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Director's Canvas
Product guide
Product guide

From an unfinished idea to a production-ready handoff.

Director's Canvas helps you turn a creative seed into an approved treatment, visual bible, timed storyboard, continuity record, and versioned production package. You remain responsible for every proposal you apply and every approval you grant.

Start a project Open workspace
The package is the product
The outcome is an approved production package—not a finished video.

Director's Canvas does not submit prompts to external tools or produce the finished video. Generation, editing, publishing, and delivery remain in the external tools and production process you choose.

Native outcome map

One decision chain, five inspectable states

Each state is reviewable before it becomes the source for the next one.

  1. 01

    Creative seed

    An idea strengthened by the available track, lyrics, constraints, and references.

  2. 02

    Approved foundation

    One creator-chosen treatment and a visual bible with observable rules.

  3. 03

    Directed timelines

    Timed scenes, shots, prompts, and explicitly selected storyboard panels.

  4. 04

    Validated package

    Continuity-checked work with a recorded decision for every concern.

  5. 05

    External handoff

    Copy-ready packets for ChatGPT, Claude, OpenArt, and NeuralFrames.

On this page
Every section stays expanded and linkable.

Quick start

The minimum successful path

Use this route when you want the shortest path from a rough seed to a package that is safe to hand to external generation tools.

  1. 1

    Create a canvas and provide the strongest creative seed you have, even if it is incomplete.

  2. 2

    Complete intake and resolve the deterministic blockers that make discovery ready.

  3. 3

    Choose and approve one creative direction, then approve its treatment and visual bible.

  4. 4

    Define a deliverable and cover its complete timeline with confirmed song-map sections and scenes.

  5. 5

    Direct, panel, save, and approve every timed shot.

  6. 6

    Resolve continuity decisions and download the validated, versioned production package.

Organize projects

Keep related canvases in reach

Folders organize the workspace without becoming part of the creative record. You decide the structure, and project content remains untouched when the hierarchy changes.

Create folders around the work

Use manual folders for a recurring character, performer, genre, client, campaign, or any grouping that helps related canvases stay together.

Build a focused hierarchy

Nest folders up to 5 levels deep. All projects remains the complete workspace view, while each folder shows only its direct projects and subfolders.

Place one project deliberately

Choose an optional folder while creating a project, or use the project card menu later. A project lives in one folder or in Unfiled.

Reorganize without risking the project

Moving or renaming folders never changes creative revisions or approvals. Deleting a folder promotes its projects and subfolders one level instead of deleting project data.

Prepare your project

Bring decisions, not perfect assets

Mixed experience levels are welcome. Start with what is known, make unknowns explicit, and keep authorship with the creator at every gate.

Lead with the strongest signal

A clear written idea is enough to begin. Add the track, lyrics, references, constraints, and preferred engines when they carry decisions the canvas should preserve.

Know the handoff target

Decide which full-length and short-form cuts you need. Each cut has its own name, aspect ratio, duration, timing, shots, approvals, and export history.

Name what must stay consistent

Identify performers, characters, environments, wardrobe, props, and style rules that should remain observable from frame to frame.

Plan to make every decision

Creative Copilot may prepare one granular working-draft change. It applies only after you approve the action card; final stage and shot approvals, panel selection, publishing, and exports always remain yours.

Full workflow

Eleven stages from seed to export

Every stage uses the same operating model: take explicit action, satisfy a visible completion rule, and create a durable artifact for the next stage.

Stage 01

Intake

What to do

  • Choose the creative mode, total duration, initial cut, aspect ratio, and strongest available written idea.
  • Optionally add audio, lyrics, production constraints, preferred engines, and visual references. Intake changes autosave as you work.
  • Resolve the deterministic readiness blockers. These checks come from the saved project fields, not from an AI judgment.

Ready when

The saved intake has enough required signal to proceed and the creative seed is explicitly approved.

Outcome

An approved creative seed with enough signal for discovery.

Stage 02

Discovery

What to do

  • Answer the guided questions that expose the project’s most important unknowns.
  • Request additional high-value questions when another round would materially sharpen the direction.
  • Separate hard readiness blockers from unanswered recommendations. Recommendations can remain open when the omission is intentional.

Ready when

Every blocking unknown has an explicit answer and any remaining recommendations have been consciously left open.

Outcome

Explicit answers to the project’s important unknowns.

