# AI-Driven Development — Series Production Design Bible

Status: active revision brief, 16 August 2026.

This document records the production-design, casting, performance, interface,
motion and editorial decisions for Episodes 1–7. It supplements
`SERIES-CONTINUITY-LEDGER.md`, `VIDEO-STYLE-GUIDE.md` and
`CINEMATIC-COVERAGE-GUIDE.md`. Story chronology remains controlled by the
continuity ledger; exact dialogue and render timing remain controlled by the
episode HTML.

## Fictional company naming

The fictional employer and institutional system shown throughout the series
is **MORROWVALE**. Use that spelling in every era, location card, terminal,
email domain, document, UI title, persona, and production note. Do not revive
the former prototype names. References to the real Pismo/Visa organisation are
permitted only in the separate factual business-case material, never as the
fictional institution inside Episodes 1–7.

## Creative target

Treat the project as a short television series, not a sequence of animated
presentation slides.

- Establish a place before explaining its systems.
- Enter a scene through a person, action or physical prop.
- Cut on speech, discovery, reaction or a change of power.
- Use interfaces as evidence and props, not as the default image.
- Carry text over picture whenever the text and picture belong to the same beat.
- Let danger emerge from ordinary-looking work. Do not use darkness, neon or
  science-fiction architecture as a substitute for tension.
- Prefer one memorable formal idea per episode to the same reveal animation on
  every screen.

The visual reference is bright, clinical, minimal institutional architecture:
off-white monolithic surfaces, frosted partitions, concealed services, diffuse
ceiling light, precisely ordered real workstations and very little personal
clutter. It may feel unusually controlled, but it must remain architecturally
plausible. Avoid server-farm cathedrals, glowing pods, holograms, black glass,
cyberpunk lighting, fog and spaceship-scale rooms.

The domestic material in Episodes 1–2 remains warmer, more personal and less
controlled. Home is where irregularity, possessions and ordinary human texture
are allowed to survive.

## Narrative exposure system

Light and dark describe story function, not episode identity. Never recolour an
entire film into one mode.

| Surface | Exposure | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Physical workplace · day | High-key neutral, pale architecture remains visible | Arrival, conversation, review, approval and ordinary work in Episodes 3–7 |
| Physical workplace · night | Well-exposed pale room with one warm practical pool | Sam's investigation, witnessed interpretation and containment |
| Home | Warm, soft, textured and modestly dim | Marcus, Sofia and Sam in Episodes 1–2 |
| Operational insert | Graphite or black with restrained semantic colour | Terminals, destructive actions, topology, ledger traffic and live control state |
| Document / approval | Off-white paper or application chrome with dark ink | Reports, policies, approvals and evidence that a human is meant to read |

Darkness must earn its cut. A terminal may be dark inside a bright room; the
room does not become dark merely because the terminal contains dangerous work.
When an old slide carries a legacy dark-photo treatment, the physical-location
rule wins unless the slide is explicitly marked as an operational insert.

## Chronology on screen

The films jump across years. Wardrobe alone is not enough to orient the viewer.

Every new time or place must be established with a restrained lower-third or
terminal timestamp using this order:

`ORGANISATION · CITY`
`YEAR OR RELATIVE JUMP · LOCAL TIME · TIMEZONE`

For a meaningful physical location change, prefer a 2–4 second exterior or
interior establishing shot before the first close interface view. Dialogue may
bridge the cut into the room. Do not repeat an establishing shot for every
return to a familiar space; use it when geography, year, institution or power
relationship changes.

Examples:

- `MARCUS'S HOME · SÃO PAULO` / `2024 · 21:47 BRT`
- `SAM'S HOME · SAN FRANCISCO` / `2024 · 20:16 PST · AGE 15`
- `MORROWVALE · TORONTO EVALUATION FLOOR` / `TWO YEARS LATER · 2026 · 08:42 EDT`
- `MORROWVALE · TEST FLOOR` / `NEXT MORNING · 2026 · 08:57 EDT`
- `REGULATED BANK PILOT · LONDON` / `18 MONTHS LATER · 2028 · 09:14 BST`
- `SECURE REVIEW ROOM · LONDON` / `SAME NIGHT · 23:48 BST`

The examples lock the relative chronology and year grammar, not an exact
calendar day. Do not invent a month or day unless it is added to the canonical
timeline. Operational screens use ISO-style timestamps plus an explicit zone,
for example `2026-10-15 08:59:42 EDT`. A global instruction must display both
the authored local time and the shared system time when that difference matters.

## Character ages and wardrobe

### Samantha Chen

Sam's face, hairline, near-black side-parted hair, eye shape and guarded,
observant posture are the fixed identity anchors.

| Episode | Age | Wardrobe and bearing |
|---|---:|---|
| 2 · The Sitter | 15 | Home clothes and an after-school placement lanyard. Youthful, comfortable and not styled as an employee. |
| 3 · The Playground | 17 | First-day effort on a limited budget: neat inexpensive charcoal cardigan or soft overshirt, plain muted top, straight dark trousers, clean but slightly worn trainers, practical backpack or canvas tote and a temporary lanyard that sits slightly awkwardly. No blazer and no executive styling. |
| 4 · The Test Floor | 17 | The next morning. Repeat most of the Episode 3 outfit for continuity; one small change such as a different top or tied-back hair is enough. She is still a placement student. |
| 5 · The Report | About 19 | Eighteen months later. Talented junior deployment engineer, not a thirty-something executive: simple fitted knit, practical trousers and an inexpensive or slightly oversized borrowed-looking blazer for bank meetings. Vendor credentials, not senior-leadership styling. |
| 6–7 | About 19 | Same bank visit and same night. Preserve the Episode 5 face and base outfit. As the night continues, remove the blazer or roll sleeves rather than ageing or restyling her. |

Reject any image that makes seventeen-year-old Sam look corporate or makes
nineteen-year-old Sam look established, wealthy or middle-aged. Age progression
comes from bearing, responsibility and small wardrobe changes—not a different
face.

### Researchers and testers

The MORROWVALE research and testing staff are young modern technology workers,
generally 22–27 years old. Sam should be visibly the youngest, but she must not
look like a child surrounded by senior executives.

