# Full Timing and Camera Map ## Lesson Outcome For a multi-shot video, you need two connected documents: 1. a **Full Timed Script** — what happens on screen and when; 2. a **Camera Timing Map** — how the camera presents those same events. The first holds the story and timing. The second holds the way you show it. For one simple continuous shot, a camera note in the timing row or a separate column is enough. Use a separate map when the video has multiple shots, changing viewpoints, dialogue, or complex movement. Prompts and production segments come later; they must not rewrite events you have already approved. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-two-documents","role":"key-point","title":"Story first, then the way you show it","body":"The Full Timed Script fixes what the viewer sees and when. The Camera Timing Map fixes why the camera shows it that way. Both documents use the same time ranges."} ``` “Where an AI Video Begins” may help you define the idea and viewer result. It is a gentle recommendation: this lesson has its own example. ## A Script Is Not a Prompt A script answers: ```text What exactly happens, in what order, and when does the viewer understand it? ``` A **prompt** is a text instruction for the AI tool you choose. It answers another question: ```text What should the selected model create for this specific shot or movement? ``` When the story is weak, the prompt has to rescue it. It usually does not. It simply sinks with better lighting. Weak: ```text Spaceship, astronauts, robot, water, wave, title. ``` Better: ```text A crew lands on a water planet. Their robot is certain it has found a bargain resort. The crew gradually realizes that “ocean view” means an enormous wave is already moving toward them. ``` The second version has an expectation, a mistake, escalation, and a turn. Now you can place the story on a timeline. --- ## Full Timed Script A Full Timed Script covers the entire approved duration without unexplained gaps. Each row shows one readable moment on screen. ```template Time Shot / screen Dialogue / voice-over / on-screen text / scene sound ``` Start a new row whenever at least one meaningful event changes: the visible character or object, location, action or action phase, dialogue, on-screen text, a turn in meaning, an important scene sound, or a separate camera change that changes how the moment reads. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-timing-row","role":"technique","title":"One row, one readable moment","body":"Time follows the event, not an even grid. A reaction may take less than a second, while a continuous action may need several seconds."} ``` Do not invent sound merely to fill a field. If there is no dialogue, text, or important sound, write “none.” Music can live in a separate layer and does not have to appear in every row. ### Full Timing Example | Time | Shot / screen | Dialogue / voice / text / scene sound | |---|---|---| | 0:00–0:02 | A spaceship emerges from dense clouds; water with no visible shore opens below it. | No dialogue; low hull rumble if sound is used. | | 0:02–0:05 | The ship touches the water; broad rings spread from the hull. | No dialogue. | | 0:05–0:08 | The crew steps into the water; a utility robot appears last. | Commander: “How long do we have on the surface?” | | 0:08–0:11 | The robot looks calmly at the crew. | Robot: “Seven minutes. Just like the reviews said.” | | 0:11–0:14 | Behind the robot, a dark line on the horizon becomes a wave. The crew notices it. | Robot: “The photos were taken at low tide.” | ## Every Row Must Be Filmable “The tension rises” does not tell you what will appear in the frame. Replace the abstraction with a visible cause and result. Weak: ```text It becomes more dangerous. ``` Stronger: ```text The dark line on the horizon rises higher; the crew stops moving and turns toward the water. ``` A useful row has a specific subject or object, visible action or force, a changed state at the end, and dialogue or text only where it actually exists. ## Camera Timing Map The camera map uses the same timing rows. It does not invent a new story, furniture, props, or actions. **Shot size** tells you how close the viewer is to the character or object. **Angle** tells you the camera’s position and height relative to it. ```template Time Shot size and angle Camera position / movement Main point of attention Why the viewer needs this choice Connection to neighboring shots ``` ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-camera-boundary","role":"caution","title":"The camera does not invent facts","body":"If the camera map needs a new prop, action, or geography change, add and approve it in the script first. The map explains how to show the story that already exists."