# DIRECTION: carney-alberta-aj-reel

Mode: auto. Tier: standard. The user waived the stage 01 questions ("ما تسألنيش أسئلة البداية وقرر أنت"), so every open slot took the recommended option; the alternatives are listed per entry.

| ID | Decision | Reason and source | Alternatives not taken |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-01 | Route ice-edit, edit type talking-head-ad, with the ice-remake analysis of reference.mp4 | footage plus a style reference (router section 2) | ice-remake alone; shorts-reels type; broll-overlay type |
| D-02 | Output 1080x1920, 30 fps, H.264, -14 LUFS | reference is 1080x1920 30 fps; reels platforms | 1080x1350 feed cut; 16:9 master plus vertical; 60 fps |
| D-03 | Size standard, one master, no cutdowns | user asked for one edit | add a 30 s cutdown; add a square version; add Arabic captions version |
| D-04 | Length about 93 s | raw 115 s minus the Thanksgiving opening; reference 193 s is presenter-led and has more material | keep all 115 s; 60 s cut; 45 s cut |
| D-05 | Drop the raw opening 0 to 27.5 s (Thanksgiving greetings); open on "This year, Thanksgiving is a bit different" | AJ hooks open on the news; the referendum is the news; every kept stretch stays in its order | keep the full opening; keep only "give thanks for Canada" 13.7 to 26.9 s; open on "You can't build big things on fault lines" |
| D-06 | Carney's speech captions in AJ's quote pink, AJ's own text in white | reference: quoted speakers (Araghchi, Nabavian) get pink captions, the AJ presenter white | all white; all pink including titles; yellow |
| D-07 | Carney footage shown full bleed (vertical crop following his face), never inside the AJ studio panel | reference shows outside speakers full bleed; putting him in AJ's set would misrepresent where he spoke | AJ studio panel with map wall; split screen; letterbox 16:9 |
| D-08 | Hook: red-circle silhouettes with big pop titles and smoke, as in reference 0 to 14 s, built from cut-outs of Carney in the raw, at the Calgary rally and at the Alberta event | reference grammar; real official images only | plain footage with titles; map-led hook; text-only hook |
| D-09 | Section card in the reference's grunge black and white style: "ALBERTA REFERENDUM / 19 OCT 2026" | reference "WAR ON IRAN / DAY 106" | "7 DAYS TO VOTE"; no card; "CANADA AT A CROSSROADS" |
| D-10 | Map card in the reference's teal relief map look, Alberta in AJ red, pin on Edmonton | reference wall map; real geography from Natural Earth (public domain) | no map; flat vector map; satellite photo |
| D-11 | Bullet lists with red dots on a blurred Carney for "homes, rail, pipeline" and "economy, security, way of life" | reference 57 to 63 s bullets on blurred presenter | text cards; B-roll with labels; no bullets |
| D-12 | B-roll only from official PMO uploads (CC BY): Calgary Forever Canadian Rally 15 Oct 2026, Alberta infrastructure event 29 Jul 2026 | user asked for real official footage; licence allows reuse with credit | CPAC (permission needed); news agencies (licence needed); no B-roll |
| D-13 | Outcome card at the end: "74.9% VOTED TO REMAIN" with "UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: ELECTIONS ALBERTA" | the vote has happened (today 28 Oct 2026); official source read in the browser | no outcome; outcome as caption only; wait for the 29 Oct official result |
| D-14 | AJ end card: red to purple gradient, AJ lockup, aljazeera.com, Follow, Like, Share, Comment | reference end card | AJ logo sting; no end card |
| D-15 | AJ logo lockup built from the official site SVG paths (calligraphy plus wordmark), white, top left as in the reference | official file from aljazeera.com; lockup arrangement read from the reference | text logo; reference frame crop |
| D-16 | Type: Montserrat (OFL) ExtraBold for titles, name tags and bullets, Medium for captions | matched by eye to the reference frames; aljazeera.com itself uses Roboto, the reels template does not | Roboto; Inter; Open Sans |
| D-17 | Music: a code-made tension bed at the reference tempo (130 BPM pulse, low drone, hits on title pops), no third-party track | reference tempo measured 130.2 BPM; auto mode never downloads music from a third-party site | royalty-free library track (needs your yes); no music; reference track (not licensed) |
| D-18 | Results figure written as 74.9% | 1,552,251 / 2,071,486 = 74.93% | 75%; "three in four" |