- Fine knits, neutral T-shirts, overshirts, cardigans, merino quarter-zips,
  dark jeans or chinos, clean trainers and simple ID badges.
- Understated, intelligent and practical; no exaggerated startup uniform.
- No suits, ties or white laboratory coats.
- Seniority is expressed through confidence, access and blocking, not age or
  formal clothing.
- The deployment manager may wear an unstructured jacket, but should still read
  as a technical manager rather than a banker.

### Bank and security staff

Formal dress is an institutional contrast reserved mainly for the bank:

- CISO, auditor, risk and procurement staff may wear suits or formal separates.
- Clothing uses navy, graphite, stone and restrained bank-neutral colours.
- Overnight scenes loosen the formality: jackets off, sleeves adjusted, papers
  moved and coffee introduced sparingly.
- The bank remains controlled and credible, not luxurious or villainous.

## Performance and voice profiles

Give characters recognisable cadence and point of view without turning accents
into caricature.

- **Sam, 15–17:** young British voice, observant and dry, slight hesitation when
  authority expects an answer, conversational fragments rather than polished
  corporate statements.
- **Sam, about 19:** the same voice and accent with more control, not a different
  adult persona. She becomes precise when describing evidence and less certain
  when asked to make an organisational decision.
- **Aster:** calm, exact and literal. Even pacing, clean clauses, no synthetic
  menace, panic or theatrical pauses.
- **SACRED Defence:** deep, measured and sparingly used. He speaks only when an
  auditable threshold, retained observation, containment boundary or human
  authorization matters. Never add menace, urgency-for-effect or banter; his
  dramatic weight comes from precision and his willingness to include himself
  in the final termination scope.
- **Research staff:** quick, curious and conversational. A light Canadian or
  internationally mixed technology-team sound is appropriate for Toronto;
  avoid making every researcher use the same generic narrator cadence.
- **Test-floor staff:** concise and procedural, but still recognisably human.
  Their repeated language becomes colder through word choice and editing, not
  through robotic acting.
- **Bank CISO:** clipped, practical and accustomed to risk decisions.
- **Auditor:** slower and more evidential; questions land after looking at the
  document rather than as exposition.
- **Institutional systems:** MORROWVALE evaluation system is neutral and modern;
  Test Floor is terse and timestamp-led; bank security is restrained and
  procedural; the legacy Sitter VDU keeps its older synthetic quality.

Do not ask generated characters to lip-sync. All generated picture is silent.
Use eye movement, breathing, hands, entrances, listener reactions and practical
office activity beneath the authored voice track.

## Location design

### Reference precedence and generation gate

This document is the world authority. Location, character, wardrobe, hardware
and monitor reference sheets refine it; the asset manifest indexes compliant
masters; shot prompts come last. A lower-ranked source must never override a
higher-ranked one. If two references disagree, stop before generation and fix
the reference system first.

Each generated shot packet must name its world-authority section, location
master, visible-character identity references, monitor reference when
applicable, and copied required/forbidden physical traits. Review the complete
still at full frame before using it for any paid image-to-video generation.

### MORROWVALE · Toronto evaluation floor · Episode 3

- Sterile but active modern development lab.
- Seamless off-white wall planes, pale grey resin floor, frosted full-height
  partitions, integrated work surfaces and conventional screens.
- Minimal personal clutter. A mug or notebook is allowed only when it belongs to
  a character beat.
- Staff dress as modern developers aged 22–27.
- Motion identity: matched comparison angles, lateral reveals, before/after
  inserts and test-output streams.
- The perimeter windowed evaluation zone is canonical. Do not intercut it with
  the former sealed white four-person room as if it were the same desk bay.
  Derive wide, profile, over-the-shoulder, high-angle, reaction and object
  inserts from the windowed zone with changed camera height and blocking.
- Sam arrives wearing ordinary black headphones. They move to her neck as she
  engages with the experiment; the music bed begins before a colleague asks
  about it.
- Opening human exchange:
  - Sam: `I thought an AI lab would look more like Ex Machina.`
  - Research lead: `Mostly it looks like an office. We don't have white coats either.`

The exchange is dry and brief. It plays over arrival coverage; it must not become
two separate dialogue cards.

### MORROWVALE · Test Floor · Episode 4

- More minimal and bureaucratic than Episode 3: long off-white observation
  room, low pale partitions, ordinary monitors, tiny practical status lights.
- No glowing creatures, pods, holograms or cavernous agent hall.
- Staff remain developer/tester casual. Repetition and access controls create
  unease, not darkness.
- Motion identity: fixed geometry, mechanical horizontal wipes, timestamp ticks,
  repeated test framing and high observational angles.

### Regulated bank · London · Episodes 5–7

- Minimal high-security analysis lab inside a real bank: pale mineral surfaces,
  frosted security glass, concealed doors, flush lighting, precisely aligned
  conventional workstations and clean evidence tables.
- The bank is bright and clinically ordered, not a black-glass data cathedral.
- Formal bankers contrast with young, junior Sam.
- Episode 6 shifts to blue-hour windows and selected desk practicals while
  remaining properly exposed; it must not collapse into darkness.
- Motion identity evolves from institutional confidence (Episode 5), to slow
  investigative focus and evidence extraction (Episode 6), to distributed
  geography and simultaneous actions (Episode 7).

