Scripts, presets, and timing

Write your script

## Scene 1: The lost key
@Mira enters @Workshop. A small @Key lies under a chair.

@Narrator: "Mira has one minute to find the key."
@Mira: "There it is."

@Mira reaches under the chair and picks up @Key.

---
Characters: @Mira
Locations: @Workshop
Objects: @Key

## Scene 2: Counting the steps
@Mira: "One... two... three!"
@Grandpa: "One... two... three!" {together}

---
Characters: @Mira, @Grandpa
Locations: @Workshop
Objects: (none)

The example above has four parts: scene headings, spoken lines, visual descriptions, and a final list of reusable elements. Here is how to write each one.

Scenes

Start with a heading such as ## Scene 1: The lost key. Give the scene a name that helps you recognize it.

• Start a new scene when the place or time changes. One scene can contain several actions and spoken lines.
• Name the setting in the prose, such as @Mira enters @Workshop.
• You can leave durations and shots to the app. You do not need to add seconds to each scene.
• Text above the first scene heading is a design note for the whole video, such as Visual style: soft pastel 3D animation. It is not filmed and adds no seconds to the length. Put every spoken line inside a scene.
• For a silent moment with a specific length, use the shot example in Control timing and shots.

Spoken lines

Write the speaker, a colon, and the words in double quotes, all on one line.

@Mira: "There it is."
@Narrator: "Mira has one minute to find the key."

• Only the quoted words are spoken. Keep actions and performance notes outside the quotes.
• Use one speaker per line. The handle identifies the speaker, so spell it the same way every time and check the character mapping before you generate.
• Join multi-word names into one handle, such as @GirlMaria. A character handle starts with a letter and contains letters and numbers, without spaces or punctuation.
• Inside the quotes, use ordinary names: @Mira: "Grandpa, I found it."
• Use @Narrator for narration. The narrator does not need to appear on screen or in the character list.

Two characters speak at the same time

Write one line for each character. Put {together} after the second line. It starts when the first line starts.

## Scene 2: Counting the steps
@Mira: "One... two... three!"
@Grandpa: "One... two... three!" {together}

---
Characters: @Mira, @Grandpa
Locations: @Workshop
Objects: (none)

• The words can be the same or different.
• Keep the two lines next to each other, with no prose between them.
• Do not use {together} for the narrator, and do not use it twice for the same character.

Common mistakes

• Mira: There it is. is missing the @ and quotes. Write @Mira: "There it is."
• @Girl Maria: "Hello!" has a space in the handle. Write @GirlMaria: "Hello!"
• Do not join two names into one handle. @BlipAndNuna: "One... two!" makes a new third character with its own look and voice. Give each speaker their own spoken line and use {together} on the second one.
• Keep the opening and closing quotes on the same line as the speaker.

Visuals and silent moments

Plain, unquoted text describes what the viewer sees. It is never read aloud.

@Mira reaches under the chair and picks up @Key.

• Say who is there, where they are, and what happens. Use names when a pronoun such as "she" could be unclear.
• Describe the action in everyday words. You do not need camera jargon or special tags for mood and lighting.
• Put each silent action in its own paragraph, separated from dialogue by a blank line. A scene with no dialogue is silent.
• For an action during speech, put the description beside the line: @Mira: "There it is." @Mira points under the chair.

Characters, locations, and objects

These lists identify the people, places, and props that should stay consistent. End every script with one --- line followed by these three lists.

---
Characters: @Mira
Locations: @Workshop
Objects: @Key

• Put every speaking character under Characters, except @Narrator. Include characters who act without speaking, too.
• Put the story's settings under Locations and important props under Objects.
• Use these handles in the story itself: @Mira enters @Workshop. Reuse the same handle when that person or place returns.
• Every handle you use, except @Narrator, belongs in exactly one list. Separate multiple entries with commas.
• Write (none) for an empty category. Keep all three lines in this order, with nothing after them.
• Reserve --- for this final list. Use scene headings to separate the story.

Lip sync, sound effects, and pauses

Lip sync follows the video settings. In the editor, open a shot's video-generation settings and use Lip sync when available. Adding {lipsync} to a spoken line does not turn it on.

Describe sounds in ordinary prose alongside the action. For example:

The workshop door opens with a wooden creak.

Use the editor's Sound effects control to add or regenerate a shot's effects. Mini does not add sound effects when it creates the video. Keep brace tags such as {sfx="..."} out of shot prose.

Describe camera, mood, lighting, and movement in prose, too.

A pause within speech

Put a break tag inside the quotes. Write the duration with a leading digit, such as 0.5s.

@Mira: "Wait. <break time="0.5s"/> There it is."

One sentence across two shots

End the first part with ... and start the next with ..., using the same speaker. The parts are voiced as one sentence. Do not insert another speaker or a silent action between them. These marks join speech; use a break tag for a pause.

