Grid paper surreal

How to use it

Tell most of the clip as full-frame grid-paper scenes where one cut-out does something strange on each idea, cutting back to the speaker once or twice when the face matters.

Where the speaker sits

Full sceneSuits itSmallSuits itSplitWorksSideSuits itDrawn 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.

PICTURES: this style uses photo cut-outs. Before you start, ask the person one short question: use stills from their own clip, Slice's stock search, their own uploads, or (only if you can make images) images you generate. If they don't mind, use stills from the clip, then stock.

VISUAL STYLE: Grid paper surreal
Slice style ref: sref-BDP5V7
LOOK: grid paper above, a duotone photo band below. The paper is #F2F1EC with thin #C9C8C2 grid lines (about nine squares across), paper fleck and a few faint stains. The lower band is one photo turned to a two-colour duotone, #1F6F68 dark to #3FCF9E light, with photo grain. Objects are greyscale photo cut-outs, unlined. One flat #E3A31B ochre disc is the only accent.
LIGHT: flat, with a soft contact shadow where an object touches the band.
CAMERA: locked. The horizon between paper and band stays fixed through a scene.
MOTION: 12 fps. Objects drop or slide in from a frame edge, hold, do one small strange loop (split, float, multiply, swap a part), then vanish on a hard cut. The disc scales up from zero behind them. Long calm holds between.
TYPE: small typewriter or monospace captions printed on the grid, typed on a letter at a time.
THE RULE: every scene is grid paper above, duotone photo below, and one surreal cut-out event in between.
DON'T: no full-colour cut-outs, no more than one accent disc, no busy compositions, no smooth vector characters.
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: grid paper above, a duotone photo band below. The paper is #F2F1EC with thin #C9C8C2 grid lines (about nine squares across), paper fleck and a few faint stains. The lower band is one photo turned to a two-colour duotone, #1F6F68 dark to #3FCF9E light, with photo grain. Objects are greyscale photo cut-outs, unlined. One flat #E3A31B ochre disc is the only accent.
• LIGHT: flat, with a soft contact shadow where an object touches the band.
• CAMERA: locked. The horizon between paper and band stays fixed through a scene.
• MOTION: 12 fps. Objects drop or slide in from a frame edge, hold, do one small strange loop (split, float, multiply, swap a part), then vanish on a hard cut. The disc scales up from zero behind them. Long calm holds between.
• TYPE: small typewriter or monospace captions printed on the grid, typed on a letter at a time.
• THE RULE: every scene is grid paper above, duotone photo below, and one surreal cut-out event in between.
• DON'T: no full-colour cut-outs, no more than one accent disc, no busy compositions, no smooth vector characters.
• Treat these as the look, never a template: invent fresh pictures, words and compositions from what this clip says.

What it suits

Best for

Thought experiments, big ideas and what-if questions that gain from a strange, curious picture.

Avoid for

Hard numbers, urgent news or high-energy hype.

Content

Explainer, Opinion, Personal story

Tone

Dreamy, Thoughtful, Calm

Pace

Slow

Topics

idea, imagine, what if, philosophy, future, curious, creativity, dream, theory, mind

Colours

#F2F1EC #C9C8C2 #1F6F68 #3FCF9E #E3A31B

For AIs: this style as plain text.