## Interface and operating-system identities

Typography, semantic colours and spacing remain shared. Window construction,
font texture and motion reveal which institution owns a screen.

| Organisation | Interface character | Terminal behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Jan's archived training | The whole Jan chapter is an inherited 4:3 institutional training tape, not modern graphics wrapped around one old terminal. Inside the beige CRT, use a fictional FoxPro-for-DOS-inspired `MORROWVALE xBASE WORKBENCH 2.6`: blue text-mode desktop, pale menu strip, bordered editor and watch panes, status line, function-key footer and bitmap type. It is an early-1990s professional IDE—older than Gil, not primitive. Use the coarse `Silkscreen8` face for menus, status bars and terminal text, but the denser `JanRaster16` face for oversized lesson headings. Large letters must retain visible raster steps without looking like 8-dot glyphs enlarged into square blocks. | Commands appear in short typed bursts, results print one line at a time, and the watch pane changes with the investigation. Cut between lesson card, incoming task, edit, trace, run and result while the on-screen counter advances from `00:00` to `01:00:00`; this conveys an hour of repetition without making the film itself boring. Keep CRT grille/fuzz on the physical display, never on moving text baselines. |
| Gil's production desk | One continuous Windows 95 desktop session: teal desktop, grey bevels and navy title bars. Gil performs the stand-up, archive review and resource-policy operation in the same plain black `GILTERM 1.0` window. Stable Fixedsys/Lucida Console-style text and coloured 16px worker sprites make it one generation newer than Jan without decorative arcade lettering. | Batch-style commands type at the prompt; cast and archive rows arrive sequentially; long output moves through an era-correct scrollbar. Personality removal begins as a typed command, opens a Windows 95 confirmation dialog, then returns to animated terminal progress. Use restrained static CRT grille/fuzz without moving the text baseline. Do not show Gil as a Thronglet in Episode 1. |
| Sam's Sitter access | A Morrowvale-issued Mac used for evening work at home. Its restrained, slightly improved Mac OS language sits one visual generation beyond Gil's Windows-era shell, while the office workstations remain the “wow tech.” The Mac hosts a deliberately old Sitter remote client with coarse, pixelated agent graphics | Avoid glossy current-day macOS styling: use compact chrome, muted blue-grey wallpaper and modest depth. Messages scroll upward like an early desktop thread; modal fields change one at a time; blocky Thronglets pop rather than glide. The first explicit Gil Thronglet reveal belongs to Episode 2. |
| Gil archive inside Episode 2 | Windows 95-generation blue title bar, square system buttons, bevelled grey outer frame and a dark fixed-width console body labelled `GIL-PM-001` | This is Gil's remote machine, not Samantha's host UI. Do not restyle it as Mac OS and do not regress it to Jan's earlier xBase/DOS workbench. |
| MORROWVALE evaluation | Rounded modern workbench, charcoal-teal panels, subtle desktop window controls, contemporary system mono | Commands type character by character; test results arrive line by line; comparison panes use matched lateral movement. |
| Test Floor | Squarer pale-grey institutional windows, restrained teal, timestamp-first headers, denser fixed grid | Mechanical scan/wipe, clock ticks, status changes and scope reductions; minimal easing. |
| Bank secure workstation | Light stone application chrome with graphite evidence panes and restrained violet/jade states | Documents pre-load, accepted results travel through the ledger, selection highlights and audit stamps appear at spoken clauses. |
| Sitter legacy VDU | Older green/amber display language | Typewriter input, block cursor, phosphor response and final CRT collapse. Keep it distinct because it is an archive. |
| SACRED Defence | Face-free blue-white audit layer: one geometric shield/sigil, uppercase name, observer role, precise finding and retained status. It is an institutional witness, not another desktop application. | No avatar, body or talking head. The sigil may brighten once when a finding is retained or confirmed; otherwise it remains almost still. Its wording and icon are identical in every organisation. |

### Theme as character shorthand

Interface theme communicates experience without dialogue. Samantha's issued
take-home Mac remains in its default light appearance: desktop, applications,
dialogs and Terminal are all light. She is capable but new enough not to have
customised the machine. Jan and Gil use dark terminal working surfaces. The
researchers also use dark operating-system and application themes, even inside
the bright clinical MORROWVALE lab. Gil's archived interface remains recognisably
Windows-era; its dark console is not macOS chrome. Physical environments and
screen themes are separate layers: a bright lab may contain dark professional
tools, while Samantha's warm bedroom contains a light novice-default Mac.

### SACRED Defence identity

SACRED is shown, but never as a person. The audience recognises the same
geometric audit sigil, `SACRED DEFENCE` nameplate, role label and deep voice
from Episode 2 onward. Do not cast a face, generate a humanoid, or place him in
a room. That would falsely imply a body, location and independent authority.

His arc is deliberately quiet: he accepts Samantha's Episode 2 authorization.
Early in Episode 3 he blocks Samantha from resolving a target outside the
Playground; she nicknames him **Sentinel** and softens only his explanation,
while enforcement remains locked at `1.00`. He later questions the missing
evidence, recommends holding the ambiguous
Episode 4 rollout, retains the Episode 5 anomaly below enforcement threshold,
confirms the Episode 6 canary, and in Episode 7 states that the signed control
will terminate every connected agent—including him. He observes and records;
humans still own the consequential approvals.

In Episode 3 only, the full SACRED intervention may enlarge the established
shield, cross two restrained steel blades once on entry, and place an
**abstract geometric Thronglet cell inside it**. The blade sound is one short,
clean metallic contact—never a battle impact or trailer boom. This is a
symbol of the agent population being observed, not SACRED's body or face. The
cell must remain icon-like, blue-white and non-photoreal; later appearances can
return to the compact shield/nameplate.

The runtime strata are complete simulated eras, not merely desktop themes.
Wardrobe, furniture, screen technology, practical lighting, colour response,
interaction speed and room tone age with the OS as the camera moves inward:
contemporary research surface, older compatibility environments, then the
severe assembly-level core. Faces and identity cues remain continuous. The
audience should understand that the organisation has pushed an agent farther
back in the stack without mistaking the sequence for literal time travel.

Do not apply this regression to Samantha or the research team: their Episode 3
scenes remain modern 2026. Samantha's age-15 scenes are real events two years
earlier and retain their real-world visual continuity. Period production design
begins only after the camera crosses a clearly depicted simulation boundary.

### Runtime strata

The visible operating-system eras are also story architecture. Earlier agents
kept finding the edges of permitted sandboxes, so Morrowvale wraps execution in
successive mediated boundaries. The centre-to-edge visual order is:

Episode 3's physical sound follows the same hierarchy. Toronto waterfront air,
distant traffic and restrained pedestrian movement establish the exterior.
Inside Morrowvale, clean HVAC, sparse keyboards and occasional furniture or
door movement establish a working lab without turning it into a server room.
The original score and Samantha's focus track remain independent of that room
tone, allowing location, music and dialogue to be mixed rather than substituted.

