video/skills/pipelines/animation/edit-director.md

Edit Director - Animation Pipeline

When To Use

This stage turns the scene plan into an animatic-grade edit plan. Timing is the product.

Prerequisites

Layer	Resource	Purpose
Schema	schemas/artifacts/edit_decisions.schema.json	Artifact validation
Prior artifacts	state.artifacts["assets"]["asset_manifest"], state.artifacts["scene_plan"]["scene_plan"], state.artifacts["script"]["script"]	Assets, timing plan, and beats
Playbook	Active style playbook	Motion and typography rules

Process

1. Protect Hold Time

After key reveals, plan enough time for the viewer to process the frame. Do not stack every scene edge to edge with motion.

2. Stagger Secondary Elements

Primary element first, supporting elements second. The edit decisions should reinforce hierarchy.

3. Keep Motion Meaningful

Motion should signal:

• emphasis,
• transition,
• transformation,
• contrast.

4. Use Metadata For Timing Detail

Recommended metadata keys:

• hold_windows
• stagger_rules
• transition_map
• scene_timing_notes

5. Quality Gate

• key information has enough dwell time,
• movement clarifies hierarchy,
• transitions stay consistent,
• the edit remains readable on the target platform.

Common Pitfalls

• Overcrowding the timeline with continuous motion.
• Revealing all elements at once.
• Letting stylistic motion reduce readability.