Study a style

Measure → look at frames → profile with tolerances → differences. Profile numbers come from the references, never from this skill. T15 = style-reference study, T01 = ideation, T07 = pacing.

Sources

Use the user's videos or download references (e.g. yt-dlp); keep them in a private folder outside any project that will be published, and never re-upload them.

How many (T15 §3, T01 §3): one video to mimic that clip; a channel style needs several (5–15 in one study, 10–30 in another). Confidence by sample count: under 10 low, 10–15 medium, above 15 higher (T01 §3, §7); say the tier next to every number.

1. Measure

In a separate study project (project create --name "Study - Channel X"), never the one you publish: media import, media analyze, media transcribe. All with --media REF:

A reference's sound is one mixed track: read music under voice from the gap level against the word level (audio mix-measure splits stems only on our timeline).

2. Look before trusting a number

Numbers flag, eyes decide (T15 §4).

• Cut detection misses dissolves, whips and fades through black, fast camera moves score like cuts, and a hard cut in a dark scene can score very low (T15 §2). Look: media frames --sheet --every 1 for structure, media strip around a suspect cut, media analysis --min-score X for weaker candidates; fix the list with media cuts.
• Open the 3–5 longest shots and the opening on frames before writing about them.
• Speech recognition invents text over music: check the words against the strip before counting speech.
• OCR and face boxes are raw (a logo, sign or reflection reads as text, a poster as a face): check them against media frame before counting; which text is a caption is yours to decide.
• Mark anything you estimated (by eye, from a few frames) as est. (T15 §4).

3. Profile with tolerances

Per facet: median and p25–p75 across the references (not only a mean), with n, files and date (T15 §3, §4). Tolerance:

• ±20–40 % for shot length, cut rate and duration, as a preference, not a gate (T15 §3); sources contradict (one: ±30 % a must; another: ×0.7–1.3 "a preference, not a hard rule"). Tighten for "exactly like X"; widen when our footage has less coverage than the reference or the length differs a lot.
• Keep the cut rate per section type (hook, body, payoff), not the total number of cuts, when our video is longer or shorter (T15 §3, T07 §7). Hand the band to the recipe or bc:beat-cut as a range.
• Priority: the user's instruction > what our footage allows > the reference (T15 §2, §7).
• Colour and sound are raw values (black/white point, saturation, tint; level under words and in gaps), not labels like "matte" or "punchy" (T15 §3).

Own-channel mode

The creator's own history is the benchmark, not genre averages (T01 §2, §4). With view counts, rank each video by its multiple over the channel's own median (needs at least 4 videos, T01 §2, §3); report it and let the creator judge (one source flags 1.5–3×, T01 §3). The multiple says a video did well, not why: compare the outliers' profile with the rest and call it a pattern to test, with its confidence tier. Without view counts, the profile is "how you edit now".

4. Differences, not a copy

• Per reference, one learn / don't-take note: what to learn (rhythm, structure, transition type, camera idea, holds) and what not to take (T01 §2, T15 §2).
• Never reproduce their text, music, graphics, logos or characters, their exact sequence of shots, or a look so close it passes for theirs (T15 §2, §4).
• Before planning, list 3–5 deliberate differences across structure, opening, signature move, look, music and ending; one source asks that at least 4 of these 6 differ (T15 §3).
• After the cut, measure ours the same way (review shots --summary, color measure --graded, audio mix-measure), compare pictures with media frames --reference REF --media OURS --count 6 (OURS: a source clip or imported draft export), and check the differences are still there.

5. Turn it into BashCut

library list --pack "Channel X" first: the style may have been studied before.

1. Project memo (knowledge memo): the profile table (facet, median, p25–p75, tolerance, n, confidence, source and date), the learn / don't-take notes, the differences and 5–10 rules, each with its number.
2. Look: move the closest bc:color-grade look toward the measured values on an adjustment. The whole style is that look plus one patchItems caption restyle (bc:captions-text).
3. Library pack: build each piece once, then library save-selection --kind look --name "Channel X look" --item ADJUSTMENT --pack "Channel X" (also text-preset, transition-preset, effect-preset for its signature moves, audio for SFX you have the rights to). --scope user (every project) waits for the user's approval.
4. Review limits: when the user wants the style checked, set the project's review keys (minShotSeconds, maxShotSeconds, caption limits) from the profile's range.
5. Rules for skills: a finding true beyond this channel is a kit change proposal (bc:self-learn).

Tell the user the rules that matter most (numbers, n, confidence) and the differences you will keep.