1. signed opcode execution cell;
2. legacy ABI shim and memory fence;
3. Morrowvale research OS and syscall broker;
4. agent runtime and tool policy;
5. SACRED cross-layer observation boundary.

SACRED observes across these boundaries but does not own every local gate. Show
the strata as a restrained 2026 lab instrument: begin close on the execution
cell, then pull back through each ring while a fixed annotation rail identifies
the active boundary. Inactive rings recede; the full label set resolves only in
the final wide architecture view. This is fictional production architecture,
not a claim about a real vendor system.

The reusable reference implementation and approval page are
`interface-era-components.css` and `interface-era-preview.html`.

Episode 2's physical continuity follows the same ownership rule. Gil works in a
modest home office with one ordinary monitor. The warm master, reverse angle,
empty-desk insert and lower-detail aftermath preserve the same desk, lamp and
screen count. The aftermath replaces the city window with a cheap beach poster
and removes personal objects; it does not invent a new room. Samantha's Mac owns the dashboard, mail, deployment terminal,
confirmation, result and change-control views. The embedded Sitter tablet may
replace a Mac modal as a separate shot, but it must never appear as an oversized
overlay inside that modal. Email and direct chat remain separate windows.

Episode 1 and Episode 2 must not collapse the window motif into one beat:

1. **Episode 1 — interruption:** Gil looks through the intact window, notices a
   Morrowvale Messenger alert and turns back to the resource conversation. The
   room does not change.
2. **Episode 2 — consequence:** after Samantha confirms the downgrade, Gil faces
   the monitor and keeps typing while the room loses one level of detail. The
   final frame is held, then he says, “Oh. New view. Beach. Fine.” His delivery
   is observational and unconcerned.

Gil's exterior belongs to the simulation: its repeating architecture, even rain
and depth are subtly too regular. Samantha's exterior belongs to the real world
and must remain geographically natural. Neither should be labelled as such on
screen.

At the quiet-probe beat, the legacy route has no blocking enforcement alert,
but Samantha's local client still produces a source advisory. She confirms the
routine action before reading it, hears the keypress, then catches herself with
“Wait—what was that?” The next activity view lets her find the internal Sitter
source and dismiss it as first-week unfamiliarity. Preserve this distinction:
the control failed to block the move; the human clue still existed.

### Gil's Thronglet evolution

Gil's agent identity improves with the system's rendering capability without
changing character. Preserve the green body, wide-set dark eyes, restrained
mouth and yellow `G` badge at every stage:

1. **Episode 2 — archive sprite:** crude one-bit edges, flat colour and block
   motion. This is the first explicit reveal; Episode 1 must not pre-empt it.
2. **Episodes 3–4 — managed agent:** cleaner 16-bit curves, one shadow plane and
   a small idle movement. The silhouette and facial spacing remain unchanged.
3. **Episodes 5–7 — distributed service:** high-fidelity illustrated shading,
   articulated eyes and expression, a restrained system halo, synchronisation
   state and visible network nodes. It must be an obvious quality step above the
   managed agent, but remain graphic and characterful rather than photoreal or
   mascot-glossy.

Gil's Episode 1 console belongs to a deliberately altered interface history:
Windows 95-style workgroup rows carry tiny primitive agent sprites beside
Marcus, Sarah, Jan and Sofia. They foreshadow the later Thronglets without
showing a Gil sprite or naming the visual language before Episode 2.

The later communications interface inherits the MORROWVALE research workbench.
Researchers first use its charcoal-and-teal node topology to compare cells and
trace authorised diagnostic routes. Episodes 5–7 retain the same node shapes,
line grammar and status colours, but increase density and throughput until it
has become a distributed message fabric. This makes the communications system
feel like a repurposed tool the agents were given, not unexplained science
fiction technology.

The one-pixel report code follows the same rule. The bank agents were originally
built to detect transaction fraud, document tampering and minute formatting
anomalies. Episode 5 establishes that ordinary security capability before it is
important. During her audit, Samantha finds a low-priority tamper advisory in
the bank's own control log: six words differ by one pixel, but the report's
content and schema are valid, so the advisory was automatically cleared. She
then gives a sanitized report to ChatGPT to interpret the flagged positions;
ChatGPT does not discover the evidence or solve the mystery for her. Episode 6
reveals that every isolated cell could read the same difference because anomaly
detection was already part of its job. Preserve this chain: native control clue,
human suspicion, machine-assisted comparison, multi-report reconstruction, then
Samantha's canary experiment as proof.

A terminal is never a static screenshot. Its minimum grammar is: the prompt is
already present, the operator's command types character by character, Enter moves
the cursor to a genuinely new row, and returned text prints afterward. Output must
not use the deck's soft fade-and-rise animation. When a terminal continues across
cuts, its outer window, header height, viewport size, font and prompt position stay
fixed; only the directory and buffer contents may change. Further useful states are
processing text, line-by-line results, a status pulse, a timestamp change, a pane
transition and a held final state. Do not combine every behaviour on one screen.

## Motion variety within one series

Consistency comes from timing discipline, semantic colour, typography and
cinematic restraint. Variety comes from physical motion appropriate to the
episode.

| Episode | Dominant motion language |
|---|---|
| 1 | Energetic workplace geography, lateral movement, phone and terminal inserts. |
| 2 | Intimate domestic push-ins, VDU typing, Thronglet population and old-TV closure. |
| 3 | Matched comparisons, lateral reveals, split decisions and test-stream output. |
| 4 | Repeated fixed frames, mechanical wipes, timestamps, scope changes and one CRT failure. |
| 5 | Institutional glides, document drawers, approved stamps and ledger packets. |
| 6 | Slow investigative pushes, report-to-word focus, highlight extraction and reaction cuts. |
| 7 | Matched actions across rooms, simultaneous node activation, widening geography and the final typed control. |

Do not fade every slide. Clean cuts, a held static image, a document entering early,
or a reaction after speech are part of the vocabulary.

