# Previz to Seedance — workflow skill for cinematic & short films

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Plan multi-shot AI video before paying: story, anchor sheets, a three.js grey-box previz, then a Seedance v2v pack.

- **Type:** [Workflow](https://skills.varg.ai/workflows.md) · [Cinematic & short films](https://skills.varg.ai/browse/skills/cinematic.md)
- **Slug:** `varg-previz`
- **Status:** beta
- **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/varg-previz
- **Works in:** Claude Code
- **Requires:** python3 and a browser (previz app), bun + playwright-core + Chrome or Chromium (clip capture), ffmpeg (pack build), varg MCP connection or VARG_API_KEY (generation)
- **Cost:** ~65–180 credits / run (480p, as billed) — Story, storyboard, scene grouping and the previz are free. Seedance 2.5 v2v runs of 4–11 s at 480p billed about 16 credits per second while estimate_cost quoted 315–361, so the skill quotes the estimate as a ceiling and reports the billed cost after.

## What it does

Pre-visualises any multi-shot video (music videos, ads, UGC spots, trailers, explainers) so camera, geography, scale and timing are fixed for free before the paid step. The pipeline runs story structure → `storyboard.json` → character, product and location anchors → master scenes of 4–11 s → a three.js grey-box previz with auto cameras from plain storyboard words → a Seedance 2.5 video-to-video pack where each run gets its previz clip as `@video1` plus refs for only what is in frame. `build_pack.py --check` blocks costly mistakes (runs without image refs, refs under 300 px, runs over 15 s, shots in no run) before anything is spent. Built on a 36-shot music video and tested on a 6-shot product ad; in review as [vargHQ/skills PR #24](https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/pull/24) and goes live when it merges.

## Use when

- A previz, 3D animatic, camera blocking or camera approval pass
- Shot lists, scene grouping, or story structure for a clip or ad
- Character, product or vehicle sheets
- A Seedance 2.5 video-to-video pack

## Not for

- 1–3 shot pieces with a simple camera: skip the previz and go straight to anchors and image-to-video

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-previz -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-previz -a cursor -y`
- Gemini CLI: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-previz -a gemini-cli -y`
- OpenClaw: `npx clawhub@latest install varg-previz`

**Models it drives:** seedance_2_5, gpt_image_2_5, sync_v2_pro

## Example output

https://skills.varg.ai/previews/varg-previz.mp4 — The skill's own free step, run for real: its three.js grey-box previz app (vargHQ/skills feature/varg-previz, commit 30620f7) playing the bundled 6-shot sample storyboard 'Morning Drop' (9:16, 12 s, 3 locations). Auto cameras come from the storyboard words (CU push-in, OTS, WS truck right, MS pull out); the set map shows each shot's camera frustums. Captured in headless Chrome at 1440x900, 24 fps, by seeking the timeline frame by frame. No generation credits. (credit: varg (varg-previz app, rendered locally), https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/pull/24)

## Used for

- [AI short film or series](https://skills.varg.ai/use-cases/short-film.md): A multi-shot story with consistent characters: script, storyboard, previz, shots, edit.

## More cinematic & short films skills

- [Higgsfield Generate](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/higgsfield-generate.md): Generate images, video, 3D and audio across 30+ models, plus ad videos and virality scoring, from one CLI.
- [fal Recipes](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/fal-recipes.md): Follow proven multi-step fal pipelines for commercials, product shots, characters, lip-sync and try-on.
- [fal Fan Cam](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/fal-fan-cam.md): Put someone into a live sports broadcast: a realistic fan-cam cutaway with scoreboard and channel overlays.
- [Gemini Omni Flash](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/gemini-omni-flash-api.md): Generate and edit video with Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash: text-to-video, first/last frames, extensions, edits.
- [Melies](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/melies.md): Generate images, video, movie posters and thumbnails from the terminal with 148 AI actors and style flags.
- [AI Video Generation](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/inference-sh-ai-video-generation.md): Generate video with 40+ models from one CLI: Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.0, HappyHorse, Wan, Grok and more.