One film, start to finish: The Cold Seat

One invented film, followed through all eight stages, so you can see how each decision carries into the next. Each stage is taught on the page its pointer names; nothing here is a new method.

The film. A 30-second comedy for Talj, an invented air-conditioner brand, in Egyptian Arabic, with a 15-second cut-down and a 9:16 version for social. At Friday lunch in a Cairo flat, the family fights over the one armchair under the old wall unit, until the grandmother switches on the new Talj and the whole room goes cool.

Stage 00, Setup

You open one folder and its three project files: the project file, the decisions log and the status page. The brief's locked items go into the project file letter for letter: the 30-second film and its 15-second cut-down, the Friday-lunch setting, the 9:16 version, and the end line:

«برد على الكل»

It leaves: the folder, with every locked item recorded. Read: The stages and gates → Project files and folders.

Stage 01, The brief

You read every file the client sent and write the one-page analysis. The audience is defined by what they do: Cairo families who host relatives through the summer. The language is locked as Egyptian Arabic, Cairene, with the person who signs off each line named. One meeting question decides the 9:16: is it a feed edit, rebuilt for the feed, or the same story, shorter? Here the client chooses a feed edit.

It leaves: the Detailed Brief, client document 1. Read: The brief and research → The one-page analysis; The brief and research → Opportunities and meeting questions.

Stage 02, Concepts

You write three whole concepts, rank them and send them in one concept presentation, every Arabic line signed off for its dialect before the send. The client chooses The Cold Seat, the most familiar situation of the three, played completely straight. Its write-up is a worked example of the concept form.

It leaves: the concept presentation, client document 2. Read: The idea → Writing a concept.

Stage 03, The treatment

The treatment opens by restating the brief in the client's own words, then gives the vision, the scenes and each department twice: a plain page for the client and an exact sheet for you. Scene 2, "The armchair", runs 11 seconds in Teta Samia's living room and carries Uncle Medhat's only line, said to the armchair, not to Cousin Rana:

«مين قاعد مكاني؟»

The treatment also writes the feed edit's first 5 s, for the client to approve.

Before the treatment goes out, each of the three top faces (Medhat, Rana and Teta Samia) gets an internal face motion test, about 95–171 cr per face, never shown to the client.

It leaves: the treatment with its storyboard, client document 3; the department sheets, such as Teta Samia's floral house dress. Read: Writing the treatment → The brief restated, first; Writing the treatment → The scene paragraphs and voiceover; Writing the treatment → Face motion tests.

Stage 04, The plan

The plan is your internal shot plan: every shot's window (the part of the take that plays), its risk band and its method. Its 16:9 master is priced like the worked 30-second film in the estimate topic: 49 s of generations in six clips, 2,418 cr expected and 4,807 at the ceiling for the video. The packshot, where the Talj label must read, is built from the client's artwork instead of generated, which takes its 6 s low-risk clip out: 2,232 cr expected and 4,435 at the ceiling. The feed edit's native 9:16 opening shots and the stills sit on their own lines; the voice and the music are priced in their own currencies.

It leaves: the plan and the estimate, both internal. Read: Planning, budgets and takes → Costs and the estimate; Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → Built label moments.

Stage 05, Anchors and voice

You make the anchors, the approved images every shot is made from: a character sheet for each wardrobe look (Medhat's Friday white shirt, Rana's gym clothes, Teta Samia's house dress), the living room's people-free master plate and its reverse, and the Talj unit from the client's own product photos, always pristine. The room gets one internal place motion check, a 480p draft of about 15–27 cr. Medhat's voice is cast by a native Cairene ear from a shortlist of three, and his line is recorded on Eleven v4, checked and locked before the anchors presentation goes out.

It leaves: the anchors presentation, client document 4. Once the client approves it, the video budget is confirmed. Read: Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Character sheets; Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Location plates; Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Products and labels; Voice and Arabic dialects → Casting a voice.

Stage 06, Video and the rough cut

Video starts with the sample batch: one sample shot per scene, two 480p drafts each, reviewed together. Scene 2's sample is its riskiest shot, the speaking line, on Route 2: a sound-off plate at the line's measured beats, then Sync-3 fits the lips to the exact recording, with the camera breathing during the words. Each keeper, the take you keep for a shot, is finished at 1080p only after its draft's window is checked.

The family's talk under the scenes is Arabic, so Seedance never voices it: it comes from real CC0 crowd recordings. The music brief is written against the cut: no music until the end card, then a short brass sting from Suno. You cut a running assembly after every batch, then the director's cut, judged by you, then the client's rough cut with the chosen music.

It leaves: the rough-cut page, client document 5. Read: Planning, budgets and takes → The generation rhythm; Speaking shots and lip sync → Route 2, the Arabic default; Music → The music brief; Editing → The director's cut and the client's rough cut.

Stage 07, Finishing and delivery

In the mix, the room is loud with plates and talk until the unit comes on; then the talk drops away and only the hum and one fork are left. Medhat's line is placed in the room, with the dry take kept beneath it. One gentle LUT unifies the film with the Talj unit's colour protected, and the grain goes on once. The end line is built in code and its Arabic checked. The 15-second cut-down and the feed edit follow, each its own edit, mastered at −16 LUFS online and −14 for the short social ad. The delivery check runs on every file, and the editable timeline goes with them, every earlier take stacked beneath its keeper.

It leaves: the final film page with its versions, client document 6, and the delivered files. Read: Sound design and mix → Planned silence and playback compression; Sound design and mix → The placed voice; The grade and texture → The look as one gentle LUT; Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → Versions; Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → The handover: XML and final-film page.