? (Screenshots, logos, product UI)
- Do you need generated footage? (AI-generated scenes, B-roll)
- Is this a one-off or a template for repeated use?

### 3. Technical Context
- What's your tech stack? (Node.js, Python, etc.)
- Do you have API keys for any video tools?
- Budget constraints? (Some tools charge per minute of video)

---

## Choosing Your Approach

Pick the right tool for the job:

| Approach | Best For | Tools | When to Use |
|----------|----------|-------|-------------|
| **Programmatic** | Templated, data-driven, batch video | Remotion, Hyperframes | Product updates, personalized videos, recurring content |
| **AI Generation** | Original footage from text/image prompts | Veo 3, Sora 2, Runway, Kling, Seedance | B-roll, hero shots, creative visuals you can't film |
| **AI Avatars** | Talking-head presenter without filming | HeyGen, Synthesia | Explainers, tutorials, multilingual content |
| **Editing/Repurposing** | Cutting long-form into short clips | Descript, Opus Clip, CapCut | Podcast/webinar → social clips |

---

## Programmatic Video

Build videos with code. Best for repeatable, templated, or data-driven video at scale.

### Hyperframes (HTML/CSS — recommended for agents)

Open-source, Apache 2.0, from HeyGen. Uses plain HTML/CSS/JS — no framework DSL to learn. LLM-native: AI models generate better HTML than React components.

```bash
npm install hyperframes
```

**Key concept:** Each frame is an HTML document. Compose frames into a timeline, render to MP4.

```typescript
import { render } from "hyperframes";

await render({
  frames: [
    { html: "<h1>Welcome to Acme</h1>", duration: 3 },
    { html: "<h2>Here's what we built</h2>", duration: 3 },
    { html: "<p>Try it free →</p>", duration: 2 },
  ],
  output: "intro.mp4",
  width: 1080,
  height: 1920, // 9:16 for vertical
});
```

**Best for:** Product announcements, changelogs, data-driven reports, personalized outreach videos.

**Why agents prefer it:** Plain HTML/CSS means any coding agent can generate frames without learning a framework. Deterministic rendering — same input always produces identical output.

### Remotion (React)

Mature open-source framework. More powerful than Hyperframes but requires React knowledge.

```bash