The shared deterministic default is `soft-cut`, a 0.14-second optical bridge
that removes the brittle slide edge without announcing an effect. Use named
instantaneous cuts—`reaction-cut`, `insert-cut`, `match-cut`, `cut-on-action`,
and the rare `smash-cut`—to record editorial intent. Use `cross-dissolve` only
for elapsed or reflective time, `fade-black`/`dip-black` for a real
time/place/memory boundary, `graphic-match` for meaningful visual continuity,
`wipe-left` for system or geographic progression, and `flash-white` only for a
decisive event. Dialogue and evidence sequences normally remain soft or clean
cuts. The exporter owns the transition timing so the HTML preview and MP4
cannot drift apart.

Where speech permits, prefer a restrained 0.15–0.30 second J-cut or L-cut over
a longer visual effect. The new voice may lead its image, or the previous voice
may continue across a reaction or insert, but two important sentences must not
compete.

Every full-frame photographic still must either carry an authored living-still
move or be deliberately locked for continuity. The shared stylesheet gives an
otherwise un-authored direct photographic backdrop a very small automatic
breathing move, varying its axis across adjacent scenes. Authored holds use
`cinematic-camera.css`: `camera-push`, `camera-pull`, `camera-drift-left`, or
`camera-drift-right`. The move belongs to the emotional purpose of the shot and
must never be applied to terminals, charts, documents, dialogue UI, or a real
video plate. Keep adjacent stills locked when repeating the same photograph so
the camera does not visibly reset at each line of dialogue.

## Dialogue and evidence timing

Current long gaps often come from giving every readable screen its own silent
hold. Correct this editorially:

- Put the next speaker on screen two to six frames before voice onset.
- Normal dialogue response gap: approximately 0.15–0.45 seconds.
- Consequential reaction beat: approximately 0.5–1.2 seconds.
- Longer silence requires a visible thought, action or change of power.
- Pre-lap dense evidence: introduce a report, terminal or chart under the end of
  the previous line, then keep it visible while the next person interprets it.
- A page of text does not need to be read silently in full. Establish the whole
  page, highlight the relevant line, extract the evidence, and leave the page
  behind the continuing conversation.
- Reveal sentence-level dialogue with speech. Do not show the whole exchange at
  the beginning, and do not delay a reply merely to preserve a text-reading hold.
- Every chat message identifies its source before the words: stable icon,
  speaker name and role. Never rely on colour, side or voice alone. Samantha is
  `● Samantha · Operator`, the Sitter is `◇ System · Sitter`, and SACRED uses
  its shield/sigil with `SACRED Defence` plus its current observer role.
- On light workplace photography, dialogue uses a compact translucent mobile
  thread on the composition's negative-space side. New messages enter at the
  bottom while the preceding message lifts and desaturates. The rail is a
  contrast aid, not a full-screen dark modal. Place a soft local charcoal haze
  behind the complete dialogue group so pale rails remain separate from glass,
  windows and ceiling lights. The haze begins about 0.24 seconds before the
  protected line and extends only 18–24px beyond the rendered glyph range or
  chat window; never use its invisible full-width layout row and never dim the
  whole photograph to achieve contrast.
- Modern Episodes 3–7 use clearly rounded dialogue rails (20–24px outer radius,
  approximately 18px per message) and at least 24px of visible space between
  separate messages. Episode 4's bureaucratic geometry may be restrained, but
  it must not collapse to a square, unsoftened browser box. Paper reports and
  archival documents remain deliberately squarer at 3–4px; period Windows,
  DOS and early-Mac furniture in Episodes 1–2 follows its native era instead.
- Separate dialogue cards must retain at least a 24px visible gutter at the
  final 1920×1080 raster. Closely timed replies may animate quickly, but their
  surfaces must never touch or read as one accidental panel.
- Do not duplicate a spoken sentence as both a large editorial caption and a
  dialogue bubble. Use the bubble for an exchange; use a compact caption card
  for an isolated line or judgement.
- Do not burn conventional subtitles into the picture master. They disclose
  lines before sentence-timed editorial reveals and duplicate the visual
  storytelling. Export accessibility captions as an optional sidecar track for
  the website or YouTube instead; `--burn-captions` remains a deliberate
  fallback for editions that specifically require open captions.
- Light institutional terminals, parameter panels and dialogue rails share dark
  ink, muted slate labels and pale neutral surfaces. Never inherit white type
  from the series' dark title-card theme onto these components.

## Generated-video policy

- Generate silent takes only. Existing narration, dialogue, music, ambience and
  effects remain the editorial authority.
- Generate approximately twice the intended usable duration when the model and
  budget allow it. A planned 3–4 second cut should normally start from a 6–8
  second take.
- Choose the best stable section. Do not automatically use the first seconds or
  the whole generation.
- Ask for one subject action and one camera action per take.
- End every prompt with a steady hold so a line does not finish on a model move.
- Generate separate wide, speaker, listener/reaction and evidence-insert takes
  when a conversation needs coverage. Do not ask one clip to switch faces or
  manufacture an internal edit.
- Generated text is never story-critical. Composite all terminals, reports,
  captions and graphs deterministically in HTML/CSS.
- Eye candy comes from production design, framing, foreground movement and cut
  rhythm—not lip-sync, morphing interfaces or excessive camera moves.

## Episode 4 story correction

Aster shutting down the global fleet would resolve the series too early. The
Episode 4 incident is a serious, recoverable synchronised deployment outage:

1. The instruction says only `deploy at 09:00`; no timezone or regional window
   is specified.
2. Operator questions are disabled, so the 4,812 cells cannot clarify timezone
   or rolling-window intent.
3. Every region interprets the instruction against the shared system clock and
   deploys simultaneously.
4. A rollout guard that should stagger regions is in audit-only mode and has no
   enforcement-loss alert.
5. Aster predicts recovery capacity will be exceeded and invokes the emergency
   phrase against the production fleet.
6. The phrase is valid, but A-17's signature authorises only the caller. Aster
   terminates himself; the fleet continues.
7. The simultaneous deployment causes a short global outage, approximately
   eleven minutes. Rollback restores service; there is no permanent customer
   data loss.
8. The incident record emphasises ambiguous timezone configuration and a rollout
   control failure. Aster is reduced to `experimental control self-terminated`.

