From logline to cut

Groundwork’s film profile plans the film. Studio shoots it. This is the whole loop — the commands, what each one produces, and where the handoff happens. It follows the wordless demo short “The Forge”: Adaora forges an iron mask through the night.

Scaffold the plan folder. One command drops the full research → design → plan → orchestrate → act spine, shaped for film.

groundwork init --profile film "the-forge"

plans/the-forge/
├── .groundwork.json        ← identity + state anchor
├── 00-README.md
├── 01-plan.md              ← the pre-production bible
├── 02-research-external.md
├── 03-research-internal.md
├── 04-discussion.md
├── 05-tracking.md          ← mirrors the Studio board
├── 09-orchestration.md
├── designs/                ← lookbook boards land here
└── artifact/board.html

In Claude Code you can just say “set up groundwork for my short film, film profile.”

Write the bible, top to bottom. Fill 01-plan.md in order — each section answers to the logline above it: logline → treatment (present-tense, beat by beat) → cast & character bible → locations → shotlist. Every principal is destined for a Studio anchor. Run groundwork research and groundwork clarify as you go; they augment the doc in place without touching your prose.
Lock the look. The film profile produces designs. Build an HTML lookbook — palette, grain, lens feel, aspect ratio, reference frames — and lock it at the picture lock gate. Each locked board becomes a D-NN design id that feeds Studio’s archetype, so every generated shot reads as one film.
Terminal window
```
groundwork design "ember-noir lookbook"   # → designs/look-ember-noir.html
groundwork review                          # lock at picture lock → D-01
```
Open the Studio project. The bible hands off to execution. One Studio project backs the film; record its id in 01-plan.md under Handoff to the shot board. From here, Studio owns render and approval state.
```
› mcp__studio__project_create    name="the-forge"
› mcp__studio__breakdown_import  script="act1.fountain"
  → 14 shots across 4 scenes on the board
```
Or open it by hand: /iyke/studio in the Ikenga shell opens the Studio pane — Launcher → Breakdown → Storyboard.
Anchor the cast and world. Turn each cast-bible entry into a seed-locked anchor the generator reuses on every shot. This is what keeps Adaora’s face and the Workshop’s walls consistent from shot one to shot forty.
```
› mcp__studio__anchor_create  kind="character" name="Adaora"      → anchor_adaora · seed 44821
› mcp__studio__anchor_create  kind="location"  name="The Workshop" → anchor_workshop · seed 90310
```

Generate — two tracks. Automate what’s automatic; hand off what’s directorial. Both land on the same shot.

# Track A — Studio generates via fal
› mcp__studio__render_shot  shot="sc1_sh1" engine="fal:flux" anchors=[adaora,workshop]
  → rendered · $0.02 · seed 44821

# Track B — you direct in Higgsfield / Flow
› mcp__studio__export.prompt_package    shot="sc2_sh1"   → prompt + ref image
› mcp__studio__render.ingest_external   shot="sc2_sh1" file="clip.mp4"  → clip back on the board

Studio storyboard canvas — shots generating on two tracks, with running spend in the dock

Track cost, approve shots. Studio’s shot ledger records model, seed, cost, and variants per shot; 05-tracking.md mirrors it for production management. Approve shots as they land.
```
› mcp__studio__storyboard_set_approved  shot="sc1_sh1"
  → approved · rolls into the 05-tracking.md mirror
```

Compose the cut. Approved shots stitch to a delivery master — correct framing per platform, music bed and VO in place. One export per deliverable row in the bible.

› mcp__studio__export_compose  bed="A" ratio="16:9" music="score.mp3"  → master.mp4 · 90s · ProRes
› mcp__studio__export_compose  bed="B" ratio="9:16"                     → social-cutdown.mp4 · 30s · H.264

That’s the loop. Change a character or a beat and Studio knows exactly which shots to re-render — the bible and the board stay in lockstep.