Paper relief

How to use it

Hold most of the clip on white card reliefs of the one big idea, the light moving slowly as the thought builds, cutting back to the speaker once or twice when the face matters.

Where the speaker sits

Full sceneSuits itSmallSuits itSplitSuits itSideWorksDrawn overAvoid

Full scene: the scene fills the frame. Stock speaker from Pexels.

Palette

THIS IS A MOODBOARD, NOT A TEMPLATE. The style below is inspiration for the look and feel. Keep its materials, colours, textures and the way it moves, but invent your own scenes, characters and objects for this clip. You are not limited to anything shown in the preview, and nothing in it has to appear. Use illustration and animation to help tell the clip's story.

STORY FIRST. Read the whole clip before you design anything.
1. Write the clip's arc in one line: setup, tension, turn, pay-off. Name the one line that is the reveal.
2. Tag every sentence with its job: setup, context, tension, turn, reveal, example, number, contrast, list, quote, feeling, metaphor, callback, pay-off, aside.
3. The visuals carry the whole clip. If the clip shows the speaker's face, open on them (the first scene keeps them on screen) unless the person says otherwise. After that, never cut back to the speaker full-frame unless the person asks for it; if they do, only on the ending, never in the middle of an explanation. The speaker can still sit inside a scene (a corner, a split or drawn in) when the person wants to be seen.
4. Build one flowing visual story, not a new picture per sentence. Each scene covers a whole thought (one to three sentences), holds 3 to 8 seconds and turns into the next.
5. Start each scene on the first word of its sentence, or up to half a second before. Never cut mid-sentence.
6. Inside a scene, bring small details in on the words they show (an item, a tag, a tick). Earlier details stay.
7. Choose one or two recurring objects or characters in the first scene and bring them back changed. Callbacks beat new pictures.
8. Build up the same picture where you can (add to it, move the camera across it) instead of replacing it.
9. Energy: about 80 percent still, drifting or gentle. Allow one big move in the whole clip, on the reveal, for 1 to 2 seconds, then settle and hold.
10. Numbers sit on a scale (gauge, bar, table, timeline) and hold long enough to read. Contrasts are a still split or the same layout twice.
11. Feelings get a quiet image, or one of the cuts back to the speaker; never effects.
12. On-screen text names, labels or quotes; it never repeats the caption. Five words or fewer per label.
13. End every scene by settling or thinning out, or by turning into the next scene. No exit effects.
14. The style sets the look. These rules set when, how long and how calmly. If the style's own motion rules ask for more energy than this, use less.

VISUAL STYLE: Paper relief
Slice style ref: sref-2DTBWG
LOOK: white card sculpted into a soft bas-relief, the whole frame white on white. Sheet #F4F1EA, shade tones #E2DCCF and #B9B1A2, a rare #3A3833 only for the deepest shadow, and one small #D9643A accent per clip.
LINE AND FILL: no outlines and no colour fills; form is shown only by light and shadow. Scored creases read as a fine light line beside a fine dark line.
TEXTURE: fine paper tooth and a whisper of grain.
LIGHT: one low raking light from the side that drifts slowly across the clip, so shadows lengthen and swing. Raised pieces cast soft shadows that grow with their height.
CAMERA: locked, square to the sheet, no moves; the light does the moving.
MOTION: slow ease-in-out. Elements curl and lift up off the sheet, then settle; they flatten back to vanish. The accent appears once, on the key line.
TYPE: spaced classical roman caps, debossed or raised in the same white card, shown by shadow and highlight only.
THE RULE: one white sheet, one light; nothing exists unless the light finds its edge.
DON'T: no outlines, no second accent colour, no hard drop shadows, no fast or bouncy moves, no busy layouts.
Treat these as the look, never a template: invent fresh pictures, words and compositions from what this clip says.
Accent: as in the palette.
Frame shape: ask me before you start (9:16 vertical, 4:5 portrait, 1:1 square or 16:9 wide).
Energy: normal.

TECH: one HTML file, one GSAP 3 timeline created paused as window.__timelines.main, duration = the scene's length, transforms and opacity only.

Look rules

• LOOK: white card sculpted into a soft bas-relief, the whole frame white on white. Sheet #F4F1EA, shade tones #E2DCCF and #B9B1A2, a rare #3A3833 only for the deepest shadow, and one small #D9643A accent per clip.
• LINE AND FILL: no outlines and no colour fills; form is shown only by light and shadow. Scored creases read as a fine light line beside a fine dark line.
• TEXTURE: fine paper tooth and a whisper of grain.
• LIGHT: one low raking light from the side that drifts slowly across the clip, so shadows lengthen and swing. Raised pieces cast soft shadows that grow with their height.
• CAMERA: locked, square to the sheet, no moves; the light does the moving.
• MOTION: slow ease-in-out. Elements curl and lift up off the sheet, then settle; they flatten back to vanish. The accent appears once, on the key line.
• TYPE: spaced classical roman caps, debossed or raised in the same white card, shown by shadow and highlight only.
• THE RULE: one white sheet, one light; nothing exists unless the light finds its edge.
• DON'T: no outlines, no second accent colour, no hard drop shadows, no fast or bouncy moves, no busy layouts.
• Treat these as the look, never a template: invent fresh pictures, words and compositions from what this clip says.

What it suits

Best for

Calm reflective lines, one big idea, premium or design-minded brands.

Avoid for

Comedy, hype, busy lists or anything that needs colour coding.

Content

Wellbeing, Faith, Advice, Something emotional, Money or business

Tone

Quiet, Elegant, Considered

Pace

Slow

Topics

paper sculpture, bas-relief, white on white, raking light, emboss, deboss, minimal, shadow

Colours

#F4F1EA #E2DCCF #B9B1A2 #3A3833 #D9643A

For AIs: this style as plain text.