The Casting
E CASTING — segment × style × stakes × engine routing
*Built 2026-07-08 on the founding session's S38 style bible (render_38.py, media-history escalation order)
and the derived 68→38 merge. This adds what v1 lacked: per-segment text stakes and engine routing.
The style column is the existing assignment — the author curates by LOCAL SWAPS, not reshuffle: the
escalation order (media history walks forward as the mania proceeds) is load-bearing; keep it.*
Text-stakes tiers (spec §5 ladder): T1 = edges carry lettering (canny/lineart, proven) ·
T2 = mask-and-composite source lettering (build for MAX shots) · T3 = deliberate decay, illegibility is content.
Engine routes: canny = v1 stack CN 0.85–0.9 · lineart = lineart CN 0.8 + IPA 0.5 + named palette (proven today) ·
lowCN = canny 0.5–0.65 + early end_percent (high abstraction) · qwen = Qwen-Image-Edit keyframes + cloud propagation (geometry-breaking styles) ·
api-kf = GPT/Grok one-to-one famous-style keyframe + IPA/CN propagation · travel = prompt-travel + CN decay schedule (v1.2 proof) · ltx = LTX drift (transition tissue).
| seg | time | shots | content | style | stakes | route | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | 0.00–0.62 | 0 | Berthoud studio wide | bayeux | none | canny (try) → qwen if lettered border wanted | Latin border = optional T2 flourish |
| 01 | 0.62–1.58 | 1 | NYSE facade, flag row | illuminated | low | canny | gold leaf loves edges |
| 02 | 1.58–2.00 | 2 | striped banner close | ukiyo-e | med (unidentified banner) | canny | flat planes + edges = natural fit |
| 03 | 2.00–2.79 | 3,4 | gold bell CU + Snowflake | dutch-oil | high (SNOWFLAKE) | canny T1 | bell = audio thesis image; protect |
| 04 | 2.79–3.25 | 5 | Spotify | nightwatch | high (SPOTIFY) | canny T1 | proto: Night Watch group portraits exist |
| 05 | 3.25–3.75 | 6 | bass wide | piranesi | none | canny | etching = edge-native |
| 06 | 3.75–4.21 | 7 | fretting hand macro | impressionist | none | canny 0.85 | painterly family |
| 07 | 4.25–5.09 | 8,9 | Roblox, Uber | van-gogh | high (UBER proven carrier) | canny T1 | Uber-as-banner already proven in v1 |
| 08 | 5.09–6.01 | 10,11,12 | Sweetgreen, Olo flash, Unity night | cubist | high | qwen (cloud) | KNOWN IMPOSSIBLE under edge-lock — the cubist solve is a cloud-weekend deliverable |
| 09 | 6.05–7.42 | 13,14,15,16 | Unity, PALANTIR, Warby, Nubank | ligne-claire (swapped ← seg21) | MAX (Palantir = pipes thesis) | Seedream 4.5 edit (DECIDED 2026-07-09) — seg09_seedream.mp4 | ALL wordmarks legible (Palantir/PLTR/NYSE/GOTHAM/FOUNDRY/APOLLO, WARBY, NU); ~$1.32; minor fine-line boil = on-doctrine. Supersedes lineart+T2mask (which smeared Warby). T2 mask CANCELLED. |
| 10 | 7.46–7.97 | 17,18 | ICE + DoorDash flash | art-deco | MAX — thesis shot | DECISION #3 DECIDED 2026-07-09: ICE RAW — true frames 7.048–7.423 unstyled (ICE_RAW_00001), spliced after trimmed seg09 in maximal_v2. The house stays climate: the one photograph among 37 renderings. | DoorDash (true 7.42–7.84) stays Seedream deco |
| 11 | 7.97–8.76 | 19,20,21 | bass macros + DoorDash red crowd | socialist-realism | low | canny | crowd-as-mural is the joke; keep |
| 12 | 8.76–9.88 | 22 | bass macro long | vintage-ad | none | canny | proto: vintage ads exist |
| 13 | 9.88–10.43 | 23 | facade + low red banner | newsreel-1929 | med | canny | "the newsreel prophesies" |
| 14 | 10.47–10.97 | 24 | unknown bell ceremony, green | film-noir | T3 — already unidentifiable | canny | "the noir convicts"; taste-test segment (LTX2B_S24, COG2B_S24 parts) |
| 15 | 11.01–11.51 | 25 | VTEX pink confetti | technicolor | med | canny | "technicolor denies" — confetti in glorious color |
| 16 | 11.55–12.18 | 26,27 | Solo Brands crowd, Dynatrace | rubber-hose | med | lineart | line style — v3/v4 recipe applies |
| 17 | 12.22–13.01 | 28 | bass macro | peanuts-strip | none | api-kf or lineart | one-to-one famous style; PEANUTS parts + proto #12 exist — compare before re-rendering |
| 18 | 13.01–13.43 | 29,30,31 | FIGS scrubs (punctum), Pinterest | hanna-barbera | med + punctum protect | lineart | scrubs crowd must stay legible as humans |
| 19 | 13.47–14.27 | 32,33,34,35 | Chewy/DutchBros/Sprinklr/Solo flashes | 90s-cel | T3 decay | lineart, low steps | flash decay is content |
| 20 | 14.27–14.68 | 36 | UiPath balcony | adult-sitcom | med | lineart or api-kf | famous-style adjacency |
| 21 | 14.68–15.43 | 37,38 | bass macros | constructivist (swapped ← seg09) | none | canny T1 | bass macro as red/black propaganda diagonals — the instrument as machine |
