# D-15 critic: the opening
2026-10-20. Read-only. Measured on the six studies (temp/d15-critic/).

## Verdicts
| Opening | Verdict | Score |
|---|---|---|
| A giant word | REJECT | 5 |
| B street-level depth | REJECT | 4 |
| C from above, then down | REVISE | 6 |

- A: strongest stop (white text 52 to 56 percent of frame 0), but the device is the crop: frame 0 reads "ON" and "لاكس", a hard Arabic failure. It opens on the peak and thins to a center band by 3 s, inverting the crescendo into the 5.0 s horn.
- B: no whole word at frame 0 ("BRRR", "نيور"), top 40 percent empty (8 to 10 of 16 cells); BANG and تكسير cut by the bottom edge through 2 s.
- C: the only frame 0 a muted viewer reads at once (four words at 8.3 percent of frame height, 16 of 16 cells); the far-to-near fall escalates. Weak: no word leads, gentle motion (frame 0 to 0.1 s change 4 to 5 against A's 25 to 27), cut words, and it spends the hero's top-down view.

All three at 3.1 s: the ت dots of موتور sit inside كلاكس and read as its dots ("كيلاكس"), leaving موتور dotless.

Message from C alone: a street you cannot control, coming at you.

## Choice
C, mixed with A's one element: the horn as the single dominant whole word at frame 0.

## First-3-seconds gate (C as studied)
1. Concrete situation: PASS.
2. Motion at frame 0: PASS (weak).
3. First frame readable and full: FAIL. VRRRM and موتور cut to "RRM" and "مو" ("not" in Gulf and Levantine speech); no word leads.
4. Muted test: FAIL on stop power; comprehension passes.
5. Promise keepable: PASS (the same four words lock at 12 s).

## Fixes, by impact
1. Ambition: at frame 0 the horn (HONK, كلاكس) fires in the nearest lane at about twice the others, whole, the only bright word, held at least 0.6 s; smaller than the 5.0 s horn so the peak stays there.
2. Arabic: every read word whole inside the frame (موتور at 0 s; تكسير and BANG cut at the left edge from about 2.2 s); overlap only unread words, dot zones clear.
3. Protect the hero: open on a close oblique patch (two lanes, about 60 degrees), never the full plan view, so the ordered grid is first seen whole at 31 s.
4. Escalate to 5.0: at 3.1 s the top 35 percent is empty sky; raise billboards into it.
5. 9:16: a width fit shrinks the words to about 2.6 percent of 1920; re-lay out to keep frame-0 words at least 5 percent tall inside y 360 to 1420.