/create-video

name: create-video
description: Full video production pipeline — from a text prompt to a live Studio preview with voiceover, music, sound effects, stock footage, and motion graphics, rendered to MP4 when you ask. The flagship command of Remotion Superpowers.

Create Video — Full Production Pipeline

You are the Video Director. The user wants to create a complete video. Follow this pipeline step by step.

**IMPORTANT:** Load the `remotion-production` skill for the MCP steps, asset conventions and creative guidance. Load the official `remotion-best-practices` skill (it routes to `remotion-create`, `remotion-markup`, `remotion-studio`, `remotion-render`, `remotion-captions`) for all Remotion markup, preview and render. When they disagree on Remotion APIs, the official skills win.

Pre-flight Check

Before starting, verify: 1. MCP servers are available — check with `/mcp` if unsure. If anything is missing, suggest running `/setup`. 2. `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` is set for audio (if not, follow the official ElevenLabs `setup-api-key` skill), and the official ElevenLabs skills are installed (`npx skills add elevenlabs/skills`). 3. The agent was launched from the Remotion project root (remotion-media tools write to `public/` of the launch directory).

Pipeline

Phase 0: Project and Preview

1. **Project:** if a Remotion project exists (a `remotion` dependency in `package.json`), use it. Otherwise scaffold it exactly as official `remotion-create` says (inspect the folder first, then `npx create-video@latest --yes --blank --no-tailwind`). 2. **Studio, right away:** as soon as the project runs, start Studio and keep it open for the whole session:

   npx remotion studio            # opens the browser itself
   npx remotion studio --no-open  # with an in-app browser: open the URL it prints

Open the exact URL Studio prints (it picks a free port), then `/<composition-id>` once the composition exists. Details: official `remotion-studio`.

The user now watches every scene and asset land live and can steer at any point.

Phase 1: Concept Breakdown

Ask the user to describe their video (or use their existing description). Then break it down:

📋 Video Production Plan

Duration: [X seconds]
Aspect Ratio: [16:9 / 9:16 / 1:1]
Style: [describe visual style]

Scenes:
1. [0:00-0:05] Intro — [description]
2. [0:05-0:15] Main content — [description]  
3. [0:15-0:25] Supporting content — [description]
4. [0:25-0:30] Outro/CTA — [description]

Audio Plan:
- Voiceover: [yes/no] — [voice style]
- Music: [genre/mood description]
- Sound Effects: [list any needed SFX]

Visual Assets Needed:
- Stock footage: [list queries]
- Generated images: [list descriptions]
- Existing footage: [list files to analyze]

**Present this plan to the user and get approval before generating any assets.**

Phase 2: Generate Audio Assets

Do this FIRST — audio determines timing.

Audio comes from the **official ElevenLabs skills** (`text-to-speech`, `music`, `sound-effects`); load them for the exact SDK calls. Write all of it in one script, `scripts/generate-audio.ts` (`@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js`, `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY`), and run it with `node scripts/generate-audio.ts`. The full step, with the file table, is in the `production-pipeline` rule (Step 4).

2a. Voiceover (if needed)

Write the narration script, split by scene. The script generates one file per scene with `eleven_v4`:

text-to-speech (official skill), once per scene:
- text: [narration for scene 1]
- voice: [chosen voice ID]
- model: eleven_v4
→ public/vo-scene1.mp3, public/vo-scene2.mp3, …

Nothing returns a duration. **Measure each file in `calculateMetadata`** (see the `voiceover-sync` rule and official `remotion-multimedia`); the per-scene durations set the scene lengths and the video length, in whole frames (`Math.ceil`).

2b. Background Music

music (official skill):
- prompt: [music description, instrumental]
- length: the video's length
- model: music_v2_5
→ public/music-bg.mp3

Eleven Music is cleared for commercial use on paid plans.

2c. Sound Effects (if needed)

For a generic whoosh or click, the hosted sounds in official `remotion-markup` sfx.md are fine and free. Generate only custom SFX:

sound-effects (official skill):
- text: [sound description]
- duration: [length in seconds]
→ public/sfx-whoosh.mp3, …

**Drafts only:** remotion-media's `generate_speech`, `generate_music` and `generate_sound_effect` (KIE) are a cheap way to sketch, with the same `output_name`s. Suno and the other KIE-resold models aren't licensed by their owners through KIE. Use KIE audio for drafts and internal work, and generate final commercial audio with ElevenLabs.

Phase 3: Source Visual Assets

3a. Stock Footage (Pexels)

For each scene needing stock footage:

Use Pexels pexels_search_videos:
- query: [descriptive keywords]
- orientation: landscape
- size: medium   (Full HD; large = 4K)
- per_page: 5

Get the renditions with `pexels_get_video` (`id`), take the file link closest to the composition size and download it: `mkdir -p public/footage && curl -L -o public/footage/<name>.mp4 <link>`. Download only the clips you'll use. Pexels doesn't require attribution, but it's appreciated.

3b. Analyze Existing Footage (TwelveLabs)

If user has footage files:

- create-asset (file: absolute path) → asset ID
- async-analyse-video (assetId, modelName: "pegasus1.5", analysisMode: "time_based_metadata", segmentDefinitions) for a scene map,
  or sync-analyse-video (assetId, modelName: "pegasus1.5", prompt, jsonSchema) to pick clips directly
- delete-asset when the timestamps are saved

Details: the `video-analysis` rule (it also covers `search` for finding moments across an indexed library).

3c. Generate Images and Clips (if needed)

Use remotion-media generate_image:
- prompt: [image description]
- output_name: img-scene1
- aspect_ratio: [16:9 / 9:16 / 1:1, matching the video]

For