# carney-alberta-aj-reel: delivery report (2026-10-29)

Brand: Al Jazeera English (reel identity, used without permission in an unofficial test); source footage by the Prime Minister of Canada (PMO)
Status: technical green, creative candidate (the owner picked the music after the second preview; the cut itself awaits the owner's verdict)
File: ice/renders/final/carney-alberta-aj-reel_master_1080x1920.mp4  sha256 494374df8dbb9ec14bfc17a8fabefe7e598398ebb46f4badc98ea1fb402b3670  1080x1920  30 fps  95.63 s  h264 / aac 48 kHz  151,865,494 bytes
Upload copy: ice/renders/final/carney-alberta-aj-reel_social_under30MB.mp4  sha256 339648bcc1c9de96afde9fc2d1408442b92ccc3177e90d06f7d810f6ca1f3c2b  1080x1920  30 fps  95.63 s  28,703,029 bytes (under the 30 MB limit of the talking-head-ad edit type)
Other deliverables (ice/deliver/): carney-alberta-aj-reel.en.srt (38 captions, same timings as rendered), transcript.txt, transcript.retimed.json (212 words on the edited clock), edl.json (audio EDL and the 22-shot list with sources), edl.txt (CMX-style, 30 fps timecode). Plan and reasons: ice/plan/REASONS.md, ice/plan/storyboard.md, ice/DIRECTION.md (D-01 to D-26), ice/assets/CREDITS.md, ice/assets/TRUTH.md.

## The idea
Carney's Thanksgiving message on the Alberta referendum, cut in Al Jazeera English's reel grammar: a hook of red-disc silhouettes of the sides he names (the Legislature, the remain campaign, the separatists) while he stays lit, then his argument with AJ's map, bullets, datelines and big words, and the sourced result: 74.9% voted to remain (unofficial).
Strongest frame: 11.5 s, the Forever Canadian hall as a silhouette on the red disc under "REMAIN".
Next version: open on "You can't build big things on fault lines" as a cold open, then the hook.

## Beats
| # | Time | What it buys | Real or illustrative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 to 3.55 | Speaker lit, THANKSGIVING | real (PMO) |
| 2 | 3.55 to 19.1 | Hook: the sides of the decision as silhouettes, titles on his words | real (The Canadian Press, CPAC), graded |
| 3 | 19.1 to 24.35 | Name tag, dateline, section card ALBERTA REFERENDUM / 19 OCT 2026 | real |
| 4 | 24.35 to 38.3 | Map of Alberta, the classroom, his Alberta building event | map from Natural Earth data; real footage (PMO) |
| 5 | 38.3 to 73.55 | His list, FAULT LINES, the threats list | real speech; graphics by code |
| 6 | 73.55 to 87.65 | Unity crowd (Edmonton), YOURS / OURS / WORTH FIGHTING FOR, sign-off | real (CPAC feed, PMO) |
| 7 | 87.65 to 95.65 | Result card 74.9% (Elections Alberta, unofficial), AJ end card | figure from results.elections.ab.ca/8400; real AFP footage behind it |

