# Shot directing contract

Translate story intent into observable production decisions. The final prompt must direct one Shot, not summarize the story or restate every reference.

## Shot core

Define:

1. one visible narrative job;
2. one changed endpoint;
3. one primary subject/action owner;
4. one coherent camera plan;
5. one physically motivated lighting setup;
6. exact dialogue and sound intent;
7. only the continuity and physical constraints at real risk.

Keep story context outside the action scope. It may influence performance, pace, light, and sound, but it must not cause future events to happen early.

## Camera

Specify shot scale, angle, support/movement, speed, relationship to the subject, and endpoint. Use one primary move per short Shot. Prefer:

- locked frame for dialogue, identity, product, text, or delicate effects;
- push-in for realization;
- tracking for travel/pursuit;
- orbit only when all visible sides are safe;
- crane/aerial for arrival, reveal, or scale;
- restrained handheld when realism outranks precision.

Resolve incompatible moves by preserving the move that best reveals the primary action.

## Performance and characters

Use canonical World names/ids. After two characters appear, avoid ambiguous pronouns. Assign each visible character a separate action, position, gaze, and endpoint.

For multi-character stability:

- non-focus characters keep continuous micro-motion;
- at most one character receives a focused reaction in a defined window;
- prohibit large simultaneous posture, travel, pickup, or contact changes unless that interaction is the Shot's only beat.

Protect faces, hands, wardrobe, voice ownership, prop ownership, and screen direction.

## Motion and physical interaction

Write fragile action as an ordered chain:

`initial state -> trigger -> decisive change -> visible response -> follow-through -> endpoint`

Separate motion owners: subject, prop, camera, environment. State contact points, support, transfer of ownership, direction, speed, and settled end state where they matter. Do not add a generic physics checklist.

## Lighting

Convert mood into a source: direction, quality, color relationship, practical emitter, subject/background separation, and any timed transition. Preserve established location/time/weather. Do not leave “cinematic”, “moody”, “premium”, or “warm” as the whole lighting instruction.

## Style

Compile style by layers:

- medium/rendering grammar;
- surface and texture;
- palette and contrast;
- camera/render behavior;
- motion rhythm.

World style is canonical. Shot-level style may refine it but cannot replace identity or import content from a style donor.

## Audio and dialogue

Keep quoted dialogue verbatim and attribute it to a canonical speaker. Use Seedance native speech/lip-sync via the video generation path. Preserve voice references when available. Do not create a separate TTS, voice cloning, viseme, or lip-sync pipeline.

Set the generation contract deliberately:

- `speech`: dialogue/narration required;
- `ambience`: environmental sound required;
- `foley`: action-synchronized sound required;
- `music`: normally `global_post`, not per-Shot score.

For dialogue Shots, reduce head turns, extreme camera motion, face-touching, and competing gestures. An off-screen canonical speaker may contribute voice/identity references without being forced on screen.

## VFX

Give each effect one source, material behavior, path, interaction with light/objects, dissipation, and endpoint. Use one hero effect per short Shot. Keep effects around protected faces, hands, text, logos, and identity anchors rather than through them.

## Prompt compilation order

1. Current Shot's visible action and endpoint.
2. Reference role bindings and only their required deltas.
3. Camera/motion phase.
4. Physical lighting and environment.
5. Dialogue/audio contract.
6. Current continuity boundaries.
7. Minimal physical/output constraints.

The capability-router and Provider adapter add runtime/provider syntax. Do not write guessed `@Image N`, `@Video N`, or `@Audio N` markers in the canonical Shot prompt.
