Beats: a reel from a few lines

Most reels follow the same shape: a hook, a few things worth showing, some proof, and a closing frame with how to find you. Beats lets you write that shape as a short list. Kinetic Scenes then builds every layer, entrance and transition in your brand. The result is an ordinary scene, so everything can still be changed in the Studio.

{
  "title": "Spring menu",
  "format": "9x16",
  "brand": { "bg": "#121212", "fg": "#F4EFE8", "accent": "#B08968", "font": "Jost", "logo": "logo.png" },
  "beats": [
    { "kind": "headline", "text": "Fresh every morning.", "sub": "Your neighbourhood café" },
    { "kind": "photo", "image": "coffee.jpg", "text": "Coffee", "sub": "A new roaster each month" },
    { "kind": "split", "images": ["pastry.jpg", "food.jpg"], "text": "Pastry & food" },
    { "kind": "list", "text": "On the menu", "items": ["Coffee", "Pastry", "Lunch", "Cakes"] },
    { "kind": "close", "text": "Your Café", "lines": ["12 Main St", "Open from 7:30am", "@yourcafe"] }
  ]
}

The brand

Field	What it sets
bg / fg	Background and text colours.
accent	The colour of transitions, list marks, the split's divider, and the proof and close backgrounds.
font	Any Google font by name (loaded for you).
logo	A picture used by the logo and close beats.
transition	How each beat after the first arrives: slash (a diagonal line, the default), wipe or fade.

format is 9x16 (the default), 1x1, 4x5 or 16x9.

The beats

Kind	Needs	What you get
headline	text (and sub)	Big words rising in, word by word, on the background, held with a slow drift.
photo	image (and text, sub)	A full-frame photo with a gentle push, a shade at the foot, and a caption.
split	images (two)	Two photos wiping in, one after the other, a divider line, and a label in a pill.
list	items (up to 6, and text as a title)	A title, then each item with a mark, arriving one by one.
proof	text (and sub)	A big number or rating on the accent colour, for example ★ 4.8 and "386 Google reviews".
logo	the brand logo or image (and text)	The logo popping in, with the name opening out below.
close	text and up to 4 lines	The closing frame: logo, name, details, and the credit. It must be the last beat.

Every beat takes an optional seconds. Otherwise each kind has a sensible length (a headline 2.6 s, a list 3.8 s, the close 4.5 s), and the whole reel can be stretched to a length you choose.

Made for social apps

• Clear of the buttons. On vertical video, TikTok, Reels and Shorts cover the top of the screen, the bottom fifth (caption and account) and a strip on the right (likes, comments, share). Beats keeps every word between 12% and 75% down and away from that strip.
• The credit stays. The close beat puts "Made with / kinetic-scenes.unysonplus.com" at the foot of your own closing frame. Trimming it off would also cut off your address and handle.
• Checked. Every built reel runs through Check scene, which reports reading time, held frames and layout.

Paced like a reel that works

Give it the rhythm of a reference reel (see Learn the rhythm of a reel) and each beat starts on one of that reel's moments, so the new video is paced the same way.

Use it

From the AI Dev Kit's command line:

node studio-cli.mjs from-beats spring.beats.json --duration 20 --rhythm reference.reference.json

Option	What it does
--duration 20	The whole reel in 20 seconds (the beats keep their proportions).
--rhythm file.reference.json	Beat starts snap to the reference's moments (within 0.6 s).
--music file.mp3	A music track for the reel.
--out scene.json	Where to write the scene (default: beside the beats file).

AI agents use the scene_from_beats tool with the same document. Open the scene in the Studio to adjust anything, then export it when it's right.

Limits

• Beats is a fast first draft in a consistent house style, not a replacement for a hand-directed scene. Change any layer afterwards in the Studio.
• Photos are cropped to fill their frame. Choose pictures whose subject sits near the middle.
• Up to 6 list items and 4 closing lines, so the words stay readable on a phone.