Scribble metaphor

How to use it

Carry most of the clip as one huge full-frame scribble that tangles and then clears around a tiny figure, cutting back to the speaker once or twice.

Where the speaker sits

Full sceneSuits itSmallWorksSplitSuits itSideAvoidDrawn overSuits it

Drawn over: marks and type drawn over the full speaker. 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: Scribble metaphor
Slice style ref: sref-MK1B52
Fine black pen on white paper, with one tiny painted figure. Palette: white paper #F8F7F3, pen black #121212, small skin #E2A79B, small clothing #4E5A3F, shadow #CFC6B8. Line: one fine, slightly broken pen line makes the whole big shape: a restless scribble that stands for the feeling. Fill: only the tiny figure is a small painted shape. Texture: paper; the pen line skips now and then. Light: one long low shadow from the figure. Camera: locked; the huge mark and the small person always keep their scale gap. Motion: 12 fps; the scribble grows, tangles, boils or untangles continuously while the figure barely moves. Type: one small handwritten line in black at the bottom. The one rule: the feeling is one big abstract mark; the person is always small. DON'T: colour on the scribble, a second big element, backgrounds, big type.
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

• Fine black pen on white paper, with one tiny painted figure.
• Palette: white paper #F8F7F3, pen black #121212, small skin #E2A79B, small clothing #4E5A3F, shadow #CFC6B8.
• Line: one fine, slightly broken pen line makes the whole big shape: a restless scribble that stands for the feeling.
• Fill: only the tiny figure is a small painted shape.
• Texture: paper; the pen line skips now and then.
• Light: one long low shadow from the figure.
• Camera: locked; the huge mark and the small person always keep their scale gap.
• Motion: 12 fps; the scribble grows, tangles, boils or untangles continuously while the figure barely moves.
• Type: one small handwritten line in black at the bottom.
• The one rule: the feeling is one big abstract mark; the person is always small.
• DON'T: colour on the scribble, a second big element, backgrounds, big type.

What it suits

Best for

Overwhelm turning into clarity: mental health, decisions and getting unstuck.

Avoid for

Lists of facts, product talk or celebrations.

Content

Wellbeing, Advice, Something emotional

Tone

Thoughtful, Calm

Pace

Slow

Topics

overwhelm, clarity, mental health, decision, stress, focus, burnout, thinking, chaos, stuck

Colours

#F8F7F3 #121212 #E2A79B #4E5A3F #CFC6B8

For AIs: this style as plain text.