Visual plan

Building skills decide one moment; this plan decides the whole video first, so treatments vary, land on words and reach the density and look needed. Plan and research here; the building skills build.

0. When and where

Stage visuals, added at the story stage when words carry the video (none for a music montage or a vlog told by pictures). It runs after the cut is locked (words and frames fixed) and before sound and captions (SFX and caption mode depend on it):

# --merge replaces top-level fields whole: read plan.stages, add the key, write all of stages back.
# stages.json: {"stages": {…the recipe's stages…, "visuals": {"after": "voiceover", "required": true, "why": "talking video"}}}
bashcut project set-data plan stages.json --merge --base-rev N

If BashCut lists the stage before review (ignoring after), still do it after the cut.

1. Read what is said and what exists

• A written script (plan.beats from bashcut.vlog:hook-script): start from it, do not re-derive. Join script check (at, end, heardShare per beat) with plan.beats by id. A beat with an onScreen note is a draft row: line = text, from/to = at/end, beat = id, show = the note, treatment = its treatment or the table's name for what the note asks. Only check them (§2–§3) and fill gaps: a beat without a note, a long beat needing two rows, heardShare below ~0.6 (re-worded or cut: take its words from what is heard).
• No script: split transcript words into lines at sentence or idea boundaries, with first and last word frames.
• What exists: described shots (review coverage, media describe), on screen now (timeline sheet --cuts --text).
• Targets, each with its source: a reference's measured profile (bc:style-study), else the recipe's ranges, else the kit's (bc:motion-graphics §3, bc:effects).

2. One treatment per line

Ask of every line: what does the viewer imagine, and does the picture already show it?

Not a closed list: a new treatment needs a name, what it shows and who builds it. A combination is one treatment (a stock photo with a text keyword is stock; show says both).

Guides, not rules:

• Concrete words (thing, number, place, step, comparison) can be shown; abstract or emotional lines are usually the speaker's.
• A number reads best counted or written, a process as steps or a diagram, a comparison side by side, a named object as the user's own shot, then stock, then an icon.
• Anchor each row to one word (at): entrances end on its first frame. Hold until the idea's narration ends, unless it is an accent.
• Screen lines: one screen row per narration line, show naming the panel the line names; a new row where the screen changes inside a line (contact sheet and scene cuts, bc:effects §5). Never one framing for every screen row. Each row is checked with ui frame F --phone at its at word.
• Text and captions never say the same thing twice: decide the caption mode here (full, keywords only, none) and write it into stages.captions.rules (with all of stages, as in §0).

3. Balance the whole video

Check the rows end to end against the targets before researching:

• Density and interval: picture changes and graphics per minute within target; nothing in the hook's first 1–3 s that does not serve the hook.
• Variety: one treatment on three lines in a row reads as a template unless the reference does exactly that; vary the device within it too.
• Presence: speaker screen share within target; keep the face on emotion, the hook's promise and the payoff.
• Faces: nothing covers the face while it speaks the point (media subjects).

Change rows until it fits; mark targets left on purpose "deliberate": true with the reason.

4. Research and look

Rows that need what the project lacks:

• stock, icon: 3–6 candidates per row (bc:stock-images §1 and Icons), a batch on one contact sheet; look, pick, import.
• own-broll: matching described shots; check the frame (media frames --sheet).
• graphic: note each row's starting example from the plugin's catalog (bashcut.hyperframes:hyperframes §1), or new; design happens at build.
• generated: the prompt idea; generation and any price wait for the build.

No good candidate: change treatment (often to text or speaker); never keep a weak picture.

5. Write the plan

project set-data plan visuals.json --merge --base-rev N; visuals rows in time order:

{"visuals": [
  {"line": "one of the best ways", "from": 0, "to": 36, "at": 12, "treatment": "graphic",
   "show": "serif lead-in, 'Best ways' slams in lime", "why": "the hook's claim, made to read in 1 s"},
  {"line": "which can boost", "from": 186, "to": 216, "at": 201, "treatment": "punch-in",
   "show": "1.12× on 'boost'", "why": "a strong verb the face sells"}
]}

Frames are timeline frames; show is one phrase of what is seen; why is the line's need, not the treatment's name; beat is the script beat's id. A row departing from its note says so in why ("note asked for a price card; the board in shot already shows it"). The picture's source lives on the imported media, not here.

Gate: when the brief asks to approve visuals or rows need paid generation, checkpoint request visuals --summary "<rows by treatment, targets>" --attach <contact sheet>; otherwise go on.

6. Hand off and close

Build in this order, each row by its skill: picture that replaces a moment (own-broll, stock video, screen) → graphic → stock photos and icon → text → punch-in. Each visual's sound is bc:audio-mix's, at the row's at. Record the stage (run append stage --stage visuals, evidence: row count, candidates sheet). The draft review checks every row against the timeline (bc:review).

Report

Targets and sources, rows by treatment with shares (speaker on screen, graphics a minute, mean picture change), what you rejected, the caption mode, targets left on purpose.