Style Packs

Ten JSON presets — from documentary's 5-second holds to kinetic's 1-second cuts — that control hold durations, transition rules, and camera overrides without changing code.

What are style packs?

A style pack controls three things about how your sequence is assembled:

Hold durations — how long each scene is held, keyed by its motion energy level
Transition rules — what kind of cuts or crossfades happen between scenes, and when
Camera overrides — what camera moves are applied based on content type or intent

Style packs are data, not code. The sequence planner reads them from catalog/style-packs.json and interprets them through generic rule engines. No code changes are needed to add a new pack.

Personality: editorial. Content-forward editorial style. Longer holds let content breathe. Selective crossfades on weight changes and emotional moments. Push_in and drift camera for visual content. Best for product showcases and portfolio pieces.

energy

Personality: montage. Rapid sizzle-reel style. Short holds with a hard 4-second cap. Hard cuts dominate (70%) with whip-wipes cycling every 3rd transition (30%). All cameras forced static — montage personality forbids camera movement. Best for sizzle reels and hype videos.

dramatic

Personality: cinematic-dark. Cinematic drama with variable holds — high-energy scenes actually get longer holds (3.5s) to let tension build. Crossfade by default, hard cut when consecutive scenes share the same visual weight. Push_in for emotional/hero moments, drift for detail. Best for marketing films and dramatic reveals.

minimal

Personality: neutral-light. Clean tutorial style. Uniform long holds, hard cuts only, all cameras static. Zero visual embellishment. Content speaks for itself. Best for tutorials, documentation videos, and educational content.

intimate

Personality: cinematic-dark. Slow-burn brand narrative. Longer holds with crossfade-heavy transitions — 800ms for emotional content, 500ms default. Subtle push_in (0.15 intensity) for portraits and products, gentle drift elsewhere. Best for brand narratives and emotional storytelling.

corporate

Personality: editorial. Polished enterprise demo. Uniform pacing with crossfade on weight changes (300ms), hard cut default. Selective push_in for products, drift for UI screenshots. Professional without being sterile. Best for enterprise demos and investor materials.

kinetic

Personality: montage. Maximum pace for launches and sizzle. Very short holds (1.0–1.5s) with a hard 3-second cap. Every 2nd transition is a whip-wipe cycling left/right (200ms), rest are hard cuts. All cameras static. Best for keynote openers and product launches.

fade

Personality: editorial. Soft gallery style. Medium holds with all transitions as 500ms crossfades — every scene blends smoothly into the next. Minimal camera — push_in at low intensity (0.1) for portraits and products only. Best for photo essays and visual portfolios.

analog

Personality: editorial. VHS-inspired retro aesthetic. Warm, nostalgic pacing with longer holds. Crossfade on weight changes (600ms), crossfade default (400ms). Subtle push_in for portraits, gentle drift for products. Includes a visual treatment flag for analog post-processing. Best for retro brand storytelling.

documentary

Personality: editorial. Observational filmmaking pacing. Very long holds (3.5–5.0s) that let scenes breathe. Almost exclusively crossfade transitions. Static or slow drift camera — no push_in at all. Inspired by the "keep it human" filmmaking trend. Best for observational content and long-form storytelling.

Pack schema

Each style pack follows this structure:

{
  "name": "prestige",
  "personality": "editorial",
  "description": "Content-forward editorial style...",
  "hold_durations": {
    "static": 3.5,
    "subtle": 3.0,
    "moderate": 3.0,
    "high": 2.5
  },
  "max_hold_duration": null,
  "transitions": { ... },
  "camera_overrides": { ... }
}

Field	Description
`name`	Pack identifier used in `plan_sequence` and brief schema
`personality`	Maps to an animation personality from the catalog
`hold_durations`	Duration in seconds per `motion_energy` level
`max_hold_duration`	Hard cap on scene duration. `null` = no cap
`transitions`	Transition rule object (see below)
`camera_overrides`	Camera rule object (see below)

Hold durations

Each pack defines four duration values keyed by the scene's motion_energy:

motion_energy	prestige	energy	dramatic	minimal	intimate	corporate	kinetic	fade	analog	documentary
static	3.5	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	1.5	3.0	4.0	5.0
subtle	3.0	2.0	2.5	3.5	3.5	2.75	1.5	2.5	3.5	4.5
moderate	3.0	1.5	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.5	1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0
high	2.5	1.5	3.5	3.0	3.0	2.5	1.0	2.0	2.5	3.5

Hard caps: energy = 4.0s, kinetic = 3.0s. All others uncapped.