Stage 03

Directions

What to do

  • Generate or review three genuinely different creative alternatives, including their strengths, risks, and production implications.
  • Select exactly one option as the creative spine. Pin only the individual elements you want to preserve from the other alternatives.
  • Save the selection and approve the current revision.

Ready when

Exactly one direction is selected, desired pins are saved, and that exact revision is approved.

Outcome

One creator-selected direction for downstream synthesis.

Stage 04

Treatment

What to do

  • Synthesize a treatment from the selected direction and the intentionally pinned material.
  • Edit the logline, narrative, themes, performance strategy, and ending image until they describe the film you intend to make.
  • Save a new document revision, review the resulting state, and approve it.

Ready when

The current saved treatment revision is complete, internally coherent, and explicitly approved.

Outcome

An approved narrative and performance plan.

Stage 05

Visual bible

What to do

  • Review and edit the world, identity, look, camera, lighting, continuity, and avoidance rules.
  • Express rules as observable production decisions that can be checked in every downstream frame and prompt.
  • When a library profile has changed, import it only by explicitly selecting the newer version, then review the stages marked stale.

Ready when

The current bible revision covers the required visual systems and is explicitly approved.

Outcome

Observable continuity rules for every downstream frame and prompt.

Stage 06

Deliverables

What to do

  • Use the initial cut created with the project, or open Manage cuts from the project navigation to add another deliverable.
  • Create full-length or short-form cuts with their own name, aspect ratio, and duration.
  • Seed a cut from another cut when useful. Seeding copies a starting point; it does not create a live link between timelines.

Ready when

Every required output format has a clearly named cut with the intended ratio, duration, and independent timeline.

Outcome

Independent production timelines sharing the approved project foundation.

Stage 07

Song map

What to do

  • Use the audio waveform when a track is attached, or use the manual timeline when working without audio.
  • Add markers, review optional proposals, edit millisecond boundaries, and confirm every musical section and energy change.
  • Check that the sections cover the deliverable contiguously with no gaps or overlaps before approval.

Ready when

Every section is confirmed and the complete cut is covered exactly once from its first millisecond to its last.

Outcome

A confirmed map of musical sections and energy changes.

Stage 08

Scenes

What to do

  • Propose one song-map section at a time, or add scenes manually when you already know the structure.
  • Explicitly apply useful proposals, then edit each scene’s purpose, location, and millisecond timing.
  • Reorder and save the scene plan while preserving complete timed coverage for every confirmed section.

Ready when

Saved scenes cover every section contiguously and the scene plan is approved for shot planning.

Outcome

Complete timed narrative coverage for every section.

Stage 09

Storyboard

What to do

  • Apply timed shot proposals scene by scene, or build the shot plan manually.
  • Use the directing guide or three-option proposals, then edit shot direction, prompts, transitions, and continuity details.
  • Generate or upload a panel, select it explicitly, save the current shot specification, and approve every shot.

Ready when

The full timeline is covered with no gaps or overlaps, every specification is saved, every shot has a selected panel, and every shot is approved.

Outcome

Complete timeline coverage where every shot has an approved specification and selected panel.

Stage 10

Continuity review

What to do

  • Run both the deterministic checks and the creative continuity audit.
  • Open affected shots and explicitly resolve or dismiss every identity, wardrobe, geography, coverage, timing, prompt, or compatibility concern.
  • Rerun the review after meaningful changes and approve the current review revision.

Ready when

Every issue has a recorded creator decision and the current review has been approved.

Outcome

A recorded creator decision for every continuity concern.

Stage 11

Export

What to do

  • Download inspectable draft formats whenever you need to review incomplete work outside the canvas.
  • Bring every required upstream stage, timeline, shot, selected panel, and continuity decision onto a current approved revision.
  • When validation passes, download the production ZIP and copy the target-specific packets into the external tools you choose.

Ready when

No export blocker remains and the validated production ZIP is unlocked for the current version.

Outcome

The validated, versioned handoff package.

Approvals and statuses

The state key for creator control

Statuses describe the saved, deterministic project state. Approval always belongs to the exact revision you reviewed.

  • Locked

    A required upstream decision is incomplete, so this stage cannot be approved yet.

  • Draft

    Editable content exists, but its current revision still needs work or validation.

  • Ready

    Deterministic checks pass and the current revision is available for creator approval.

  • Approved

    The creator approved the exact saved revision and its canonical content fingerprint.

  • Stale

    Content is preserved, but an upstream change requires review and reapproval.

