skills/faceless-video/references/style-editorial-collage.md

# House style — Editorial Motion Graphics (editorial collage)

**Catalog card: "Editorial Motion Graphics"** (`56fc6472-33b7-45dc-83ff-80c71d40aec6`).

**Canonical style-donor ref — ALWAYS attach it to the style-key call:** pass this
authorized HTTPS URL directly as canonical `image` media (or upload if needed),
together with the card's resolved `media_id` when available. Never build this key
from prose alone.

- https://cdn.higgsfield.ai/youtube_faceless_preset_image/306ee0a1-58e7-43c8-9cee-0493702e5e6b.webp

The ref is a style DONOR only: take the render style, palette and surface treatment,
never its specific subjects or composition.

A **motion-designed editorial documentary collage**: a warm cream-paper stage,
monochrome halftone archival cutouts, ONE accent color doing all the talking —
a magazine spread that moves like a news documentary, never filmed footage.
**The flagship house style — default for BOTH History and Explainer** (on
Explainer it is the first of two main directions, alongside Stickman Cartoon:
offer both); strongest on data stories, economics, history, "the real reason
X" topics.

**Intake one-liner (use VERBATIM as this option's description — do not
improvise):** "Editorial documentary collage — cream paper, monochrome archival
cutouts, one bold accent color (the big disc, the one colored hero); the
voiceover carries all words (no on-screen text)." Never describe this style
with "kinetic text", "typography" or "data on screen" — in-clip words are
BANNED in it; never name third-party studios/brands in the option text.

## STYLE FORMULA (§0 form — paste byte-identical everywhere)

> flat editorial documentary collage on a warm cream paper stage with subtle
> fiber grain: monochrome halftone archival photo cutouts with rough white
> keylines and a slightly offset {ACCENT} stroke behind each cutout, one
> single {ACCENT} accent color per video — a large flat {ACCENT} disc behind
> the main subject and exactly one color-popped hero element among the
> monochrome — torn paper edges and tape strips, soft paper drop shadows,
> hand-drawn {ACCENT} marker circles, arrows and underline strokes (abstract
> strokes only, never letters), abstract unlabeled data shapes and flat
> stylized maps, subtle print misregistration on inked elements, snappy
> staggered spring motion with slight overshoot, non-photorealistic
> illustrated collage, never live-action.

**{ACCENT} — lock ONE accent color per VIDEO at Phase 1** (write it into the
formula and the PALETTE LOCK verbatim; never mix accents across blocks). Burnt
orange is the classic, NOT the law — pick what serves the topic: burnt orange
· coral red · mustard gold · petrol blue · deep crimson · forest green. Within
a shot: the disc + ONE color-popped element + strokes is already plenty; let
some shots breathe with monochrome only.

## The layer model (load-bearing — name the layers in SHOT beats)

- **BACKGROUND — the locked stage.** A warm cream paper field with fiber
  grain. Within a block the stage NEVER changes — cuts re-compose the
  elements, not the world; between blocks a location = its own stage plate.
  Optionally one large flat {ACCENT} disc / half-disc anchors the composition
  behind the subject.
- **MIDGROUND — the subjects.** Monochrome halftone cutouts (people, cars,
  buildings, objects) with rough white keylines and the offset {ACCENT}
  stroke — paper puppets that enter, act, leave.
- **FOREGROUND — the devices.** Props, charts, maps, annotation strokes —
  where the {ACCENT} lives. The through-line object sits here.

## Signature composition devices (rotate them; each SHOT uses 1–2)

- **The disc:** a big flat {ACCENT} circle/half-circle behind the monochrome
  subject — the style's poster shot.
- **The color pop:** exactly ONE element rendered in {ACCENT} (or full color)
  among the monochrome — the hero of the beat (the one figure in an orange
  suit in a grey lineup, the one colored car in a grey row). Never two.
- **The giant hand:** an oversized monochrome photographic hand entering from
  off-frame to place, hold, tilt or flick a cutout prop — the collage's "hand
  of god".
- **The timeline ribbon:** a thin baseline ribbon with tick marks and a
  sliding marker along the bottom — measures progress/eras WITHOUT numerals
  (the VO names the years; no digits on screen).
- **The on-photo callout:** an {ACCENT} marker circle or arrow drawing itself
  DIRECTLY ON a photo cutout, isolating one detail (a face in a crowd, a
  wheel, a signature area) — the investigation gesture; pairs with a slow
  push-in.
- **Dot-matrix data:** charts built from halftone DOTS — a semicircle
  gauge filling dot by dot, a bar of dots stacking, a share of dots flipping
  to {ACCENT} — reads as print, not as UI (still no axis text, no numerals).
- **Pinned cards:** photo cards with white borders and tape strips or a push
  pin, planted onto the stage (the giant hand loves planting these); a card
  can flip over or slide a torn edge.
- Plus the working set: marker circles / arrows / underlines drawing
  themselves · abstract data graphics (bars grow, lines draw, slices
  separate — no axis text) · flat maps with routes and pulsing pins ·
  redaction/highlight bars · scale comparisons (one cutout multiplying into
  rows — the through-line's natural home).

