The house rules on one page

The rules that make this Guide's method, for a reader who already works with AI and wants them fast. Each carries its label and links to its home, where the reasons are.

The client and the job

• The client sees six documents; everything else stays internal (decided). The stages and gates → What the client sees, and what stays internal

• No production video before the client approves the anchors; voices lock before the anchors presentation (decided). The stages and gates → The stage chain and its order rules

• The core of the brief never changes: device, transitions, times of day, on-screen text, language versions and timings (decided). The stages and gates → Writing for the client

• A note changes only what it names, and everything else stays as it was (decided). The stages and gates → Handling notes

• Every send goes on a new link, and an old link is never overwritten; version numbers count sends (decided). Client presentations → A new link per send; The stages and gates → Approvals and the send log

• The client's product is always pristine (decided). Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Products and labels

Tools and money

• One tool per job (decided). A new tool joins only through the lean-stack rule (decided); where no proven tool exists for a job, the best available tool may serve it, labelled [best available, not yet validated], until a proven one clears that rule. Tools at a glance → The lean-stack rule and the evidence rule

• Higgsfield credits, Suno credits, ElevenLabs credits and dollars are never added together (decided). Planning, budgets and takes → Costs and the estimate

Stills

• Nano Banana Pro makes every photoreal still [proven]; Seedream 5.0 Pro makes every still of a stylised film (decided). Stylised films (Seedream 5.0 Pro) → Seedream for stylised films

• GPT Image makes transparent cut-outs and graphics with text, every staging map and position image included (decided). Still prompts, storyboard frames and diagrams → GPT Image's two jobs and its version rule

• On character sheets, the head stays on the back view (decided). Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Character sheets

• A storyboard is never attached to any generation (decided). Video with Seedance → Validate, then pre-flight

• No pixel fixes, by you or anyone else: a model edit pass or a new image (decided). Photoreal anchors (Nano Banana Pro) → Edit passes, then a fresh image

• A label the viewer must read takes one of the four build routes (decided). Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → Built label moments

Video

• References and a written prompt make each shot; a start frame only where the plan names a start-frame case [proven]. Video with Seedance → How a shot is made

• The sample batch first: one sample shot per scene, two 480p drafts each, reviewed together; then each remaining shot gets one new take in each batch, and none while its problem is unresolved (decided). Planning, budgets and takes → The generation rhythm

• No 1080p finish bought blind (decided). Video with Seedance → Draft and finish

• One diagnosed change per retry [official guidance]. Planning, budgets and takes → Fixing a failed take

• The motion standard (decided): every shot stunning and dynamic next to the treatment, the anchors and the plan, with camera, acting, body, hair, hands, face, the product's texture and light moving together; each shot distinct in acting and camera, yet fitting the rest. A slow or static camera where the plan wants motion fails, whatever else holds. Video with Seedance → Take selection and review

• The set stays fixed while the place stays alive: 2–4 natural background motions outdoors, 0–1 in a quiet room (decided). Video with Seedance → The fixed set and the live place

• During speech the camera breathes or pushes very slowly; bigger moves come before or after the line (decided). Speaking shots and lip sync → The camera during speech

Voice, music and sound

• Seedance never voices Arabic, crowd murmur included (decided). Video with Seedance → Sound inside the shot

• Route 2 is the Arabic default (decided); the route itself is [best available, not yet validated]. Speaking shots and lip sync → Route 2, the Arabic default

• Route 1. Option: use it when a close-up hero line needs body and breath to ride the voice [single strong source]. Speaking shots and lip sync → Route 1, for close-up hero lines

• A native ear of the exact dialect passes every Arabic line, spoken or sung (decided). Voice and Arabic dialects → The native reviewer

• Suno makes all music, hero tracks included (decided). Music → Suno always, hero tracks included

• Each on-screen line is placed in its shot's space, with the dry take kept beneath it (decided). Sound design and mix → The placed voice

Finishing

• Grain goes on once, one grain per film (decided); gate weave only for film-era looks (decided). The grade and texture → Texture once; The grade and texture → Gate weave, glow and halation

• The 25 fps TV version is made by speed-up (decided). Graphics, captions, versions and delivery → 25 fps TV versions by speed-up

• Loudness: −23 LUFS for TV and −16 online [official guidance]; −14 for short social ads (decided). Sound design and mix → Loudness: −23 TV, −16 online, −14 short social

• Every edited film comes with an editable timeline holding every asset, earlier takes stacked beneath; a rendered-only edit is not acceptable (decided). Editing → The editable timeline