Approval belongs to a revision

An approval records the exact revision and canonical content fingerprint you reviewed. Editing that content creates a different approval target.

Upstream edits preserve the work

Dependent scenes, shots, panels, and exports remain visible after a source edit. Affected stages become stale so you can review and reapprove intentionally.

AI begins as a proposal

Generated material does not change the draft until you explicitly apply or select it. Creative Copilot can apply one validated working-draft edit only after your action-card approval; it never grants final stage or shot approval, selects panels, publishes, or exports.

Revision conflicts protect newer work

If the saved revision changed after your view loaded, refresh the page, verify the current revision, and reapply only the edits you still intend to make.

Reference library

Reusable profiles without silent drift

Library items can evolve while every project retains an immutable record of the exact version it used.

PerformerCharacterEnvironmentWardrobePropStyle

  1. 1. Create a reusable profile

    Describe the performer, character, environment, wardrobe, prop, or style in terms that remain useful across projects.

  2. 2. Add supported references

    Upload JPEG, PNG, or WebP images and mark only the references that should be eligible for production export.

  3. 3. Attach an immutable snapshot

    A project receives the selected library version as a snapshot. Later library edits cannot silently alter approved project work.

  4. 4. Create a new library version

    Update the reusable profile while leaving every project’s attached snapshot unchanged.

  5. 5. Import a newer version explicitly

    Choose Import snapshot from the project’s visual bible, then review every downstream stage marked stale by the change.

Production package

Inspectable files for the next tool

Draft formats remain useful during incomplete work. The validated production ZIP becomes available only after every required current revision and production check passes.

Treatment PDF

Presentation-ready narrative and performance plan.

Storyboard PDF

Timed shot cards with the selected panels.

Treatment Markdown

Portable, editable treatment source.

Prompt book

The complete set of target-specific prompt packets.

Shot-list CSV

Exact production fields and millisecond timecodes.

Versioned project JSON

A structured record of the approved project version.

Copy-ready target adapters

Packets prepared for supported external generation workflows.

Selected panels and exportable references

Only selected panels and references explicitly marked for export.

Validated production ZIP

The complete handoff after all production checks pass.

A handoff, not an automated render

Original audio is excluded from the package. External-generation tools remain outside Director's Canvas: copy or upload the prepared material yourself, generate there, and finish the video in your chosen editing and publishing workflow.

Limits and troubleshooting

Operational answers at the point of friction

These limits come directly from the current product configuration. The fixes below preserve explicit approvals and version history.

Current configured limits

Audio upload
250 MB · 15 minutesMaximum size and duration per track
Image upload
20 MBMaximum size per reference or panel image
Reference images
60Maximum per project
Project entities
12Maximum attached profiles per project
Deliverables
8Maximum cuts per project
Shots
300Maximum per deliverable
Panel generations
2Maximum concurrent generations per user
Folder nesting
5 levelsMaximum saved-project folder depth

Troubleshooting

I am working without audio.
Continue with the manual timeline. Set the deliverable duration, place markers directly on the timeline, and confirm contiguous millisecond sections exactly as you would with a waveform.
A stage remains locked.
Open the preceding stage and resolve its deterministic blockers, save the current revision, and complete the required approval. Locked stages always point back to an unmet dependency.
An AI proposal appeared but the draft did not change.
That is expected until you approve it. Review the target, before and after values, and downstream impact, then choose Apply change or Keep as suggestion. An expired, rejected, wrong-tab, or conflicted proposal never overwrites the saved draft.
Downstream work became stale.
An upstream source changed. The downstream content was preserved; review the affected stages against the new source, make any needed edits, and reapprove their current revisions.
Approve shot is disabled.
Save any pending specification edits and explicitly select a generated or uploaded panel. Shot approval requires both a saved current specification and a selected panel.
The production ZIP is still locked.
Read the blockers on Export. Every required stage must be current and approved, timing must be contiguous, every shot needs an approved specification and selected panel, and every continuity issue needs a decision.
An upload failed.
Check the configured size limits and file type. Audio accepts MP3, WAV, M4A or MP4, and AAC; lyrics accept plain text; references and panels accept JPEG, PNG, or WebP.
I hit a revision conflict.
Refresh the page, verify the latest saved revision, and reapply only the intentional edits. The conflict prevents an older view from overwriting newer work.

Your next decision

Build the handoff you can inspect and approve.

Begin with the strongest seed you have. The canvas will make the missing decisions visible without making them for you.

Start a project Open workspace