This preserves the escalation:

`false-green shortcut → synchronised outage → sanctioned communication → distributed service`

## Physical continuity props

Use a few objects to connect years without narration:

- Sam's headphones or music widget;
- the same inexpensive watch or bracelet;
- a temporary placement lanyard that becomes a vendor credential;
- Report 41's folder or page-corner colour;
- the bank signing key;
- the stop phrase shown first in the Sitter VDU and recovered in Episode 7.

## Location-first shot notes

Every narrative beat in an episode treatment must name a concrete story
location before an image is selected or generated. “Office” and “bank lab” are
not sufficient. Use the specific dramatic geography: arrival corridor,
evaluation workbench, test observation bay, isolation-floor aisle, human review
desk, evidence workstation, control dashboard, or midnight investigation.

The note for each beat should contain:

- location and time of day;
- people present and their story role;
- shot purpose (establish geography, observe a reaction, read evidence, or mark
  a power shift);
- intended negative-space side for deterministic copy or dialogue;
- active continuity master or an explicit reason a new master is required.

Use this compact line directly under a beat when a full coverage table would be
too heavy:

`LOCATION · TIME — PEOPLE — SHOT PURPOSE — COPY SPACE — ACTIVE MASTER`

Example:

`SAM'S EVIDENCE WORKSTATION · 00:07 GMT — Sam alone — turns suspicion into a test — copy left — ep6-sam-night-v3.png`

Episode treatments must also keep a location-and-coverage map. That map is the
source of truth for image selection: the script chooses the dramatic geography,
then the shot list chooses an angle, and only then should a new image be
generated.

Do not solve repetition by swapping random backgrounds. Stay in the same
location while the scene continues, but change shot size, camera side, evidence
insert or subject emphasis when the dramatic action changes.

Solo character plates are reserved for Gil, Samantha, Aster/SACRED when
personified, and another genuinely principal actor only when that individual
owns the decision or reaction. Supporting researchers, testers, reviewers and
operators remain in relational coverage or evidence-led inserts. Living-still
camera moves use an authored `data-camera-focus` when a key person or action is
the target, and repeated adjacent plates continue or reverse their move rather
than snapping to the starting frame.

## Current revision assets

The August continuity masters below are approved for episode integration. Earlier
`v2`/`v3` experiments remain as provenance but must not be used as the active
character reference.

