skills/ai-film-pipeline-master/references/phase-01-story-generation/by-format-animation.md

# By format — formats-animation

The 5 formats defined in `formats-animation.md`, with every card each one can use. Built 2026-09-18 00:18. Compiled by hand from the format kits; there is no generator behind this file, so it is edited directly like any other craft file.

**Ranked in the kit** comes from the kit itself, so a card the kit ranks is listed even when it does not carry that format tag: a kit is often finer grained than a tag, and kit membership is not the same claim as tag applicability. **Also tagged** is everything else tagged as applicable but not ranked. A card id names its own lookup file **only when that id's category lives in this phase** — `char.desire_made_physical` is in [`LOOKUP-char.md`](LOOKUP-char.md) and `end.callback` is in [`LOOKUP-end.md`](LOOKUP-end.md). Ids from other phases have no lookup file in this directory: there is no LOOKUP-voice.md, LOOKUP-dial.md or LOOKUP-lyric.md beside these kits, so `voice.confiding_voice`, `dial.repetition_variation` and `lyric.congregational_lyric` cannot be resolved here. For those, and whenever you are unsure which phase an id belongs to, use [`CARD-INDEX.md`](../CARD-INDEX.md) at the package root — it lists every id in the package against the file that holds it.

Cards that apply to every format are listed in the dedicated format routers (`by-format-film.md`, `by-format-doc.md`, etc.) or the category files (`cat-*.md`) and are not repeated here.

---

> **The kits below rank cards by id, and some of those cards live in another phase.**
> A route decides which deliverables get made, not which craft you may read. If an id here
> is in a phase your route skips, take its path from [`CARD-INDEX.md`](../CARD-INDEX.md) and open the file.

## Animated Series

85 tagged, 36 ranked in the kit. 27 of the ranked entries are ranked by the kit without carrying the tag.

Ranked in the kit: `struct.story_spine`, `struct.spine_because`, `arc.flat`, `char.ensemble_grid`, `rel.ensemble_as_system`, `comedy.kids_comedy`, `comedy.physical_on_page`, `comedy.rule_of_three`, `beat.scene_beat_budget`, `scene.goal_conflict_disaster`, `scene.value_turn`, `dial.repetition_variation`, `voice.kids_register`, `sub.kid_readable_subtext`, `sub.dual_audience`, `expo.rule_by_demonstration`, `comedy.running_gag`, `comedy.translation_resistance`, `open.episode_opening`, `theme.explained_theme`, `comedy.comic_character_engine`, `comedy.setup_punchline`, `comedy.timing_on_the_page`, `comedy.funny_word_last`, `comedy.topper`, `comedy.escalation_spiral`, `comedy.straight_man`, `comedy.callback_payoff`, `comedy.satire_target`, `char.never_list`, `open.cold_open`, `comedy.wrong_reaction`, `comedy.non_sequitur`, `comedy.dark_comedy`, `seq.crosscut_sequence`, `comedy.joke_that_stops_story`

Also tagged: `anta.befriendable`, `anta.bounded_threat`, `anta.comic_antagonist`, `anta.middle_tier`, `anta.preschool_problem`, `anta.recurring_vs_episodic`, `anta.redemption`, `anta.retirement`, `anta.rival_not_enemy`, `arc.arc_under_many_hands`, `arc.borrowed_arc`, `arc.episode_vs_season`, `arc.growth_no_lie`, `arc.multi_book`, `beat.double_topper`, `beat.runner_beat`, `beat.song_entry_beat`, `char.behavioural_continuity`, `char.bible_entry`, `char.idiolect_sheet`, `char.recasting`, `char.species_logic`, `comedy.ab_collision`, `comedy.airtight_wrong_logic`, `comedy.comic_flaw`, `comedy.first_unusual_thing`, `comedy.game_of_the_scene`, `comedy.generative_pairing`, `comedy.heighten_and_explore`, `comedy.joke_shelf_life`, `comedy.literal_answer`, `comedy.malapropism`, `comedy.overstatement`, `comedy.premise_shelf_life`, `comedy.pun_legitimacy`, `comedy.reset_cost`, `comedy.season_engine`, `comedy.useless_expertise`, `dial.callback_line`, `emo.anticipation`, `emo.kids_emotion`, `emo.procedural_reset`, `emo.series_arc`, `emo.song_emotional_beat`, `end.final_season`, `end.last_scene_of_a_decade`, `end.retiring_a_character`, `end.season_ending`, `end.series_finale`, `expo.curriculum_hook`, `expo.joke_carries_the_fact`, `expo.kids_repetition_ladder`, `expo.season_two_reteach`, `inter.party_banter`, `lyric.boast_diss_verse`, `lyric.character_song`, `lyric.duet_split`, `lyric.i_want_song`, `lyric.patter_song`, `lyric.reprise`, `rhythm.lip_sync_adaptation`, `seq.comic_run`, `seq.count_vs_runtime`, `seq.kids_run`, `struct.story_circle`, `sub.fight_as_argument`, `sub.genre_vehicle`, `sub.group_comedy`, `tens.kids_bounded_threat`, `theme.comic_premise_argument`, `theme.fable_contract`, `theme.preschool_claim`, `theme.realisation_not_lesson`, `theme.satire_claim`, `theme.series_consistency`, `theme.translation_survival`

