certifiedwebmaster/roofgrid/format-presets

Format presets

Four house formats live in presets/*.json. Read the matching file before the rough-cut stage too, not just graphics/captions — each preset carries a pacing block (silence_threshold_sec, pad_sec, filler_mode) that scripts/rough_cut.py --preset <name> uses, because different content wants a different cut rhythm, not just different overlays.

If the user's request doesn't clearly match one of these, ask which preset they want rather than guessing — the formats have genuinely different pacing and graphics workflows (one skips overlays entirely, one skips captions entirely, one wants a slower cut rhythm than the others). A new recurring style (a different show, a different course) is a new presets/<name>.json, not a one-off flag combination repeated by hand each time.

Engagement techniques per preset

A preset can point to a research-backed techniques doc via engagement_techniques_doc — read it before starting that preset's graphics pass, not just the layout notes. ted-talk-chapter has one (docs/ted-talk-chapter-engagement-techniques.md): dual-coding concept callouts synced to spoken terms/numbers, emphasis-triggered punch-ins (not timer-based), a 20-30s visual-change cadence, and trimming to the strongest opening line. These are calibrated to that preset's calmer pacing — don't port short-form "burst sequence" techniques into a slower-paced preset just because they showed up in the same research pass.