Vox-Style Documentary Explainer -- Reference Skill

Sourced from real research on the Vox/Johnny Harris documentary-explainer
genre -- not invented. This is the standing acceptance bar for every beat
this pipeline renders, referenced automatically, not just during one-off
fix passes.

Photo/asset treatment (per-asset, never the canvas background)

• Soft vignette pulling the eye toward center
• Halftone dots -- a genuine Vox signature, not incidental (documented
  as deliberate: "1950s print dots on brand-new graphics") -- distinct
  from generic grain, apply as its own texture pass
• Grain (film/paper), light-leak, slight chromatic aberration at edges
  -- "breaking the digital feel"
• Desaturated editorial base grade (cream/navy/gray family)
• Drop shadow, grounding the cutout
• SAME grade recipe applied to every sourced photo regardless of
  original source/lighting -- this is what makes many different stock
  photos read as one continuous piece instead of a mismatched slideshow
• Implemented via real, tested libraries (postprocessing /
  @remotion/three / a verified-license LUT) -- never freehand shader math

Fallback: cutout quality fails the rembg gate

• SCOPED, does not change the general rule: normal cutout-composited
  beats and typography-only beats stay exactly as established (flat
  white/black canvas, no background gradient)
• When a specific photo fails cutout-quality scoring, use it full-bleed
  for that beat instead of discarding it -- same per-photo grade
  (vignette/halftone/grain/desaturation) as any other photo
• Add a gradient scrim WITHIN that full-bleed photo only, for text
  legibility where the caption sits -- this lives on the photo layer,
  not the canvas
• Typography sits in the scrim zone, same type rules as elsewhere

Accent color system

• Exactly ONE bold accent color per channel, reserved for the single
  thing that matters in a given scene
• Annotation marks (circles/arrows/callouts) use that SAME accent --
  annotation and palette are one system, not separate choices

Camera + transitions

• Ken Burns push/pull on photos
• Blur-ramp transition option: position move + Gaussian blur keyframed
  up then back down, for a "flashback"-style cut between photo beats
• Transition-specific SFX paired to what's actually happening (not a
  generic whoosh on every cut)

Annotation/callout elements

• Hand-drawn-style circles/arrows/connector lines highlighting a
  specific detail within a photo, stroke-drawn on (not fade-in)
• Always in the single accent color, never competing with other colors

Typography

• Tight kerning, strong horizontal rhythm on titles
• Text elements slide in, not hard-cut
• Chapter/section openers styled like book sections, not a generic
  YouTube intro card

Maps (where relevant)

• Route lines draw on (stroke animation), not appear instantly
• Labels animate in per-location, camera moves between points
• Same accent-color system as everything else

Structure/pacing (may require script-stage changes, not just render)

• "Visual evidence, then context" -- cold open on a visual anchor
  BEFORE explaining it, rather than setup-then-payoff
• Verify whether current script generation (Stage C) already produces
  this ordering or needs a prompt change to prompts/write-script.md

Known tension -- decided, not open

SFX-on-every-beat sits against this genre's convention of reserving
distinctive sounds for specific moments. Resolution: every beat gets SOME
audible cue, but distinctive sounds (whooshes, projector clicks, impacts)
stay reserved for moments that actually earn them.