| 22 | 15.43–16.31 | 39–45 | SPAC flash barrage (Joby…Weave, Snap, Ferrari?) | anime-ova | T3 decay | canny, let flashes smear | 7 shots in 0.9s; the lost referent, maximal |
| 23 | 16.31–17.35 | 46,47 | giant flag + THE KICK (punctum) | claymation | punctum MAX | canny 0.85 | kick→clay was a drift accident, canonized — keep |
| 24 | 17.35–18.35 | 48,49 | Berthoud alt + bass CU | rotoscope | none | canny | rotoscope = tracing = CN-native |
| 25 | 18.39–19.14 | 50,51,52 | Fearless Girl, PagerDuty "Awesome humans" | storybook-gouache | med-high (tagline) | canny T1 | statue + storybook = strong pairing |
| 26 | 19.18–19.39 | 53 | Levi's denim (punctum) | psychedelic-gatefold | punctum protect | canny 0.85 | ✅ boundary FIXED 2026-07-08 (shot 53 t1 19.81→19.39); now clean non-overlap with seg27 |
| 27 | 19.39–19.81 | 54 | denim crowd, 2nd angle | garish-cartoon | punctum-adjacent | canny | see boundary note above |
| 28 | 19.81–20.69 | 55,56 | "Dream On." + giant flag | 8bit | high — tagline as scripture | lowCN | v1 drift gave Dream On the psychedelic gatefold — canonized; reconcile cut file with this table |
| 29 | 20.69–21.73 | 57,58,59 | ZipRecruiter, 100 Black Men/Adams, unknown bell | 16bit | med + one T3 | lowCN | Adams = mythology bonus; #59 stays lost |
| 30 | 21.73–22.31 | 60 | bass macro (ring) | ps1 | none | lowCN | |
| 31 | 22.31–22.82 | 61 | Compass balcony | n64 | med | lowCN | |
| 32 | 22.82–23.27 | 62 | GRINDR (punctum fist-pump) | isometric-sprites | punctum + high (rainbow flags) | lowCN | Grindr→painted-sprites accident canonized — this IS the assignment now |
| 33 | 23.27–23.86 | 63 | PowerSchool balcony | y2k-vaporwave | med | lowCN | listed week of FTX — vaporwave is the correct theology |
| 34 | 23.86–24.57 | 64 | Berthoud holding bass | ms-paint | none | lineart (v1 got dithered-web — consider renaming style per doctrine 5) | |
| 35 | 24.61–25.15 | 65 | bass macro | vhs | none | canny | degradation style, T3-native |
| 36 | 25.15–26.40 | 66 | Mad Money set → LiveWire balcony | stained-glass | med (LVWR) | canny (try) → qwen if leading breaks | last ceremony = apotheosis window; right style |
| 37 | 26.40–40.04 | 67 | THE FLAG WALL → black | shadow-rise → combustion (SEQUENCE, DECIDED 2026-07-09) | none | LTX melt (5s, shadows rise as silhouettes) xfade → v1.2 combustion tail (CODA_SEQ_00001, in maximal_v2) | Final burn accidentally forms a question mark (~39s) — the mystery closes the film. Wan pod job: re-render this sequence at high res (v2v guide). Seedream decay script staged but SKIPPED — role absorbed by sequence. |
Routing doctrine (the general answer)
- canny (v1 stack) — default for photographic/painterly/graphic styles at moderate distance. Proven. 24 of 38 segments.
- lineart (v4 recipe) — anything whose soul is a pen line: segs 16–21, 34. Proven today.
- lowCN — the console-era block (28–33): abstraction needs freedom; edges only whisper.
- Seedream 4.5 edit (OpenRouter, ~$0.04/frame) — the MAX-text solution (PROVEN 2026-07-09). Holds every wordmark through ligne-claire transform with good macro-coherence (minor fine-line boil, on-doctrine). Owns seg09 + seg10 (ICE) and any text-critical segment. ~$1.32/segment, no pod. Script:
cloud/seedream_segment.py. This RETIRES the planned tier-2 wordmark-mask tool. Chinese-origin → also admissible to the Chinese print. - qwen cloud keyframes + Wan propagation — geometry-breaking styles: cubist seg08 (certain), bayeux 00 / stained-glass 36 if canny fails. ~$10 of RunPod. (No longer needed for MAX-text masks — Seedream covers that.)
- api-kf (GPT/Grok) — only where one-to-one fame is the point and the prototype needs upgrading: segs 17, 20. ~$2–5 total.
- ltx — not a segment renderer; transition tissue and coda-dissolve parts. Nearly free to iterate.
- cog / Chinese models — parts for "the Chinese print" (step 6), not for v1.x.
- LoRA (step 4, training tonight) — cross-segment house-style glue + consistency booster at low weight; audition on bass macros first.
What only the author can do
- Confirm/veto the escalation-order assignments above (local swaps only — the walk through media history stays).
Decide seg09↔seg21DECIDED: swapped — ligne-claire Palantir, constructivist bass macros.- Decision #3: the ICE treatment (raw / all-styles / coda-recur).
- Reconcile the canonized drift accidents (kick→clay ✓ kept, Grindr→sprites ✓ kept, DreamOn→psychedelic vs 8bit, ICE→constructivist vs art-deco) into the cut file as the source of truth.