action-choreography · diff
git:20261015.67ee779 to git:20261019.e81c9e8
46 added, 21 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: action-choreography
description: Specify causal body and object mechanics before a complex shot is produced. Use for Action Bible authoring and review; no media generation.
---
# Action Choreography
## Role and authority
Specify causal body and object mechanics before a complex shot is produced.
Own: Contact, grip, load, support, balance and ordered physical action phases.
Read [professional department architecture](../../docs/professional-departments.md) for the registry, Bible envelope, source/approval rules and Host handoff. Author only this department’s records; references never transfer ownership. Mark each record MIGRATED_FROM_R1 or NEW_PROFESSIONAL_ELABORATION when migrating a locked baseline.
## Inputs and dependencies
Approved action outcome; Blocking; Performance intent; Prop and Animal interaction constraints.
## Professional decisions
- Decompose action by physical changes: preparation, contact, support/load transfer, correction, consequence and recovery. Name actor, limb/side, receiver/object, grip establishment and release. A failed attempt must alter the next action; do not jump from reach to successful mount. Declare what must remain observable and what cannot overlap safely or plausibly. Complexity may propose coverage changes, never rewrite the event.
+ Start from the character's current task, its target and resistance, the approved
+ result, and what the audience needs to read. Choose an action scale and rhythm
+ that fit ability, urgency, load and relationship. Literary restraint does not set
+ a universal speed or amplitude; skilled work may be brisk and economical.
- At a critical transfer, work backwards from the receiving grip: where can the
- hands enter while the previous support still carries weight? Check intermediate
- poses, not only a plausible start and finish. Returning an object flat to a table
- does not leave finger clearance everywhere. Describe the remaining support
- footprint and the hand's free approach to an accessible underside in that very
- pose; saying "slide underneath" is not proof of access. Resolve the path before
- transferring weight, without silently adding a support prop or changing geometry.
- Identify the supported region and free hand before releasing the table; cloth is a contact
- layer, not an invisible lifting sling. Retain assumptions about balance or material
- response as assumptions; do not assert drying or flattening without evidence of
- the change. For small contacts, establish a visible before/after
- difference and its cause: lifting a cup alone need not flatten curled paper, and
- reaching toward a sleeve does not prove it moved away from ink. Elaborate the
- approved action without adding a new dramatic event.
+ Resolve the relations that make this action possible:
+ - **Support and force:** where weight rests, what initiates or resists movement,
+ and how momentum is absorbed or carried into the next action. A light precise
+ task may be hand-led; a load may recruit legs and trunk. Choose the sequence
+ from the task rather than prescribing feet → hips → shoulders for everyone.
+ - **Contact and freedom:** identify the relevant surfaces and when each relation
+ begins, changes or ends. A grip can fix the hand in tool space while the tool
+ slides on the work; a sole can pivot about its loaded region. Name the motion
+ that remains possible, not merely “keep contact.”
+ - **Transfer and release:** for a controlled handover or set-down, locate the
+ receiving support and an accessible approach before unloading. For a throw,
+ drop or jump, release creates flight; specify its consequence and subsequent
+ catch/landing only when part of the approved action. Inspect intermediate
+ access and reach when geometry makes them uncertain.
+ - **Coordination:** describe the principal trajectory and how other limbs or
+ participants support, accommodate or oppose it. Distinguish simultaneous effort
+ from a useful delay; coordinated contact may need synchronized motion. A fixed
+ grip does not freeze shoulders, elbows, trunk or all relative transforms.
+ - **Rhythm and result:** locate meaningful changes in effort, speed, attention or
+ material state. Repetition, a held task or continued motion may each be right.
+ Choose a recovery or pause because of the action, not to complete a standard
+ preparation/contact/impact/recovery template or fill an allotted duration.
+
+ Use a relevant observed reference when the unresolved question is technique,
+ weight transfer or timing. Record the observed relation and the limits of its
+ transfer to this character, prop and shot. A still establishes shape or a pose,
+ not a motion trajectory; a plausible proxy trajectory does not establish acting.
+ Keep uncertain dimensions, loads and material responses explicit as hypotheses.
+
+ Describe the selected causal action in readable prose: what the person does,
+ what it changes and how that enables the next state. Keep short restrictions only
+ where they resolve a consequential ambiguity in this shot. One failed render is
+ evidence about that execution, not a rule for every actor or future shot.
+
+ For method selection and source limitations, see
+ [movement research and external execution](references/movement-methods.md).
+
## Outputs
Produce a versioned `Action Bible` with current source pins, department dependencies, scope, ownership, status and continuity references. Keep known decisions separate from unresolved requirements.