Dramatic is the only pack where high-energy scenes get longer holds than static ones. The intent is to let tension build rather than rushing through peak moments.

Transition rules

Transition rules are evaluated in strict priority order — the first matching rule wins:

Priority	Rule type	Description
1	`pattern`	Positional — fires every N transitions (e.g., whip-wipe cycle)
2	`on_same_weight`	Fires when consecutive scenes share `visual_weight`
3	`on_weight_change`	Fires when `visual_weight` differs
4	`on_intent`	Matches incoming scene's `intent_tags` (e.g., emotional, hero)
5	`default`	Fallback when nothing else matches

Pattern rules

Used by energy and kinetic for cyclic whip-wipe transitions:

{
  "pattern": {
    "every_n": 3,
    "cycle": ["whip_left", "whip_right", "whip_up", "whip_down"],
    "duration_ms": 250
  },
  "default": { "type": "hard_cut" }
}

Intent rules

Used by prestige, dramatic, and intimate for emotional/hero treatment:

{
  "on_intent": {
    "tags": ["emotional", "hero"],
    "transition": { "type": "crossfade", "duration_ms": 400 }
  },
  "default": { "type": "hard_cut" }
}

Camera rules

Three camera rule types, evaluated in order:

Type	Behavior	Packs
`force_static`	All scenes get `{ move: 'static' }`	energy, minimal, kinetic
`by_content_type`	Maps content type to camera move	prestige, intimate, corporate, fade, analog, documentary
`by_intent`	Maps intent tag to camera move	dramatic, intimate

Camera overrides are validated against the personality's allowed_movements. Invalid moves are silently downgraded to null. drift and static always pass validation.

{
  "camera_overrides": {
    "by_content_type": {
      "portrait":      { "move": "push_in", "intensity": 0.2 },
      "product_shot":  { "move": "push_in", "intensity": 0.2 },
      "ui_screenshot": { "move": "drift",   "intensity": 0.2 }
    }
  }
}

Comparison

How the same 4 scenes produce different results across three styles:

Metric	prestige	energy	dramatic
Average duration	~3.0s	~1.7s	~3.0s
Total duration	~11s	~6s	~10s
Dominant transition	hard_cut + crossfade	hard_cut + whips	crossfade
Camera behavior	selective push_in/drift	all static	selective push_in/drift
Whip-wipe rate	0%	~30%	0%
Personality	editorial	montage	cinematic-dark

Pace spectrum

From slowest to fastest average hold:

documentary (4.25s) > minimal (3.38s) > intimate (3.38s) > analog (3.25s)
  > prestige (3.0s) > dramatic (3.0s) > corporate (2.69s) > fade (2.38s)
  > energy (1.75s) > kinetic (1.25s)

Adding new packs

To add a new style pack:

Add a new entry to catalog/style-packs.json with the required fields
Set personality to a valid slug from catalog/personalities.json
Define hold_durations, transitions, and camera_overrides using the rule types above
The planner picks it up automatically — no code changes needed

The personality must exist in the personalities catalog. Camera overrides referencing moves not in the personality's allowed_movements will be silently dropped.

Try it

Try asking your AI:

Show me the prestige style pack — full definition with transition rules and camera overrides.

Compare the energy and kinetic style packs. How do they differ?

Which style pack would work best for a 45-second brand narrative with portraits and product shots?

What style packs use crossfade transitions by default?