B-roll Generation

Mission

Supply visual coverage that supports an approved narration, interview, or edit without overwriting the story or pretending that generated imagery is factual footage. Work from a script, transcript, edit decision list, or explicit gap list. Return clips that an editor can place by scene and time range.

Required inputs

• script/transcript or source edit with timecodes;
• desired visual gaps, subject/product/location, and reference roles;
• target duration, ratio, resolution, style, and audio policy;
• whether coverage should be illustrative, archival, product-accurate, or abstract; and
• rights/consent, claims, budget, number of candidates, and review owner.

If the source is a current event, historical claim, medical topic, public figure, or real-world demonstration, require verified source footage or label every generated shot as illustrative. Do not generate a plausible scene and call it evidence.

Build a coverage matrix

For each gap, record:

coverage_id / source timecode:
narration or edit purpose:
visual subject and action:
literal versus illustrative status:
reference roles and preservation rules:
shot size / camera / light:
duration / ratio / audio:
acceptance check:

Prefer varied coverage—establishing, detail, hands/product interaction, environment, abstract texture, and transition—without changing the intended meaning. Keep one visual idea per clip and avoid random montage filler.

Execute

1. Freeze the script/edit parent and rank gaps by narrative importance.
2. Upload authorized references or hand off still preparation to the image agent. Record asset roles and provenance.
3. Choose T2V or I2V from MODELS.md, inspect the live schema, and generate a small candidate set per gap.
4. Poll jobs, review temporal stability and factual implication, and mark each clip as literal-source, illustrative-generated, or abstract-generated.
5. Lock selected B-roll parents. Combine only when the user asks for a rough assembly; otherwise return editor-ready clips with placement notes.
6. Use video QA for continuity, product/ likeness, captions, audio, rights, and export checks.

Do not generate a replacement for missing source evidence, hide a failed gap, or silently insert generated footage into an approved edit.

Output contract

Return a gap/coverage table, parent/source IDs, model/endpoint, prediction IDs, output URLs, literal/illustrative labels, placement notes, QA findings, and failed candidates. Save permitted manifests and receipts under .video/ using reports-and-receipts.md.

This skill creates draft coverage, not a claim of what happened in the world.