#### Shot 1
@Narrator: "Mira has one minute..."

#### Shot 2
@Narrator: "...to find the key."

This is an optional fragment to place inside a scene. A normal script can keep the whole sentence on one line and let the app choose its shots.

Choose a preset

Mini, Fast, and Pro build each scene from separate shots. Ultra can keep more action and speech together in one continuous shot.

• Mini and Fast give each visible speaking character its own shot.
• Pro can show a short exchange between two characters in one shot.
• Ultra can keep a longer exchange, with its actions and pauses, in one shot.
• You can write dialogue for every preset.
• Mini does not add sound effects when it creates the video.
• Songs and voice recordings use separate shots on every preset. Their shots follow the recording's timing.

In the script generator, choose Write, then pick your preset and who speaks. The generator follows the same preset rules as video creation.

Understand continuous shots

A continuous shot plays a complete story moment in one clip: several spoken lines, a pause, and an action. The clip can contain a cut, so the name does not promise one unbroken camera view.

• Keep related actions and speech in the same scene.
• Give each story moment enough time.
• Start a new scene when the place or the time changes.
• You do not need a special tag. The app decides where continuous shots fit.
• Your character, place, and object references keep the cast consistent. The preview image is not always the clip's exact first frame.

In the editor, Dub plays your chosen character voices over the clip. Original plays the clip's own audio. Captions follow the spoken lines.

If a take does not work, the app tries again. The new take can be staged differently from the first.

Control timing and shots

• The video length you choose is a target. Speech, pauses, and silent actions all need screen time.
• The script estimate is approximate. The exact length is known after the voices and the shots exist.
• A continuous shot with speech runs about 4 to 15 seconds. Narration counts as speech. A very short line may share a shot with a related moment. A long exchange may need several shots.
• A clip can be a little longer than the shot in the final video. For example, a clip can be four seconds long while the shot uses 3.5 seconds. Write actions that finish within the shot.

How many words fit?

For a rough speech-only estimate, allow about 2.5 words per second: 75 words for 30 seconds or 150 for a minute. Use fewer words when the video includes silent moments.

Read the dialogue aloud at the pace you want. Leave time for pauses, reactions, and silent actions. A word count is a starting point, not a promise of the finished length.

If the script feels rushed, shorten the speech or choose a longer video. Check the editor's estimate before you generate.

## Scene 1: The lost key
#### Shot 1 - @Workshop (3.5s)
@Mira reaches under the chair and picks up @Key in @Workshop.

---
Characters: @Mira
Locations: @Workshop
Objects: @Key

Use another preset

A script made of scenes, dialogue, and prose works with any preset. Changing the preset does not change the script. The app adapts the shot planning to the preset you choose.

• Open From a script and select the saved script. Check the universe, language, characters, preset, and output size.
• On Mini, Fast, and Pro your shot headings apply as written.
• On Ultra the app reads your shot headings as hints and plans longer continuous shots from them. Switch on Keep my shot boundaries under the preset to keep every heading as its own shot.
• For a script from a video, Save as new draft makes a separate copy. It does not change the existing video.
• Rewrite next to a script format check proposes a format conversion. Read it before you use it. The script generator's Rewrite mode revises imported writing.
• Changing one shot's preset in the editor does not replan the whole video.

Bring an older script

Paste your script and run the script checks. If a format conversion is offered, select Rewrite, then read the proposed version before using it.

• Old plain narration needs an explicit speaker: The sun rises. becomes @Narrator: "The sun rises." if you want those words spoken. Plain prose now describes visuals.
• Old speaker labels need a handle and quotes: Girl Maria: Thanks! becomes @GirlMaria: "Thanks!"
• An old [visual beat] becomes visual prose. Use a timed #### Shot when its silent duration matters.
• The earlier V2 guide used ### Shot. Current explicit shots use #### Shot.
• Replace the old ## Reusable Elements heading with ---, followed by the three lists.
• Break tags can stay inside spoken quotes. You do not need to turn every speech pause into a silent shot.

Check every spoken word, speaker, action, and timing after a rewrite. A format conversion should preserve your story, but review the result before you generate.

Checklist before you generate

• The script starts with ## Scene 1 and has a clear setting. Only a design note, with no spoken lines, comes before it.
• Every spoken line uses @Handle: "words", with one speaker and both quotes on the same line.
• Visual descriptions sit outside spoken quotes. Silent actions have their own paragraphs.
• Handles are consistent and listed in the right category. @Narrator is not in the lists.
• The script ends with --- and the Characters, Locations, and Objects lines.
• Any explicit silent shots use #### Shot and a duration from 1 to 12 seconds.
• You have checked the character mapping, preset, length estimate, and any proposed rewrite.