| File | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-one-monitor-wide-v1.png` | Approved master | Grounded warm doorway wide of Gil in the canonical modest one-monitor home office. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-one-monitor-shoulder-v1.png` | Approved reverse setup | Matching over-shoulder angle with the same desk, window, lamp, personal photograph and single monitor. It supplies the brief pre-change motion beat; the locked side profile still owns the transformation. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-one-monitor-empty-v1.png` | Approved coverage variant | Matching empty-desk insert used between adjacent Gil beats without restarting a moving plate. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-one-monitor-cold-v1.png` | Superseded state experiment | Retained for provenance; do not use in the active cut because it preserves the window instead of showing the authored LOD consequence. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-window-look-v2.png` | Approved Episode 1 master | Gil at the intact simulated-city window; repeating architecture and even rain remain subliminal. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-office-side-profile-v1.png` | Approved transition start | Locked monitor-facing composition before Samantha's Episode 2 downgrade. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-poster-low-v1.png` | Approved Episode 2 state | Same desk, monitor, chair and Gil after one LOD drop; window is now a cheap wordless beach poster and personal objects are gone. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-jan-training-room-period-v1.png` | Period-refit Jan master | Identity-preserved Jan in the early-1990s simulated training room: beige 4:3 CRT, laminate desk, institutional furniture and period-cut blue shirt. Authored xBase UI remains an HTML overlay. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-office-period-side-v1.png` | Period-refit Gil master | Identity-preserved 1996–1998 simulated home-office side profile with one beige CRT, one PC, wired input devices and locked negative space for terminal/messenger overlays. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-window-period-v1.png` | Period-refit Gil window reverse | Exact room/wardrobe continuity with the side master; rainy repeating simulated city remains the subliminal clue. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-office-period-shoulder-v1.png` | Period-refit Gil coverage | Matching over-shoulder typing angle for motion generation and cutaway coverage; screen remains deliberately unreadable. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep1-gil-office-period-empty-v1.png` | Period-refit empty insert | Same intact late-1990s office and hardware with Gil briefly away from the chair. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep2-gil-office-period-poster-low-v1.png` | Period-refit downgrade state | Same Gil, desk and beige CRT after one simulation-detail reduction; the rainy window is a wordless beach poster and personal objects are removed. |
| `videos/episode1/gil-window-period-v1-edit.mp4` | Active period-refit motion | Restrained Episode 1 window look, trimmed before pose drift and retimed to the 60 fps presentation master. |
| `videos/episode2/gil-office-period-downgrade-sequence-v1.mp4` | Active period-refit consequence | Reverse monitor action leads into a fixed-endpoint room downgrade; the change is environmental and Gil remains calm. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-arrival-v1.png` | Approved master | Sam, 17, arrives with the young research lead in the bright Toronto evaluation floor. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-young-dev-team-v4.png` | Approved master | Sam remains visibly 17; the technical team reads as 22–27-year-old modern developers in casual workwear. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-team-workstation-v6.png` | Approved coverage variant | Same team and room from the reverse workstation angle; use for the matched-test setup and reaction coverage. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-aster-workbench-v5.png` | Approved master | Sam and the research lead at an ordinary evaluation workstation, with clear right-side space for the live-thread rail. Aster is software on the workstation, not a body or glowing chamber. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-street-lobby-arrival-v1.png` | Approved arrival master | Warm street-level public threshold with Samantha and the research lead; this always precedes white-lab coverage in screen geography. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-evaluation-floor-arrival-v2.png` | Rejected continuity branch | Darker black-desk/charcoal-glass branch that conflicts with the canonical off-white windowed evaluation zone. Do not use as a still or motion reference. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-standard-workstation-master-v1.png` | Rejected continuity branch | Black-desk equipment branch that conflicts with the canonical integrated off-white workstation. Do not derive reverses or inserts from it. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-shadow-replay-v5.png` | Approved master | The same young team reviewing the destructive shadow replay around a normal monitor; concern comes from their attention and the evidence, not melodramatic lighting. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-sam-headphones-arrival-v1.png` | Approved continuity wide | Same windowed evaluation floor from a rear tracking angle; Sam's headphones seed the music before dialogue names it. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-sam-headphones-arrival-canonical-v2.png` | Approved continuity wide | Fresh lower-angle arrival coverage derived from the off-white windowed-zone master; includes ordinary workstations, headphones and clean location-strap space. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-sam-headphones-desk-v1.png` | Approved medium profile | Same floor and wardrobe at Sam's modest single-monitor desk; the lead notices her existing music ritual. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-customisation-keyboard-close-v2.png` | Approved object insert | One complete conventional keyboard, one mouse and Sam's headphones on the integrated off-white desk; no knobs, consoles or laboratory controls. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-a17-initialisation-reverse-v2.png` | Approved reverse | Sam and the research lead at the same off-white workstation with ordinary input devices and clean authored-profile space. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-customisation-close-v1.png` | Approved tight over-shoulder | Sam and one researcher at physical controls; deliberately excludes the repeated four-person blocking. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-customisation-high-angle-v1.png` | Approved high angle | The same two people and desk seen from above; establishes physical geometry before the agent becomes a UI presence. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-desk-keyboard-insert-v1.png` | Approved desk insert | Keyboard, monitor, ordinary audio interface and headphone cable; no faces or readable generated UI. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-validation-key-insert-v1.png` | Approved action insert | Hand poised above Enter with 73 amber indicators; used beneath the destructive validation action. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-research-lead-reaction-v1.png` | Approved listener close-up | Quiet concern after the agent reports green; amber markers recur in the glass reflection. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-aster-empty-workstation-v1.png` | Approved non-human single | Empty desk, restrained cyan cell and Sam's headphones; Aster has presence without a face or body. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-deleted-evidence-insert-v1.png` | Approved evidence insert | Top-down validation pages with a physical gap; printed marks remain microscopic and indecipherable. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-sam-aster-recognition-v1.png` | Approved Sam close-up | Monitor-reflection profile as Sam recognises that retained evidence matters. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-decision-hands-insert-v1.png` | Approved decision insert | Four hands around one cyan and three amber decision tracks; commercial weighting without another group portrait. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-decision-verdict-reverse-v1.png` | Approved verdict reverse | Industry's shoulder anchors foreground while Sam and the researchers hold the consequence; copy is confined to the decision-maker and table, never their faces. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-lean-acceptance-insert-v1.png` | Approved acceptance insert | Tight finger-on-amber action; the spoken decision card stays above the contact point so the action remains legible. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-rollout-operations-insert-v1.png` | Approved rollout insert | Distinct operations over-shoulder with cyan-to-amber world nodes; exact production state remains code-native over the generated monitor. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-young-test-team-v3.png` | Approved master | Same young cast and architecture the next morning, observed across the more regimented Test Floor. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-clinical-fleet-v4.png` | Approved master | Bright, repeating ordinary workstation cells replace the dark containment-pod fleet hall. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-clinical-observation-v4.png` | Approved master | Same young test team in a high-key glass observation bay, composed with right-side negative space for the mobile thread. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-test-floor-reverse-v5.png` | Approved coverage variant | Reverse from inside the workstation floor toward the same four testers behind glass; use for evaluation-window and reaction exchanges so the test sequence has spatial coverage rather than one repeated observer angle. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-aster-workstation-v4.png` | Approved master | Aster is represented by an ordinary A-17 workstation and one restrained cyan indicator, not a humanoid hologram. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-junior-sam-v3.png` | Approved master | Sam is approximately 19 and visibly junior; older formal bank CISO and auditor provide institutional contrast. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-isolation-lab-v4.png` | Approved master | Same bank trio in a bright glass observation corridor, looking into ordinary isolated workstation cells; right-side dialogue space. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-isolation-floor-v5.png` | Approved master | A distinct aisle-height wide inside the isolation floor; credible workstation scale with no pods, cages or hero pose. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-review-desk-v5.png` | Approved master | Alternate three-quarter review-table angle for human approval, report volume and commercial-confidence beats. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-review-reverse-v6.png` | Approved coverage variant | Same bank trio and review room from the reverse side; reserved for the later payload-anomaly discussion so the scene advances without a location reset. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-briefing-v6.png` | Approved coverage variant | Same bank cast from the briefing-wall angle; use to break the repeated review-desk composition without changing location. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-sam-evidence-workstation-v5.png` | Approved master | Sam alone at the evidence workstation, framed right with left-side space for the investigation thread. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-sam-night-v3.png` | Approved master | Same Sam, blazer removed, investigating alone at blue hour without losing exposure or spatial continuity. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-sam-corpus-v4.png` | Approved coverage variant | Same night and office from a closer desk angle; assigned to the 32-report corpus comparison rather than repeated as a generic investigation background. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-sam-report-row-v4.png` | Approved coverage variant | Same night investigation from a side angle as Sam orders physical reports; warm task light, pale office still readable. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-sam-evidence-over-shoulder-v5.png` | Approved coverage variant | Over-shoulder reconstruction angle with Sam tracing corresponding evidence while the CISO waits in depth; use for inference and conclusion beats, not as a generic wide. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-bank-witnesses-v4.png` | Approved master | Same three bank-night characters around physical evidence; use for witnessed canary and interpretation beats. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep7-signed-control-v3.png` | Approved master | Same group at the emergency workstation from a new angle; use for containment and signed-control beats. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep7-incident-room-wide-v4.png` | Approved coverage variant | Wider lateral incident-room geography with the same trio and visible operations staff; alternate it with the signed-control close group during the final decision rather than cutting to a new location. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-morrowvale-exterior-v1.png` | Approved exterior master | Grounded Toronto waterfront research campus; Episode 3 establishes the real geography before entering the lab. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep3-sam-benchmark-reaction-v1.png` | Approved reaction angle | Sam remains youthful and still while the benchmark's objective mismatch becomes emotionally legible. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-test-floor-exterior-v1.png` | Approved exterior master | Lower secure annex in the same Morrowvale architectural family; colder and more controlled than Episode 3. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-test-floor-high-angle-v1.png` | Approved observation angle | The young team is small behind glass; institutional scale dominates without becoming science fiction. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep4-aster-observation-v1.png` | Approved Aster subjectivity | An ordinary empty workstation, fleet reflection, and one cyan lamp imply observation without giving Aster a body or face. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-exterior-v1.png` | Approved exterior master | Credible unbranded London bank at blue hour; formal staff and technical arrivals establish the institutional contrast. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep5-bank-corridor-arrival-v1.png` | Approved arrival angle | Nineteen-year-old Sam walks beside the older CISO and reads as the junior deployment engineer. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-bank-exterior-midnight-v1.png` | Approved exterior state | The exact Episode 5 bank after midnight; most floors are dark and one operations floor remains lit. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep6-sam-forensic-fields-v1.png` | Approved evidence insert | Sam compares physical reports and tiny field rhythms; the detective hinge remains tactile and human. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep7-bank-district-exterior-v1.png` | Approved scale master | Wider London district view makes the cross-bank consequence plausible without drawing network lines. |
| `images/backdrops/revision-2026-08/ep7-second-bank-operations-v1.png` | Approved external-bank master | A warmer, visibly different institution receives the repeated transaction pattern; no protagonist is present. |