## Approach (stage 02)
Keep Carney's own words and let Al Jazeera's reel grammar carry the news: a 19 s cold open on his "a week from today" lines built as the reference's red-disc silhouettes with pop titles, then the name tag and a grunge section card, then the body with the reference's map wall, bullets on a blurred speaker, official B-roll with datelines and quote-pink captions, a silhouette callback on "worth fighting for", the sourced outcome card and the AJ end card. Rhythm follows the reference: a shot or a new graphic every 2 to 4 s, gradual blur transitions around graphics, hard cuts only on his own camera changes. Viewer takeaway: a week before Alberta's vote on starting a separation process, Carney asked Albertans to stay, and 74.9% voted to remain (unofficial).

## Look (stage 05)
- Grade: Carney's footage untouched (no grade on a person by default); only a bottom shade under the caption band. Grunge cards are black and white by design (reference).
- Caption style: Montserrat Medium 46 px, sentence case, centred, two balanced lines max, quote pink #F28B9B with a soft black stroke shadow, band 1506 to 1626 px (reference 81% height). Raised from the reference's 42 px after the cold-viewer read flagged legibility.
- Layout: one 9:16 master; safe zones: nothing in the right button column below 1100 px except the centred captions, nothing under 1760 px.
- Cold-viewer read on the style frames: PASS (who: Canada's PM; what: appeal before Alberta's referendum; takeaway: stay together, 74.9% voted to remain). Notes acted on: larger captions, stronger shadow, smaller THANKSGIVING title, balanced caption breaks. Kept as in the reference: the name tag arrives after the hook (reference 14 s, ours 19.4 s).

## Owner notes, 29 Oct 2026 (relayed by the starting session), and the entries they supersede
| ID | Decision | Reason and source | Supersedes |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-19 | No synthesised music or effects anywhere; the code bed and code effects are removed from the mix | Owner: "the sound is very bad: harsh noise, pulses, banging" | D-17 |
| D-20 | Music: three library tracks offered for the owner to pick, each on the opening with Carney's voice: "Tension News" (Sonican), "Breaking News Investigation Background" (Sound4Stock), "Crime Documentary" (AlexGrohl), all Pixabay; ranked by distance to the reference's separated music stem (bass, mids, highs, centroid, onset rate, dynamics, tempo) | Owner rule 2; measured ranking in ice/scratch/rank.py | D-17 |
| D-21 | Effects: recorded Mixkit files, one per on-screen event, 16 in 95 s, peaks -12 to -24 dBFS before the master, music 12.5 dB under the voice | Owner rule 3 and 4; reference stem measured: about 12 effects a minute, voice -21.2 LUFS vs bed about -34 | D-17 |
| D-22 | Carney is always lit; silhouettes on the red disc only for the people and places he talks about (Legislature, Alberta flag, Forever Canadian hall, separatist leader and crowd) | Owner: the silhouette is the person being talked about, never the speaker; the reference hook confirms it | D-08 |
| D-23 | Every element tied to the sentence that justifies it; the Calgary podium B-roll is removed (no sentence points to it) | Owner rule; ice/plan/REASONS.md section B | D-12 (in part) |
| D-24 | Finishing measured per shot in the reference and applied by class: grain, vignette, grade, black lift, blur dissolves, exposure flashes, zoom returns, motion smear on exits, title glow | Owner note 3; ice/plan/REASONS.md section C | none |
| D-25 | Agency and broadcaster footage (The Canadian Press, AFP, CPAC) used for the people Carney talks about, each marked "needs a licence" | No official footage of the separatist side exists; the reference itself uses agency footage; rights are the user's | D-12 (in part) |
| D-26 | Music: "Tension News" by Sonican (Pixabay), chosen by the owner from the three options | Owner's answer "تراك 1", 29 Oct 2026 | D-20 |