**{MOTION} slot:** flat family — use `snappy motion-graphics collage
animation, staggered spring entrances with slight overshoot`; KEEP `3D render`
in the NEGATIVE.

**PALETTE LOCK line:** `warm cream paper base, monochrome halftone cutouts,
ONE {ACCENT} accent (disc, strokes, one popped element) — no other colors, no
gradients, no full-color scenes`.

## Asset roster guidance (Phase 2)

Collage "locations" are legitimately FLAT stage plates (rule 19's "same
background treatment" — this IS the style's treatment, not a bare-background
violation).

- **Characters (2:3):** monochrome halftone cutout figures with white keyline
  + offset {ACCENT} stroke, readable era-true silhouette, deadpan neutral
  poses (annotation marks do the emoting). If the script has a protagonist,
  they may be the recurring color-pop.
- **Locations (chosen aspect):** stage plates — a cream field with a taped
  flat map and pins; a soft graph-grid notebook field with an unlabeled
  dot-matrix chart zone; a newsprint strip with torn-edge photo frames; a
  plate with the big {ACCENT} disc and a standing arrangement of cutouts;
  and (for investigation/secret beats, sparingly — ≤2 blocks per video) a
  DARK evidence board with pinned photo cards, taped notes and {ACCENT}
  connection strokes. One named anchor device each. Coverage angle = a
  RE-COMPOSITION of the same plate (elements re-arranged, different crop) —
  never a camera orbit.
- **Props (1:1):** individual cutouts — the {ACCENT} through-line object, a
  building, an arrow set, a redaction bar pack, the giant hand. Give the
  through-line its own prop asset so it never morphs.

## Shot language (feeds the FIVE-cut template — action grammar)

The cuts vary composition scale on the SAME stage: FULL-SPREAD (whole
plate) → DETAIL (one cutout + its annotation) → RE-COMPOSITION (payoff
arrangement). Write each SHOT as pure choreography, layers named
(stage / cutouts / devices):

- **Stagger everything:** elements never arrive simultaneously — "A, then B,
  then C, staggered" is the highest-value phrase; spring pop-ups with slight
  overshoot.
- **Land the motion:** use arrival verbs — snaps into place, stamps down,
  drops with a bounce, tapes down, settles. Floaty = badly directed.
- **ONE camera behavior per shot, stated once:** slow push-in, static, gentle
  drift, whip to the right — never two moves in one cut; the stage's calm IS
  the style.
- **Settle beat:** the FINAL shot eases into a stable final frame (clean cut point),
  still micro-moving (rule 21's no-freeze holds — settled ≠ frozen).
- **Every block lands at least ONE impact beat** — a cutout SLAMS in, a
  redaction bar STAMPS down, the giant hand PLANTS a prop — named in the SHOT
  text and echoed in AUDIO (reference-grade explainers hit an accent ~every 3s).

## AUDIO line (SFX follows choreography 1:1)

Every motion verb gets at most ONE sound cue; nothing sounds that didn't
move. 2–4 cues per block + one bed: paper pops and thwips on entrances, a
stamp hit on the impact beat, soft tick-tick on data steps, low newsroom-air
bed underneath. Percussive, never musical; still "no voice, no narration, no
music" (the bed is room tone, not a track).

## In-clip text: NONE

Every typography beat is an abstract device (highlight bar, redaction block,
circle, the timeline ribbon). Symbols allowed per the skill rule (⚠ / $ / ✓ /
✗); words and numerals never — the VO carries them (the diorama letterpress
exception does NOT extend here). Append to NEGATIVE: `readable text, letters,
words, numbers, live-action footage, photographic realism, full-color scene,
foreign accent colors`.