skills/pps-trailer/references/cinematic-score.md

# Direct the cinematic trailer from the score

The user's central requirement is a trailer whose score drives an accumulating build toward a climax and final payoff. Treat the score as the timing foundation from the first treatment. Story determines what the music must make us feel; the resulting music determines where the edit breathes, turns, accelerates, and lands.

## Compose a dramatic progression

Develop one recognizable musical idea across the trailer. Start with space and unanswered tension, introduce a pulse or more defined phrase as the stakes become clear, add rhythmic or harmonic development as the conflict grows, then deliver the fullest musical statement with the principal visual payoff. Resolve deliberately into the title/end card. An optional final sting may add curiosity or surprise after the title if it serves the trailer.

“Constantly building” means sustained forward expectation across the whole piece. Local pauses, drops, dialogue gaps, and false arrivals make the next wave more powerful. Do not prescribe a monotonically rising volume curve. Build through arrangement, register, rhythmic subdivision, harmonic tension, motif development, visual stakes, and the density of decisive moments. A quieter late image can carry more consequence than an early explosion.

Keep the opening hook distinctive without spending every dramatic resource immediately. Reserve the defining revelation, strongest confrontation, or most consequential image for the climax. Avoid an arbitrary compilation of spectacular scenes that has no relationship to the score's progression.

## Production order for a custom compositor

1. Draft a story/score treatment: emotional phases, approximate lengths, motif and instrumentation, essential spoken lines, intended climax and final title. Confirm missing creative decisions without re-asking settled ones.
2. Reuse a suitable approved score or quote a PPS music generation after presenting its direction. Wait for the required member approval. Request the whole intended duration and an arrangement with a clear build and ending; exact timestamps in a prompt express intent, not guaranteed output.
3. Inspect the actual returned track. Mark phrase boundaries, pulse changes, rises, pauses, large accents, the principal crest, and the resolving tail. Listen when audio access exists. A waveform can support timing and level analysis but cannot reliably identify instruments, harmony, emotional meaning, or distinguish music from dialogue in a mixed reference.
4. Build the edit map on those observed cues. Place essential dialogue in available space, allowing its measured delivery length. If the score does not provide the necessary arc, explain the mismatch and available edits; follow PPS consent rules before any replacement generation. Do not pretend a flat track has the requested climax.
5. Lock the required footage intervals and source handles, then quote the needed shots and speech. Generate source clips at supported lengths and trim them in the compositor. No need to regenerate suitable existing footage just because the edit changes.
6. Assemble picture, exact title text, voice, and effects around the cue map. Check the full rendered trailer for sync and dramatic progression, including the final musical tail.

For the native PPS ad renderer, obey its fixed 15/30/60-second grammar and supported graphics/mix. It does not expose arbitrary cut points, score restructuring, or precision sound-effect placement. Explain when that prevents the intended musical structure; use a custom compositor when available. The references are around 2:24 long and demonstrate an arc, not a requirement to generate that duration. Adapt to the requested length and verify supported generation/export limits.

## Cue map

Maintain a small table with: actual time; musical event; story function; picture or title action; speech/effect; confidence or inspection limitation. Distinguish requested cues from verified cues. Example intent: “the riser resolves on the antagonist reveal”; only supply an exact landing timestamp after inspecting the selected score.

Cuts need not land on every beat. Use a phrase change for a story turn, a strong accent for a reveal, a subdivision for a short burst of montage, and an uninterrupted phrase for an emotionally important held shot. Match actions to accents as well as cuts: a turn, arrival, light reveal, or title completing its form can supply the synchronization.

Titles should feel part of the musical performance. Lead into an entrance with anticipation, make the readable state arrive on the chosen cue, then preserve a stable hold. Use restrained material, light, depth, or masked reveals appropriate to the story. The title should remain readable rather than continually vibrating or fragmenting. Coordinate the final title with a meaningful musical arrival and leave enough time for the sound to resolve.

## Score prompt example

For a 30-second trailer, adaptable after the brief: “Original instrumental cinematic trailer score, 30 seconds. A sparse low-register motif and airy texture introduce unresolved tension; a measured string pulse and restrained deep percussion establish momentum; the motif develops with rising strings, widening brass harmony, and denser percussion; briefly thin the arrangement before the final surge; deliver the fullest statement near the end with a decisive impact and a sustained resolving tail for a title reveal. Leave space for two brief spoken lines. Dramatic, urgent, emotionally hopeful. Integrated transition swells; no vocals.”

Use this as an arrangement pattern, not a universal sound. A mystery, spiritual epic, intimate drama, and action story call for different instruments and emotional colors. Convert named references into descriptive musical and visual qualities for PPS prompts. Do not copy a reference's melody, dialogue, or franchise title treatment by default.

## Sound and review

Risers create expectation before a transition; downbeats/impacts deliver the arrival; tails connect the next phrase. Use effects purposefully and avoid masking the main score or speech. The exposed PPS toolset does not currently include a dedicated SFX generator; request integrated musical effects or use an available effects source and external mixer. Do not label spoken sound imitations as sound-design assets.

Ask of the finished edit: Does the beginning leave room to grow? Does each phase increase stakes or anticipation? Is any pause preparing a stronger arrival? Can the viewer understand essential dialogue? Does the principal payoff align with the musical release? Is the title legible and the ending intentional? Do not substitute loudness measurements for these judgments. If listening/playback is unavailable, report what could be checked and leave auditory quality unverified.