} ``` ### Camera Map Example | Time | Shot size and angle | Camera and attention | Purpose | Connection | |---|---|---|---|---| | 0:00–0:02 | Wide shot, high angle | Moves smoothly behind the ship; attention stays on the scale of the water | Establish a world with no land | The next shot is visibly closer and lower | | 0:02–0:05 | Wide shot, low side angle | Holds the water contact | Show the ship’s weight and rings on the surface | Both size and angle change | | 0:05–0:08 | Medium shot: people are visible from about the knees up or full length | Makes a small side move along the crew | Introduce the people and reveal the robot | The next shot separates the robot from the group | | 0:08–0:11 | Close-up of the robot from the opposite side of the conversation | Camera stays still | Let the calm line land | The subject change makes the close-up readable | | 0:11–0:14 | Wide over-the-shoulder shot behind the robot | Holds the crew and the growing wave | Show the reaction and its cause together | The scale opens while the scene axis stays consistent | --- ## How to Check Neighboring Shots An edit should give the viewer enough new visual information. Check shot size, angle, and screen continuity. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-neighboring-shots","role":"observation","title":"A new shot must read as new","body":"Neighboring shots need an intentional difference in scale, point of attention, angle, or meaning. One shot-size number proves nothing by itself."} ``` If the subject stays the same, move the camera to a noticeably different position. About 30 degrees is a useful warning line against an accidental jump, but it is not a mechanical law and cannot replace watching the edit. Imagine a line between speakers or along the main movement: this is the scene axis. Do not move the camera across it without a clear reason, or left and right may switch. Also track eyelines, prop positions, and changes that have already happened. Choose shot size for its job: - wide or establishing: show space and scale; - medium: show action and relationships; - close-up: show a reaction or important detail; - insert: direct attention to one object or change. ### When the Same Shot Size Works It can work in a two-person conversation, when one close-up cuts to the other from the opposite side of the line; when the main subject or eyeline changes; as an intentional rhythmic or comic device; or as a deliberate jump. The useful question is not “Did I obey two numbers?” It is “Does this read as an intentional new image?” ## Timing Is Not the Number of Generations Five script rows do not mean five separate generations. Later, you may combine neighboring beats if they keep one scene, one main action, one camera logic, and one meaningful moment. Emerging from clouds and touching the water may become one continuous clip. The robot’s dialogue and wave reveal may need separate shots because the reaction and scale change. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-timing-not-generations","role":"practice","title":"Fix the truth of the scene first","body":"The timing records story and camera. Decide later how to group production segments from the preserved scene, action, camera logic, and meaning."} ``` Do not slice the loaf into atoms before you know which piece you want to eat. ## If Your Source Is an Existing Video First record only what you can actually see or hear: ```text Where the fragment appears in the source: What is visible or audible: What changes: What remains afterward: ``` Do not assign a motive that the image or dialogue does not support. If you change the order, meaning, wording, or duration, you are writing an adapted script rather than reconstructing the source exactly. Label it honestly. ## Readiness Check The Full Timed Script is ready when it covers the full real duration, every row describes a visible event and changed end state, dialogue and on-screen text sit in their intervals, missing sound has not been invented, and abstractions have become filmable actions. For a multi-shot video, the Camera Timing Map is ready when it uses the same intervals, every shot has a size, angle, point of attention, and purpose, neighboring shots differ intentionally, and the axis, eyelines, and movement direction do not break without a reason. ```learner-callout {"stable_id":"aiv-c040-readiness","role":"checkpoint","title":"Check the two documents together","body":"If the story does not fit the duration, repair the script. If the edit feels jumpy, check neighboring shot sizes, angle, and axis. If the camera needs a new fact, add it to the script first."} ``` ## Takeaway ```text FULL TIMED SCRIPT = what happens. CAMERA TIMING MAP = how the viewer sees it. ``` Later lessons can turn this pair into a shot plan, prepared images, and controlled video clips. Even now, both documents can be handed to another person or agent without hidden context.