Reviewing & Approving

Reviewing & Editing the Storyboard (Phase 1)

Phase 1 is where the AI plans your entire video — narrative arc, scene list, scripts, visuals, animations. Phase 1 is also the cheapest phase to fix mistakes in: changing one word here costs nothing; changing it after Phase 2 means regenerating audio, after Phase 3 means re-rendering layouts, after Phase 4 means a fresh full render.

Use this review gate well and the rest of the pipeline becomes mostly hands-off.

When you'll see this screen

The production detail page (/video_production/<id>) automatically opens the Plan tab the moment Phase 1 finishes. You'll see:

A 5-circle phase indicator at the top (Phase 1 = green, others = grey).
A status banner: "Plan Review — Approve to start asset creation".
A horizontal scene filmstrip.
A Story Overview card and (when you click into a scene) a detail panel.

The Story Overview card (read-only)

Above the filmstrip:

Video title and core message — the AI's one-line distillation.
Hook block — the opening hook with its hook type label (question, surprising fact, bold claim, etc.).
Narrative arc — Opening · Rising Action · Climax · Resolution.
Emotional journey — coloured pills showing how the emotional tone progresses scene-by-scene.
Total duration and scene count.

If the overview doesn't match the video you wanted, you don't need to edit each scene — see the Common moves section below.

The scene filmstrip

A scrollable horizontal strip of scene cards. Each card shows:

Scene number
Scene type badge (intro / content / transition / outro / hook / recap / CTA / montage)
Scene title
Duration
Mood

Use the ‹ › scroll buttons to navigate. Click any card to open the detail panel below.

A timeline bar under the filmstrip shows each scene's proportional duration — useful for spotting a scene that's too long or too short relative to the others.

The scene detail panel

Click a scene card to open it. The panel header shows the scene number, title, duration, pacing, and the cumulative time range (e.g. 0:12 — 0:35). It has four sub-tabs in this order: Story · Visuals · Script · Motion.

The Edit button only appears when the production is at the Plan Review gate (i.e. while Phase 1 is the current review state). Once you approve and Phase 2 starts, the panel becomes read-only — you cannot edit scenes after asset generation begins.

Story sub-tab — editable

Click the Edit button (top-right of the panel) to enter edit mode. Edit any of:

Field	Notes
Scene Title	Internal name — surfaces in the filmstrip card.
Duration	1–300 seconds. The total of all scenes should match the video duration you chose in the wizard; the system warns if you drift.
Pacing	Slow · Medium · Fast · Very Fast. Affects on-screen timing of overlays and animations.
Mood	Free dropdown — sets emotional tone for music ducking and visuals.
Scene Type	Intro / Content / Transition / Outro / Hook / Recap / CTA / Montage. Changing this can change the layout strategy in Phase 3.
Key Points	Add / edit / remove bullet points. Each bullet drives a visual or narrative beat. The single most useful edit for accuracy.
Visual Direction	Free-text — what the viewer should see (camera angles, composition, imagery). Rewrite to nudge the asset generator in Phase 2.
Transitions In / Out	Fade, slide, zoom, cut, etc.
Background Strategy	Background type and description (solid, gradient, image, generative) per scene.

Click Save to persist (saves to the server immediately). Click Discard to revert unsaved changes for the current scene.

Script sub-tab — editable

Field	Notes
Voice-over Script	The exact narration. The AI voice will read this verbatim.
Delivery Tone	Free-text ("excited", "calm", "wry") — overrides scene mood for narration delivery only.
Delivery Pacing	Slow / Medium / Fast / Very Fast.
Emphasis Words	Tag specific words. The AI voice will stress them. Add / remove tags freely.

Edit the script here, not later. Changing scripts after Phase 2 forces a voiceover regeneration; changing them in Phase 1 costs nothing.

Visuals sub-tab — read-only preview

Shows what Phase 3 will use:

Visual elements list (type, description, position, size)
Text overlays (content, position, style, animation)
Colour palette swatches with hex codes
Layout type badge

Use this to spot problems — if you don't like an element, fix it from the Story sub-tab's Visual Direction field, not here.

Motion sub-tab — read-only preview

Per-element animation breakdown — entrance, emphasis, and exit animation type and duration. Same rule: spot here, fix from Story.

Common moves

"The hook isn't strong enough"

Open scene 1. Edit the Voice-over Script in the Script sub-tab. Save. Done.

"Scene 3 is twice as long as it needs to be"

Open scene 3. Story sub-tab → reduce Duration from 30s to 15s. Trim the Voice-over Script to match — about 35 words for 15 seconds at normal pacing.

"The whole storyboard is wrong — too corporate"

Don't try to fix it scene by scene. Click Reject & Regenerate (button below the filmstrip) and use the dialog to give the AI specific guidance ("More casual, drop the jargon, address the viewer as 'you'"). Phase 1 re-runs.

"Add a scene"

Currently scene insertion happens via Reject & Regenerate with explicit instructions ("Add a 10-second scene between current scenes 3 and 4 explaining X"). Inline scene-add is on the roadmap.

"Remove a scene"

Open the scene → Story → set Duration to 0. Or use Reject & Regenerate with instruction "Drop scene 5".

"The script is right but I want it in a more energetic voice"

Don't edit the storyboard — use the Edit Production modal to bump the Excitement intensity slider, then approve and proceed. Voice is applied during Phase 2.

Approving (or rejecting)

Approval, rejection, pause, and retry buttons live in the production header action bar at the top of the page (rendered from production.available_actions), not at the bottom of the Plan tab. The exact button labels you see depend on the current state — typical labels at Plan Review are:

Approve & Start (Voiceover) — locks the storyboard and triggers Phase 2 (asset creation).
Reject / Regenerate Plan — opens a dialog for feedback; Phase 1 runs again with your guidance.
Pause — keeps the production at Plan Review indefinitely. Resume any time. See Pause, Resume & Errors.
Retry Phase — only appears if the phase has errored.

Real scenario — "Tutorial that needed a hook"

A creator is producing a 90-second tutorial. Phase 1 returns a perfectly serviceable 6-scene plan that opens with "In this video we'll learn..." — accurate but flat.

Opens scene 1 in the detail panel.
Script sub-tab → rewrites the opening line: "You're losing 40% of viewers in the first 3 seconds. Here's what to fix first."
Adds emphasis tags on 40%, 3 seconds, first.
Story sub-tab → changes Pacing from Medium → Fast.
Clicks Save, then Approve & Start Phase 2.

Total time spent in review: ~2 minutes. The downstream voiceover, layouts, and render reflect those changes without further intervention.

Tips & gotchas

Save is per-scene. Editing scenes 1, 2, and 3 means three Save clicks (or a Save in each as you move). The Discard button reverts only the currently open scene's unsaved changes.
Visual Direction is a free-text instruction, not a JSON spec. Write it the way you'd brief a designer: "Wide shot of a city skyline at dusk, warm tones, no people, slow zoom-in."
Duration drift warning. If your edits push total scene time above the video duration cap, you'll see a warning — adjust before approving.
Read-only previews are truthful. What you see in Visuals and Motion is exactly what Phase 3 will produce. If something looks wrong, fix it now from Story.
Auto-Approve skips this gate entirely. If you turned that on and you regret it, pause the production fast and review.