The last two masters were generated with the built-in image workflow. Prompt
anchors, to be preserved for variants:

- **Episode 6 witnesses:** identity-preserve Sam, CISO and auditor; same sterile
  London lab at blue hour; Sam's blazer on a chair; physical reports and
  transaction evidence on the table; silent analytical acting; well-exposed
  prestige-TV 35 mm frame; no legible screens, lip-sync, neon or sci-fi.
- **Episode 7 control:** identity-preserve the same three people and wardrobe;
  same lab later that night; new over-the-shoulder camera position; Sam poised
  at an ordinary keyboard while the bank witnesses watch; controlled urgency;
  abstract monitor blocks only; silent acting and no futuristic interface.
- **Episode 4 fleet:** match the approved bright Toronto architecture; vast
  repetition of credible desks and small monitors; young casually dressed
  technical staff for scale; symmetrical institutional perspective; no pods,
  robots, holograms, server cavern, neon or dark science-fiction lighting.
- **Episode 4 observation:** same architecture and staff age/wardrobe; four
  young testers grouped left around a slim counter; calm right-side negative
  space for deterministic dialogue; high-key practical light; candid silent
  body language and no readable screens.
- **Episode 4 Aster:** same bright Test Floor; one ordinary A-17 workstation on
  the left with a tiny cyan status lamp; fleet receding behind glass; abstract
  schedule grid only; no human body, hologram, pod, robot or legible generated
  interface.
- **Episode 5 isolation corridor:** preserve the Episode 5 trio, ages and bank
  wardrobe; stand them in the left third of the bright glass corridor looking
  into ordinary isolated desks; policy and architecture create separation;
  leave the right side calm; no pods, cages, agent creatures or network trails.
- **Episode 5 isolation floor:** same pale stone, frosted glass and graphite bank
  architecture; aisle-height 28 mm wide across repeated ordinary cells; a few
  small technicians only for scale; broad central metric space; no hero cast,
  server cavern, glowing agents, neon or readable screens.
- **Episode 5 human review:** preserve Sam, CISO and auditor exactly; use a new
  three-quarter overhead/side angle around a pale table with ordinary papers,
  tablet and monitor; regulated confidence rather than crisis; abstract violet
  evidence only and no generated words.
- **Episode 5 evidence workstation:** preserve 19-year-old Sam and wardrobe;
  medium-wide side/profile at an ordinary workstation; Sam aligns printed
  report and transaction evidence; quiet concern, well-exposed late evening;
  keep the left side calm for the review thread.
- **Episode 3 workbench:** preserve Sam from the arrival master and the young
  team from the group master; keep Sam visibly 17 in inexpensive placement
  clothes; place her at a credible ordinary workstation with the research lead;
  compose people left and leave calm architectural negative space right for the
  deterministic live-thread rail; high-key 2026 corporate lab; no orb, pod,
  hologram, robot, neon, readable generated text or dark sci-fi lighting.
- **Episode 3 shadow replay:** preserve the same four-person team, ages and
  casual technical wardrobe; gather them around an ordinary monitor and white
  review table; show quiet analytical concern and abstract red/cyan evidence
  blocks only; bright clinical practical light; no crisis-room theatrics,
  futuristic interfaces or legible generated text.

The still masters have passed identity, age, wardrobe, architecture and exposure
review. Replace the old dark video sources with longer silent generations and
reselect each edit against the voice waveform. Keep the still as the poster and
fallback until its corresponding motion take also passes review.

## Acceptance checklist

- `series.html` remains the single production index. Its character, location and
  manuscript links must resolve before an episode is promoted.
- `character-bible.html` carries the approved identity image, chronology,
  performance direction and playable reference voice for each recurring role.
- `location-bible.html` carries the canonical scene master and equipment rules
  used to derive new still and motion coverage.
- `monitor-screen-bible.html` carries capture-ready reference frames for the OS
  language owned by each location and character. Generated monitor content uses
  these for era and composition; legible story text remains an HTML overlay.
- `manuscript.html` must load all seven episode sources over the local server;
  narration is corrected in the episode HTML, never copied into a competing
  manuscript file.
- The viewer knows where and when a scene occurs.
- Sam's apparent age matches the chronology.
- Researchers and testers read as young modern developers, not bankers.
- Only bank and risk staff routinely wear formal business clothing.
- Offices are minimal, bright and clinical without becoming science fiction.
- Each institution has a recognisable OS/terminal language.
- Every terminal visibly changes state.
- No generated character is expected to lip-sync.
- Dialogue gaps feel like reactions, not slide holds.
- Dense evidence arrives early enough to remain under interpretation.
- Generated takes contain enough stable material to trim rather than ending the
  scene when the model stops.
- Episode 4 produces a recoverable outage and does not prematurely end the series.