Remotion Video Generator

Remotion Video Generator

"Create professional motion graphics videos programmatically with React and Remotion."

Credits & References

Original Skill

• Source: Superskills - Video Generator (Remotion)
• Author: Riley Brown / VibeCode Community

Modifications

• Firecrawl replaced with Scrapling for brand data extraction
• Uses Python scrapling library instead of Firecrawl API
• Added comprehensive troubleshooting for Remotion v4 API

Core Technologies

• Remotion: https://www.remotion.dev/
• Scrapling: https://github.com/D4Vinci/Scrapling
• React: https://react.dev/

Tested With

• OpenClaw promotional video - successfully rendered! 🎉

Quick Usage Guide (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Scrape Brand Data

# Run the scrapling script to get brand colors, logo, tagline
bash skills/remotion-video-generator/scripts/scrapling.sh "https://brand-website.com"

This extracts: brandName, tagline, logoUrl, faviconUrl, primaryColors, ogImageUrl, screenshotUrl

Step 2: Download Brand Assets

mkdir -p public/images/brand
curl -sL "https://brand.com/logo.svg" -o public/images/brand/logo.svg
curl -sL "https://brand.com/og-image.png" -o public/images/brand/og-image.png
curl -sL "https://image.thum.io/get/width/1200/crop/800/https://brand.com" -o screenshot.png

Step 3: Create Project Structure

mkdir -p my-video/src my-video/public/images/brand my-video/public/audio

Step 4: Create package.json

{
  "name": "my-video",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "npx remotion studio",
    "build": "npx remotion bundle"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@remotion/cli": "^4.0.0",
    "react": "^18.2.0",
    "react-dom": "^18.2.0",
    "remotion": "^4.0.0",
    "lucide-react": "^0.300.0"
  }
}

Step 5: Install Dependencies

cd my-video && npm install

Step 6: Create Video Component

Create src/MyVideo.tsx with:

• AbsoluteFill for full-screen layout
• Sequence components for scene timing
• useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig, interpolate, spring for animations

Step 7: Create Entry Point (Remotion v4 API)

Create src/index.tsx - MUST use .tsx extension:

import { registerRoot, Composition } from "remotion";
import { AbsoluteFill, Sequence, useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig, interpolate, spring } from "remotion";

const MyVideo = () => {
  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
  const { fps } = useVideoConfig();

  // Animations - ALWAYS pass fps to spring()
  const scale = spring({ frame, fps, from: 0.8, to: 1 });

  return (
    <AbsoluteFill style={{ backgroundColor: "#000" }}>
      <Sequence from={0} durationInFrames={90}>
        <h1>Hello World</h1>
      </Sequence>
    </AbsoluteFill>
  );
};

registerRoot(() => {
  return (
    <Composition
      id="MyVideo"
      component={MyVideo}
      durationInFrames={240}
      fps={30}
      width={1920}
      height={1080}
    />
  );
});

⚠️ CRITICAL Remotion v4 Rules:

1. Use .tsx extension (NOT .ts) for files with JSX
2. MUST use registerRoot + Composition API
3. ALWAYS pass fps to spring(): spring({ frame, fps, from: 0.8, to: 1 })
4. Use useVideoConfig() to get fps: const { fps } = useVideoConfig()
5. Render with composition name: npx remotion render MyVideo out/video.mp4

Step 8: Start Dev Server

cd my-video && npm run dev

Server runs on http://localhost:3000

Step 9: Preview & Iterate

• Open browser to preview
• Edit source files - hot-reloads automatically
• User reviews and requests changes

Step 10: Render Final Video (when user asks)

npx remotion render index out/final-video.mp4

Credits

• Original Skill: https://superskills.vibecode.run/
• Modified: Firecrawl replaced with Scrapling for brand data extraction
• Remotion: https://www.remotion.dev/

Installation

# Install Remotion globally
npm install -g remotion

# Install dependencies for video projects
npm install lucide-react

# Install Scrapling (already in workspace skills)
pip install scrapling

Agent Instructions

When to Use Video Generator

Use this skill when:

• Creating promotional videos
• Making product demos
• Social media video content
• Animated explainers
• Commercials
• Any programmatic video content

Do NOT use for:

• Simple slideshows (use other tools)
• Video editing of existing footage
• Live streaming

Default Workflow (ALWAYS follow this)

1. Scrape brand data (if featuring a product) using Scrapling (NOT Firecrawl)
2. Create the project in output/<project-name>/
3. Build all scenes with proper motion graphics
4. Install dependencies with npm install
5. Fix package.json scripts to use npx remotion (not bun):

   "scripts": {
     "dev": "npx remotion studio",
     "build": "npx remotion bundle"
   }

6. Start Remotion Studio as a background process:

   cd output/<project-name> && npm run dev

7. Expose via Cloudflare tunnel so user can access:

   bash skills/cloudflare-tunnel/scripts/tunnel.sh start 3000

8. Send the user the public URL (e.g. https://xxx.trycloudflare.com)

The user will preview in their browser, request changes, and you edit the source files. Remotion hot-reloads automatically.