## Anime

16 tagged, 20 ranked in the kit. 19 of the ranked entries are ranked by the kit without carrying the tag.

Ranked in the kit: `struct.kishotenketsu`, `struct.kishoten_ten`, `struct.kishoten_ketsu`, `seq.tv_act_sequence`, `open.episode_opening`, `info.cliffhanger_reveal`, `time.serial_clock`, `expo.familiar_anchor`, `expo.proper_noun_budget`, `expo.coined_term_in_context`, `emo.understate_at_peak`, `beat.silent_beat`, `emo.emotion_through_task`, `seq.set_piece`, `seq.breather_sequence`, `char.physical_signature`, `anta.right_about_something`, `theme.thematic_motif`, `end.season_ending`, `arc.positive_change`

Also tagged: `anta.recurring_vs_episodic`, `anta.redemption`, `anta.retirement`, `anta.rival_not_enemy`, `arc.double_arc`, `arc.episode_vs_season`, `arc.interrupted_arc`, `arc.multi_book`, `arc.role_arc`, `arc.sequel_reopening`, `rhythm.lip_sync_adaptation`, `sub.fight_as_argument`, `theme.monster_meaning`, `time.time_loop`, `time.time_travel_rules`

## Motion Graphics and Explainer Animation

0 tagged, 20 ranked in the kit. 20 of the ranked entries are ranked by the kit without carrying the tag.

Ranked in the kit: `expo.explainer_scaffold`, `expo.need_to_know_ladder`, `expo.short_form_frontload`, `open.stated_promise`, `expo.deletion_test`, `rhythm.concrete_nouns`, `rhythm.vo_breath_line`, `rhythm.length_as_tempo`, `rhythm.short_short_long`, `expo.rule_by_demonstration`, `expo.jargon_threshold`, `expo.proper_noun_budget`, `expo.coined_term_in_context`, `voice.authority_by_specificity`, `rhythm.verb_load`, `voice.confiding_voice`, `rhythm.subtitle_beat`, `expo.diegetic_text`, `end.answer_the_question_asked`, `theme.theme_in_nonfiction`

## Short Animation

4 tagged, 20 ranked in the kit. 19 of the ranked entries are ranked by the kit without carrying the tag.

Ranked in the kit: `seq.short_film_model`, `struct.kishotenketsu`, `theme.controlling_idea`, `open.opening_image_answered`, `end.final_image`, `scene.value_turn`, `open.rule_of_the_world`, `expo.implication_worldbuilding`, `expo.iceberg_principle`, `emo.object_carrier`, `open.object_opening`, `emo.specific_detail`, `time.ellipsis`, `pov.nonhuman_pov`, `end.held_final_beat`, `sub.iceberg_omission`, `tens.wrongness_detail`, `info.plant_and_payoff`, `end.open_ending`, `emo.withhold_reaction`

Also tagged: `open.loop_opening`, `struct.story_spine`, `voice.kids_register`

## Stop Motion and Craft Animation

0 tagged, 20 ranked in the kit. 20 of the ranked entries are ranked by the kit without carrying the tag.

Ranked in the kit: `scene.merge_two_scenes`, `scene.transplant`, `emo.emotion_through_task`, `beat.physical_beat`, `sub.hands_business`, `emo.object_carrier`, `sub.object_as_confession`, `theme.object_carrier`, `beat.scene_beat_budget`, `scene.absorb_and_delete`, `scene.interrupted_ritual`, `tens.corrupting_the_mundane`, `beat.silent_beat`, `expo.environmental_detail`, `expo.object_tells_rule`, `char.physical_signature`, `dial.silence_as_reply`, `seq.sequence_unit`, `time.iterative_habit`, `beat.choreography_list`