# Shot sequence and Video Director

> Parameters of the Video Director tools that make a narrated motion-graphics video in one call, and of the shot sequence tools that time reveals to a voiceover.

Source: https://nodaro.ai/docs/mcp/tools/shot-sequence-and-video-director

The **Video Director and shot sequence tools** make narrated motion-graphics videos: kinetic typography, shapes and images that appear the moment the voiceover says their phrase. The Video Director tools do it in one call; the shot sequence tools expose each step. This page lists the parameters. [Video Director](https://nodaro.ai/docs/mcp/video-director) and [Shot sequence](https://nodaro.ai/docs/mcp/shot-sequence) explain how to use them.

| Tool | Permission | Credits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `start_video_director` | none | Free |
| `create_explainer` | `workflows:execute` | The authoring run, the voiceover, the alignment and the render. Nodaro Cloud only. |
| `create_launch_video` | `workflows:execute` | As `create_explainer`. Nodaro Cloud only. |
| `list_shot_shapes` | none | Free |
| `get_shot_shape` | none | Free |
| `list_brand_presets` | none | Free |
| `forced_alignment` | `workflows:execute` | 30 |
| `resolve_shot_sequence` | `workflows:execute` | Free, no job |
| `render_shot_sequence` | `workflows:execute` | 50 at 1920 by 1080 |

## `start_video_director`

Returns the motion-director guide an assistant follows to author a narrated video itself: how to pick a genre and a story arc, write the voiceover as cue phrases, build a shot sequence brief, and run the pipeline. It changes nothing and can be called any number of times.

This tool has no parameters.

## `create_explainer`

Writes and renders a narrated, time-coded explainer video about a topic, in one call. The director writes the voiceover script and the shot sequence brief, generates the voiceover, aligns it word by word, and renders the MP4.

**Permission:** `workflows:execute`. **Credits:** the authoring run plus the voiceover, the alignment and the render; `list_models` lists the price under `video-director`. **Nodaro Cloud only.**

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `topic` | string | **Required.** What the explainer should teach, 1 to 8,000 characters. |
| `brand` | string or object | A brand preset id, such as `cobalt-corporate`, or your own brand tokens. See below. |

**Returns:** a job id. The card shows the progress and plays the video. Without cards, poll `get_job`; the MP4 is at `output_data.videoUrl`.

## `create_launch_video`

Writes and renders a narrated product-launch video from a description of the product, in one call.

**Permission:** `workflows:execute`. **Credits:** as `create_explainer`. **Nodaro Cloud only.**

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `brief` | string | The product: what it is, who it is for, its main features and the tone. 1 to 8,000 characters. |
| `brand` | string or object | As on `create_explainer`. |
| `url` | string | A product URL to capture. Not supported: without `brief`, the tool answers that it needs a brief; with a brief, the URL is ignored. |

**Returns:** a job id.

### The `brand` object

| Field | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| `palette` | **Required.** Hex colors: `bg`, `text` and `accent` are required; `accent2`, `bgAlt`, `line` and `textMuted` are optional. |
| `fonts` | **Required.** `heading` and `body`, each one of the 24 supported families, such as Inter, Montserrat, Playfair Display or Bebas Neue. Rubik, Heebo, Cairo and Tajawal cover Hebrew and Arabic. Optional `headingType` and `bodyType` set a `weight` (100 to 900), a `casing` (`uppercase`, `lowercase` or `none`) and a `tracking` (-0.2 to 0.5 em). |
| `logo` | Optional. `name` is required, the wordmark text. `tagline` is a line under it. `image` is an `https` URL of a PNG, WebP or JPEG uploaded to Nodaro. `imageBackdrop` is a hex color for a panel behind the image. |

## `list_shot_shapes`

Returns the catalog of the 15 shot sequence blueprints: ready-made animated beats such as `kinetic-type-beats` or `titlecard-reveal`, with their roles, description and default length in frames. Call it before you write a brief, to choose a blueprint for each beat.

This tool has no parameters.

## `get_shot_shape`

Returns one blueprint in detail: its roles, description, default length, the JSON schema of its `params`, and a filled example you can paste into a brief.

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | **Required.** A blueprint id, such as `titlecard-reveal`. An unknown id returns an error with the list of known ids. |

## `list_brand_presets`

Returns the 8 brand presets, such as `midnight-violet` and `editorial-cream`: a named palette and font pairing with its label, mood, description, palette and fonts. Pass a preset id as `brand` to keep every scene consistent.

This tool has no parameters.

## `forced_alignment`

Aligns a known transcript to an audio or video clip and returns the start and end time of every word. A video's speech track is extracted first, so a talking-head clip can be aligned directly. It works like the [Forced Alignment](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/audio/forced-alignment) node.

**Permission:** `workflows:execute`. **Credits:** 30.

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `transcript` | string | **Required.** The exact words spoken, up to 50,000 characters. For a shot sequence, the exact voiceover script. |
| `audio_url` or `audio_asset_id` | string | The audio or video, as a URL or a Nodaro job id. |

**Returns:** a job id. The alignment is in `output_data.alignment`: a list of `{ word, start, end }`, in seconds.

## `resolve_shot_sequence`

Bakes a shot sequence brief and the word timings into a render-ready plan: it matches each cue to its words and turns every cue-based reveal into an exact frame. It runs at once and returns the plan, with no job.

**Permission:** `workflows:execute`. **Credits:** free.

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `brief` | object | **Required.** The shot sequence brief: narration, scenes, shots and reveals. |
| `audio_url` | string | **Required.** The narration audio. |
| `alignment` | array | **Required.** The `output_data.alignment` of `forced_alignment`. |

**Returns:** `plan` and `warnings`, for example a cue that was not found and fell back to proportional timing. When the scenes overlap in time, the tool returns `422 scene_overlap`. A brand logo image is not added automatically here: include a `logo-assemble-lockup` reveal yourself to show it.

## `render_shot_sequence`

Renders a resolved plan to an MP4. The video is also saved to your library.

**Permission:** `workflows:execute`. **Credits:** as the [Render Video](https://nodaro.ai/docs/nodes/video/render-video) node: 50 up to 1920 pixels on the longest side.

| Parameter | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `plan` | object | **Required.** The plan from `resolve_shot_sequence`. |

**Returns:** a job id. The card shows the progress and plays the video.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between create_explainer and the shot sequence tools?

create_explainer writes the script and the brief, generates the voiceover, aligns it and renders the video in one call. The shot sequence tools let you do each step yourself and review the brief before the render.

### Can the Video Director use my brand colors and logo?

Yes. Pass brand as a preset id from list_brand_presets, or as your own palette, fonts and logo. A logo image must be an image uploaded to Nodaro, in PNG, WebP or JPEG.

### Which tools in this family are free?

start_video_director, list_shot_shapes, get_shot_shape, list_brand_presets and resolve_shot_sequence cost nothing. forced_alignment and render_shot_sequence spend credits, and so do the two one-call tools.