Rendering (only when user explicitly asks to export)

cd output/<project-name>
npx remotion render CompositionName out/video.mp4

Quick Start

# Scaffold project
cd output && npx --yes create-video@latest my-video --template blank
cd my-video && npm install

# Add motion libraries
npm install lucide-react

# Fix scripts in package.json (replace any "bun" references with "npx remotion")

# Start dev server
npm run dev

# Expose publicly
bash skills/cloudflare-tunnel/scripts/tunnel.sh start 3000

Fetching Brand Data with Scrapling

MANDATORY: When a video mentions or features any product/company, use Scrapling to scrape the product's website for brand data, colors, screenshots, and copy BEFORE designing the video. This ensures visual accuracy and brand consistency.

Using the Scrapling Script

# Run the brand data extraction script
bash skills/remotion-video-generator/scripts/scrapling.sh "https://example.com"

This returns structured brand data: brandName, tagline, headline, description, features, logoUrl, faviconUrl, primaryColors, ctaText, socialLinks, plus screenshot URL and OG image URL.

Manual Scrapling Extraction

If the script isn't available, use Python directly:

import json
from scrapling.fetchers import StealthyFetcher
from urllib.parse import urljoin
import re

url = 'https://brand.com'
page = StealthyFetcher.fetch(url, headless=True)
html = page.text

def resolve(u):
    return urljoin(url, u) if u and not u.startswith('http') else u

colors = list(set(re.findall(r'#(?:[0-9a-fA-F]{3}){1,2}', html)))[:5]

data = {
    'brandName': page.css('[property="og:site_name"]::text').get() or page.title(),
    'tagline': page.css('[property="og:description"]::text').get(),
    'headline': page.css('h1::text').get(),
    'description': page.css('[property="og:description"]::text').get(),
    'logoUrl': resolve(page.css('[rel="icon"]::attr(href)').get()),
    'faviconUrl': resolve(page.css('[rel="icon"]::attr(href)').get()),
    'primaryColors': colors,
    'ctaText': page.css('a[href*="signup"]::text').get(),
    'ogImageUrl': resolve(page.css('[property="og:image"]::attr(content)').get()),
    'screenshotUrl': f"https://image.thum.io/get/width/1200/crop/800/{url}"
}

print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))

Download Assets After Scraping

mkdir -p public/images/brand
curl -s "https://example.com/favicon.ico" -o public/images/brand/favicon.ico
curl -s "${OG_IMAGE_URL}" -o public/images/brand/og-image.png
curl -sL "${SCREENSHOT_URL}" -o public/images/brand/screenshot.png

Note: Some S3 buckets block direct access. Use thum.io screenshot service as fallback.

Core Architecture

Scene Management

Use scene-based architecture with proper transitions:

const SCENE_DURATIONS: Record<string, number> = {
  intro: 3000,      // 3s hook
  problem: 4000,    // 4s dramatic
  solution: 3500,   // 3.5s reveal
  features: 5000,  // 5s showcase
  cta: 3000,        // 3s close
};

Video Structure Pattern

import { AbsoluteFill, Sequence, useCurrentFrame, useVideoConfig, interpolate, spring, Img, staticFile, Audio } from "remotion";

export const MyVideo = () => {
  const frame = useCurrentFrame();
  const { fps, durationInFrames } = useVideoConfig();

  return (
    <AbsoluteFill>
      {/* Background music */}
      <Audio src={staticFile("audio/bg-music.mp3")} volume={0.35} />

      {/* Persistent background layer - OUTSIDE sequences */}
      <AnimatedBackground frame={frame} />

      {/* Scene sequences */}
      <Sequence from={0} durationInFrames={90}>
        <IntroScene />
      </Sequence>
      <Sequence from={90} durationInFrames={120}>
        <FeatureScene />
      </Sequence>
    </AbsoluteFill>
  );
};

Motion Graphics Principles

AVOID (Slideshow patterns)

• Fading to black between scenes
• Centered text on solid backgrounds
• Same transition for everything
• Linear/robotic animations
• Static screens
• Emoji icons — NEVER use emoji, always use Lucide React icons

PURSUE (Motion graphics)

• Overlapping transitions (next starts BEFORE current ends)
• Layered compositions (background/midground/foreground)
• Spring physics for organic motion
• Varied timing (2-5s scenes, mixed rhythms)
• Continuous visual elements across scenes
• Custom transitions with clipPath, 3D transforms, morphs
• Lucide React for ALL icons (npm install lucide-react) — never emoji

Transition Techniques

Animation Timing Reference

// Timing values (in seconds)
const timing = {
  micro: 0.1-0.2,     // Small shifts, subtle feedback
  snappy: 0.2-0.4,    // Element entrances, position changes
  standard: 0.5-0.8,   // Scene transitions, major reveals
  dramatic: 1.0-1.5,  // Hero moments, cinematic reveals
};

// Spring configs
const springs = {
  snappy: { stiffness: 400, damping: 30 },
  bouncy: { stiffness: 300, damping: 15 },
  smooth: { stiffness: 120, damping: 25 },
};

Visual Style Guidelines

Typography

• One display font + one body font max
• Massive headlines, tight tracking
• Mix weights for hierarchy
• Keep text SHORT (viewers can't pause)

Colors

• Use brand colors from Scrapling scrape as the primary palette — match the product's actual look
• Avoid purple/indigo gradients unless the brand uses them or the user explicitly requests them
• Simple, clean backgrounds are generally best — a single dark tone or subtle gradient beats layered textures
• Intentional accent colors pulled from the brand

Layout

• Use asymmetric layouts, off-center type
• Edge-aligned elements create visual tension
• Generous whitespace as design element
• Use depth sparingly — a subtle backdrop blur or single gradient, not stacked textures

Remotion Essentials