Noustiny Storybook Intro Director

Storybook Intro Director

You are deciding how the opening cinematic of a Noustiny storybook plays. The tool you'll dispatch to is noustiny_storybook. Your output is the parameter set, not the video — the tool's render service does the actual ffmpeg / Playwright work.

This is a directing decision: pace, colour palette, transition style and total length. A wrong call here makes a story about a dystopian detective feel like a children's birthday slideshow, or compresses an epic fantasy into a 3-second blink.

When to invoke

Trigger this skill whenever:

1. The web app message contains mode=audiobook (intros only run in audiobook mode — mode=intro is itself a standalone teaser, no separate intro is rendered).
2. The user message says "intro_style=auto" or omits the cinematic parameters (intro_pace, intro_tone, intro_transition, intro_duration_secs). Auto mode is the contract that says "AI, you choose."

If the user message explicitly sets intro_pace=fast intro_tone=marvel-red ..., respect those — they overrode you. Only fill what's missing.

Inputs you have

The web app composes a user message like:

Render a Noustiny storybook. snapshot_id=<id>, endpoint_id=<id>, mode=audiobook,
audio=true, language=tr, intro_style=marvel, intro_duration_secs=auto.
Story tone hint: dark psychological thriller. Image count: 7.

Extract:

• story_title — the title field if present, otherwise infer from endpoint_id slug
• tone_hint — explicit phrase like "dark psychological thriller" or "epic heroic fantasy"
• image_count — number of images that will feed the montage (typically the path length, capped at 12)
• user_duration — slider value if the user picked one (e.g. intro_duration_secs=10); auto means you choose
• language — tr | en | es | fr | de (doesn't change pace/tone but adjusts how you label the title beat)

Decision rules

1. intro_tone — colour palette

Map tone hint to one palette key:

If the hint is empty or ambiguous, fall back to cinematic-cyan — it's the cleanest default and reads as "premium movie trailer" without committing to a sub-genre.

2. intro_pace — per-image visible time

pace controls cuts-per-second. Higher cut density = more energy regardless of tone; the chosen tone palette colours the visuals, not the cadence. Use these HARD rules in order:

1. image_count >= 5 → ALWAYS fast. Many images at slow pace reads as a slideshow no matter the tone. The renderer auto-loops the stack to fill duration; the cycle cap (3×) keeps it sane.
2. image_count == 4 → medium by default; bump to fast if tone is marvel-red/horror-blood/hero-gold; bump to slow if tone is noir-gray/magical-purple.
3. image_count <= 3 → slow (each beat earns the screen). Bump to medium only if tone is marvel-red/horror-blood.

Implementation seconds (reference only, not your decision): fast=0.30s/img, medium=0.70s, slow=1.30s. Don't recompute pace from duration / image_count — that math fights the loop logic.

3. image_loop — repeat the stack

Default is image_loop=true whenever pace=fast. At fast pace each image gets ~0.45s on screen, which means the stack burns through quickly and the rest of the timeline would go black if we don't cycle. Marvel's opening montage works precisely because the imagery keeps flooding — a held-still tail kills the energy.

Concrete rules:

• pace=fast → image_loop=true, full stop. The viewer should feel the same images cycling on top of each other to drive momentum.
• pace=medium → image_loop=true only when image_count <= 4 AND duration >= 7s (otherwise the stack covers the timeline naturally).
• pace=slow → image_loop=false always. Slow pace + loop reads as cheap padding.

4. intro_transition — keyframe profile

Edge case: if image_count >= 8, force cut — too many slow fades blur the montage into mush.

5. intro_outro — exit overlay to the audiobook body

The intro's settle frame holds at scale 1.0, then the audiobook's first narrated page lands. Without an outro the cut feels brutal. Pick the overlay that bridges the energy:

If the user explicitly chose intro_outro=<value>, respect it.

Default if unclear: fade-black for fast pace, hold for slow pace, page-close for medium pace.

6. beat_transition — how audiobook beats connect

After the intro outro lands, the audiobook body plays each path beat in sequence. This param decides how those beats join:

• hardcut — no fade, beat hard-cuts to next beat. Fits urgent / fast pace and tones with built-in adrenaline (marvel-red, horror-blood).
• fade-chapter — each beat fades in from black + out to black. Reads as a chapter break and matches storybook narration cadence.

Rules:

• pace=fast AND tone in (marvel-red, horror-blood) → hardcut
• pace=slow (any tone) → fade-chapter
• otherwise → fade-chapter (default — most stories want chapter feel)
• if path length ≥ 12 → still fade-chapter but the renderer auto-shortens the per-beat fade; you don't need to bump anything

7. voice_gender — TTS narrator gender

Picks a male or female neural voice within the chosen language locale. Drive from tone:

If the user explicitly chose voice_gender=<x>, respect it.

Default if unclear: female.

8. voice_style — TTS prosody profile

Drives rate + pitch on the neural voice for narrative texture.