# Short Form Video

Maintain the existing May Shorts teaching compositions using their legacy face-mode...

- Repository: https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit (2482 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-14
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill short-form-video -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill short-form-video -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill short-form-video -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill short-form-video -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Maintain the existing May Shorts teaching compositions using their legacy face-mode, scene-overlay, and karaoke-caption patterns. Use only when working on those examples or explicitly requesting this legacy scaffold. For new reels, Shorts, or short advertisements, use short-form-edit.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Short-Form Vertical Video (Hyperframes)

Short-form = 1080x1920 vertical, 10, 30s, talking-head face + motion-graphic scene overlays + karaoke captions. Everything in this skill is distilled from the May Shorts 19 iteration autopsy (v1 → v4) and is preserved for maintenance of those examples. Use `short-form-edit` for new recordings.

**Always invoke `/hyperframes` first.** This skill sits on top of it, it does not replace the framework rules (`data-*` attributes, `window.__timelines`, composition structure). Those are non-negotiable regardless of the format.

## When this skill fires

- Maintaining the existing May Shorts examples.
- Explicitly requesting their legacy four-layer scaffold.

## The playbook (high-level)

1. **Audio is source of truth.** Edit audio FIRST (cut retakes, pauses). Save as `<name>-edit.mp4`. Measure exact duration with `ffprobe`, this is the composition's `data-duration`.
2. **Transcribe the edited audio** with the root `scripts/transcribe-elevenlabs.mjs` helper (ElevenLabs Scribe), a student-selected alternative normalized per `docs/TOOLS-AND-API-KEYS.md`, or if retiming an existing build with a `shift()` function in captions, keep the existing captions and just shift scene starts.
3. **Author scene boundaries in edited-time**, NEVER mix original-time and edited-time anchors in the same file. See "Audio-sync protocol" below.
4. **Build the composition scaffold** (4 layers: ambient-bg, seam-treatment, captions, face), see "Composition scaffold" below.
5. **Author scenes with LOCAL offsets** relative to each scene's `data-start`. Each scene is its own sub-composition under `compositions/scene<N>-<label>.html`.
6. **Lint → draft render → word-exact frame verification → final render.** This is the verification gate. Never skip step 3 (frame verification).

## Composition scaffold (the 4 always-on layers)

Every short-form vertical has these four sub-compositions under `compositions/`, loaded on shared tracks:

The rest: https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit/blob/HEAD/.agents/skills/short-form-video/SKILL.md