# Cinematic Highlight Operator Checklist

Use this when you want one source video turned into a cinematic highlight project.

## Start Here

1. Start the service with the cinematic local profile:

```bash
mvn spring-boot:run -Dspring-boot.run.profiles=cinematic-editing-local
```

2. Put one valid source video in:

```text
input/highlights/source/
```

3. Watch the logs for:

- `event=highlight_scan_started`
- `event=highlight_candidate_selected`
- `event=highlight_project_created`
- `event=highlight_director_prompt_generated`
- `event=highlight_scan_completed`

## Exact Project Folders

Project root:

```text
output/highlight-projects/<project-id>/
```

Files and folders the service writes:

- `project.json`
- `source/`
- `analysis/source-analysis.json`
- `analysis/category.json`
- `analysis/highlight-candidates.json`
- `director/director-brief.md`
- `director/director-prompt.md`
- `director/edit-plan.json`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/storyboard.md`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/visual-effects.json`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/assets/requests/`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/assets/music/`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/assets/sfx/`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/assets/voiceover/`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/rendered-clips/`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/preview.mp4`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/final.mp4`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/render-manifest.json`
- `highlights/<highlight-id>/qa-report.json`

## Exact Operator Flow

1. Wait for the service to create the highlight project.
2. Open:

```text
output/highlight-projects/<project-id>/director/director-prompt.md
```

3. Run Codex, Claude, or another filesystem-capable AI instance on that prompt.
4. Make the AI write the finished plan to:

```text
output/highlight-projects/<project-id>/director/edit-plan.json
```

5. Confirm `project.json` moved to `WAITING_FOR_DIRECTOR` after prompt generation.
6. The service now turns the director plan into `highlights/<highlight-id>/visual-effects.json`.
7. The asset bridge writes request files and the local asset worker resolves what it can into `highlights/<highlight-id>/assets/`.
8. The renderer publishes `rendered-clips/clip_*.mp4`, `preview.mp4`, `final.mp4`, `render-manifest.json`, and `qa-report.json`.

## What Is Automatic Today

- The scheduler analyzes the source video.
- The service writes the director prompt and brief.
- Existing analyzed projects are backfilled on startup if the prompt is missing.
- The visual-effects stage writes explicit renderer instructions.
- The local asset worker tries to resolve or generate reusable music, SFX, and voiceover assets.

## What Is Still Manual

- Running the AI director.
- Triggering any downstream render step that your current flow requires.

## If Output Is Missing

- No file in `input/highlights/source/`
- Unsupported video file
- The scheduler has not run yet
- `output/highlight-projects/<project-id>/director/director-prompt.md` is missing
- `director/edit-plan.json` was not written by the AI
- Rendering is not wired for the current highlight flow yet