## Gates (copied from script output, ice/review/qa_final.txt, measured on the files above)
| Gate | Result | Numbers | Tool and file |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold-viewer clarity | PASS x3 | Read 1 (style frames v1): "Carney urges unity a week before Alberta's 19 Oct 2026 referendum". Read 2 (storyboard v3): PASS, flagged unreadable silhouettes at 9, 15, 18 s, fixed with partial colour. Read 3 (finished-film sheet): PASS, "Carney argues Alberta is better off staying in Canada" | general-purpose sub-agents, sonnet, image only |
| Spec | PASS | 1080x1920, h264, 30 fps, 95.63 s, both files | probe-mp4.mjs |
| Loudness | PASS | -16.2 LUFS integrated, LRA 7.1 LU, true peak -1.4 dBFS (master and upload copy); target -16 / -1.5 dBTP | loudness.mjs |
| G0 render exists | PASS | 95.63 s vs 95.65 expected, audio present, audible 100% | look.py |
| G2 no empty frame | PASS | no run over 3 flat frames | look.py |
| G3 end hold, CTA share | PASS | end hold 0.00 s (end card keeps moving and fades out), CTA 3.48 s = 4% | look.py |
| G1 proof readable / G4 one hero | by eye | captions 46 px Montserrat Medium, titles 112 to 230 px; one hero per frame on ice/review/final_frames.jpg and ice/review/look/sheet.jpg | by eye |
| Film gate | PASS | fast in-shot motion 12.0%, blank run 0 s, blue-purple 0%, longest still 0.08 s, event density 4.18 per 10 s | film_gate.py |
| Motion and freezes | PASS | freezes 0, black 1 (the final fade), white 2 (the intended exposure flashes) | motion_check.py |
| Captions and sync | by construction, not re-measured | captions and SRT are built from the same word transcript (faster-whisper large-v3-turbo) mapped onto the edited clock; no re-transcription of the export was run (the ASR model was removed to free disk space) | timeline.py, export_files.py |
| Per-cut check | done by eye | strips of every cut (ice/review/look/strips.jpg); one fault found and fixed: a CPAC "LIVE EVENT" slate at 78 to 79.5 s from the source feed | look.py strips |

Yellow lights and why they are accepted:
- Mean frame-to-frame change 2.4/255 (human band 4.4 to 9.8): the reference itself measures 3.5/255 with the same tool; a seated speaker with slow pushes is calmer than a presenter who gestures.
- 33 to 63 s has little fast action: this is Carney's argument on camera, carried by the bullets, FAULT LINES and pushes; the reference has the same calm stretch with its presenter.
- 45% of the duration has a fixed frame element: the AJ logo and progress bar, which are the identity.
- Cut sync 19% of cuts within 80 ms of a sound onset: effects are aligned on their peak, and the whoosh-into-impact files start 100 to 260 ms before the cut by design (as in the reference stem).

## Sound
Music: "Tension News" by Sonican (Pixabay), chosen by the owner, 12.5 dB under the voice with a slow 3 dB dip under speech. Effects: 16 recorded Mixkit files, one per on-screen event (list with causes in ice/build/audio.py, SFX). No synthesised music or effects. Measured, not heard by a person.

## Auto-mode decisions (the owner can overturn any in one reply)
Stage 01 questions were waived by the user. Decisions D-01 to D-26 in ice/DIRECTION.md; the main ones: drop the opening Thanksgiving greetings (0 to 27.5 s of raw), Carney's captions in AJ quote pink, outcome card added with the unofficial result, Montserrat as the closest match to the reel type, agency footage for the separatist side.

## Permissions needed before publication
| Item | From |
|---|---|
| Al Jazeera name, logo and reel identity | Al Jazeera |
| The Canadian Press footage (separatist rally, 30 Aug 2026) | The Canadian Press |
| AFP footage (results night, 19 Oct 2026) | AFP |
| CPAC footage (Calgary hall 15 Oct, Edmonton crowd 16 Oct 2026) | CPAC |
| PMO footage | CC BY: keep the on-screen credit "Prime Minister of Canada" |
| Music | Pixabay Content License; the track is registered with YouTube Content ID, so an upload may get a claim that the licence clears |
| Effects | Mixkit Sound Effects Free License, no attribution needed |

## What I would fix next
1. Re-transcribe the export and diff it against the captions (sync measured, not assumed).
2. A crowd or voter shot for "Albertans" instead of the Legislature, if a licensable one exists.
3. The 33 to 63 s stretch: one more justified insert, for example official pipeline route material if Carney's "new pipeline to the West Coast" has a published route.
4. Captions still sit 2 to 4 px larger than the reference's; match exactly if the owner prefers fidelity over legibility.

Self-critique: strongest is the hook, which now follows the reference's logic (silhouettes are the sides, the speaker is lit). Weakest is the middle, which leans on one locked camera. More time would go to a second justified insert there and a human listen of the mix.