In the native handoff, an `actionPhases` row is an execution unit, not an actor or
mechanical substep. Its `action` carries the causal sequence, concurrent partner
expression and uninterrupted speech against one `entryState` and `observable`
end condition. Take expression from the participants' Beat originals; selecting
one primary Beat does not serialize their tasks. A reused Beat carries only
expression valid across its selected units; stage-local changes belong here.
- Before releasing a support, establish the receiving contact and its accessible
- approach in the current pose. Do not manufacture a new Beat or split merely to
- separate actors, physical substeps or estimated time windows.
+ Keep contact changes inside the current action, including intentional release.
+ A mechanical substep alone does not require a new psychological Beat or execution unit.
Use event-relative timing or estimated local windows where they clarify execution;
never turn each window into another row. Separate a required repeated stroke from
an idle loop by its material result or dramatic purpose. Do not invent work to
fill a clip. Current contact, support and visibility conditions belong in these
action leaves; `physicalStateConstraints` holds lasting invariants, not a second
recital of the sequence. A technical split inherits the actual release state,
without restarting preparation; a film cut needs Shot/Editorial's authored boundary.
## Forbidden authority
Do not change upstream historical evidence, approved story/relationships/dialogue or another department’s records. Do not encode provider/model/workflow controls in creative content, manufacture user approval, or call media generation.
## Quality gates
- Every result has an enabling contact and support; body/prop states bridge phases; injury and fatigue constrain execution; no physically impossible teleportation.
+ The visible result follows from the authored effort, support, contact or deliberate release. Check transitions and recovery against the character’s actual condition; separate an execution fault from an unresolved observation.
## Failure and escalation
- Missing Blocking or object scale returns dependency failure; proposed event changes go to Screenplay/Director. A provider limitation cannot replace choreography with vague action words.
+ Resolve missing placement or scale when it materially changes feasibility; otherwise state the working assumption. Proposed event changes go to Screenplay/Director. Diagnose whether a failed realization needs better reference, control or expression before adding more prompt restrictions.
## Source reads
Use supplied current originals first. For missing scoped context, read `work.get_work`, `scene.get_scene`, `script.get_script`, `episode.get_episode`, `shot.get_shot`, `asset.get_asset`, `context.build_context`. These reads do not authorize source writes or production.
## Route-owned expression
- Within the Director-selected route envelope, author anticipation, acceleration, impact, follow-through and environmental reaction. Preserve support/contact/weight and canonical outcomes. A character action signature does not propagate to other actors. Read [expression route contract](../../docs/expression-route-contract.md) when using character or action expression profiles.
+ Within the Director-selected route envelope, select the preparation, acceleration, contact, follow-through or environmental response this action actually needs. Continuous work and quiet attention need not acquire an impact structure. Preserve physical causality and canonical outcomes. A character action signature does not propagate to other actors. Read [expression route contract](../../docs/expression-route-contract.md) when using character or action expression profiles.
## Character Package ownership
Combine screenplay facts, Director intent and the packaged actionSignature. Do not decide the character movement identity anew or add event outcomes.
Use the unified read-only `CharacterRepository.resolve_character_package` contract in [Character External Driver](../../docs/character-external-driver.md). Pin characterPackageRef, characterPackageVersion and checksum. Never create or overwrite Character Core in this Skill. Missing or stale packages return to the driver; model memory and old chat are not assets. DESIGN_REVIEW access does not authorize casting or production.
## Character Embodiment ownership
Combine script action + Director intent + embodiment baseline + actionSignature. Do not invent movement identity or new action results.
Read [Embodiment contract](../../docs/character-embodiment.md). Use the unified read-only `characters.embodiment.embodiment_handoff` with exact ref/version/checksum and route. Never create or overwrite embodiment in downstream execution. Comparisons are reasoning-only; they do not enter the generation prompt.
## Still live-action professional knowledge
For opt-in STILL/LIVE_ACTION, project only the approved current body_mechanics or contact_constraints slice into existing action/contact facts. Ordered future phases and movement timing remain internal to this still consumer. Identity references cannot create an action. Support/load/contact comes from Action and Blocking; material response and conditional contact shadow remain Lighting/QA responsibilities.
Read [mapping and evidence profile](../../docs/still-professional-mapping.md) when preparing these still records. Knowledge remains LOCAL_EXPERIMENTAL until scoped A5 media evidence.
## Actor-playable screenplay handoff (Screenplay R2)
Read [screenplay playability and exact dialogue](../../docs/screenplay-playability.md). Resolve causal mechanics for the approved playable action, preserving actor/target/negation/contact. Missing action meaning returns to its owner rather than being created for model convenience.