Clip Mining and Organization

1. Clip first principles

A clip is not just a short time range.

CLIP
= bounded source interval
+ complete or deliberately incomplete meaning
+ story role
+ performance
+ visual/audio state
+ context dependencies
+ usage rights
+ provenance
+ handles

The system mines clips at several scales because the best short soundbite, complete answer, and full anecdote often overlap but are not identical.

2. Clip scales

Durations are project-configurable; these defaults are starting ranges, not laws.

3. Candidate generation

Create boundaries from:

• sentence and clause endings;
• breaths and pauses;
• speaker turns;
• question/answer edges;
• change in claim or story role;
• topic boundaries;
• emotional peaks;
• laughter and reaction;
• camera-safe edit points;
• music phrase boundaries;
• visual action completion.

For every promising nucleus:

1. create minimal candidate;
2. test context completeness;
3. expand left/right to satisfy dependencies;
4. add source handles;
5. create alternative boundary variants;
6. score and deduplicate;
7. assign bins and graph relationships.

4. Clip score

A configurable base score:

ClipScore
= 0.15 HookStrength
+ 0.14 Clarity
+ 0.13 ContextCompleteness
+ 0.11 Novelty
+ 0.11 EmotionalPower
+ 0.10 EvidenceValue
+ 0.08 SelfContainment
+ 0.07 VisualPotential
+ 0.05 PerformanceQuality
+ 0.03 Brand/AudienceFit
+ 0.03 TechnicalQuality
- RiskPenalty
- RedundancyPenalty
- RepairCost

The score is multidimensional. Preserve sub-scores so editors can sort by different goals.

5. Story-role bins

00_UNREVIEWED
01_HOOKS
02_PROMISES_AND_QUESTIONS
03_ORIENTATION_AND_DEFINITIONS
04_PROBLEMS
05_GOALS_AND_STAKES
06_ORIGIN_STORIES
07_ATTEMPTS_AND_PROCESS
08_OBSTACLES_AND_FAILURES
09_EVIDENCE_AND_EXAMPLES
10_CONTRASTS_AND_OBJECTIONS
11_REVEALS_AND_REVERSALS
12_INSIGHTS_AND_MODELS
13_RESOLUTIONS_AND_RESULTS
14_TAKEAWAYS
15_CALLS_TO_ACTION
16_REACTIONS
17_BRIDGES_AND_TRANSITIONS
18_BROLL_AND_VISUAL_ONLY
19_AUDIO_ONLY
20_PICKUPS_NEEDED
21_FACT_CHECK
22_RIGHTS_REVIEW
23_REJECTED

Also create dynamic bins by:

speaker / topic / entity / emotion / camera / source / chapter /
duration / aspect fitness / evidence state / approval state

6. Clip card

Each candidate displays:

thumbnail
waveform
speaker
source and timecode
verbatim transcript
short summary
story roles
topics and entities
claim/evidence state
context-completeness score
performance score
visual suggestions
camera/audio quality
usage history
risk flags
handles
alternatives
human notes

7. Boundary variants

For a nucleus N, create:

V0 = exact sentence
V1 = question + answer
V2 = premise + sentence
V3 = sentence + consequence
V4 = full exchange
V5 = full anecdote

Each boundary variant inherits the same semantic nucleus but has different:

• context completeness;
• duration;
• hook strength;
• pace;
• platform fitness;
• edit repair cost.

8. Context expansion algorithm

WHILE completeness < threshold:
    find highest-severity unresolved dependency
    IF dependency exists immediately before:
        expand left to natural boundary
    ELSE IF dependency exists immediately after:
        expand right to natural boundary
    ELSE IF bridge can supply context without distortion:
        attach bridge
    ELSE:
        mark not-standalone
        break

High-risk statements require explicit human review even after automated completeness passes.

9. Deduplication

Two clips may be duplicates when they share:

• nearly identical words;
• same proposition;
• same anecdote;
• alternate camera views;
• repeated answer in different wording;
• generated versions of the same shot.

Store relations:

DUPLICATE_OF
NEAR_DUPLICATE_OF
ALTERNATE_BOUNDARY_OF
ALTERNATE_CAMERA_OF
ALTERNATE_TAKE_OF
PARAPHRASES

Do not delete alternatives automatically. Rank them by the intended use.

10. Clip fitness profiles

Hook fitness

Prioritize:

unanswered question
+ meaningful surprise
+ high consequence
+ specificity
+ compressed conflict
+ strong performance

Penalize:

false suspense
+ missing context
+ sensational distortion
+ generic claim

Educational fitness

Prioritize:

clear concept
+ mechanism
+ example
+ correct qualification
+ visual explainability

Evidence fitness

Prioritize:

source linkage
+ clear claim
+ dates/units/population
+ low ambiguity

Emotional fitness

Prioritize:

authentic performance
+ complete emotional turn
+ room for afterbeat
+ low interruption

Short-form fitness

Prioritize:

rapid orientation
+ standalone meaning
+ one dominant payoff
+ vertical visual viability
+ caption viability

Audio-only fitness

Prioritize:

no unresolved visual reference
+ intelligible speech
+ audible speaker identity
+ clean transitions

11. Bridge taxonomy

When a strong clip lacks context, add a bridge.

• host voice-over;
• on-screen text;
• included question;
• chapter card;
• date/location card;
• name/title lower third;
• document or chart;
• previous quote fragment;
• visual establishing shot;
• sound bridge;
• short generated illustrative shot, disclosed when necessary.

A bridge cannot be used to hide a material qualification.

12. Pickups queue

Create a pickup when no existing source can perform a required story function.

Pickup types:

• missing definition;
• unclear pronoun/reference;
• absent transition;
• unasked follow-up;
• factual correction;
• source citation;
• pronunciation;
• legal/disclosure line;
• narration;
• room tone;
• clean plate;
• insert/detail;
• establishing shot;
• reaction;
• safety/alternative framing.

13. Rejection reasons

• meaning incomplete;
• materially misleading without omitted context;
• weak or redundant;
• poor technical quality with no repair path;
• unverified high-risk claim;
• consent or rights unavailable;
• private information;
• defamatory framing risk;
• generated artifact;
• continuity conflict;
• unsuitable for audience or accessibility;
• no story function;
• better alternative exists.

14. Handles

Store at least:

semantic handle — enough context before/after to preserve meaning
performance handle — breath, gesture, and reaction space
transition handle — frames for dissolves or speed changes
audio handle — room tone and crossfade material
generation handle — start/end stability for synthetic shots

Handle length is a property, not a fixed global constant.

15. Selection set logic

A sequence should not be assembled by choosing the individually highest-scoring clips only.

SequenceScore
= sum(ClipUtility)
+ CoverageOfRequiredRoles
+ CausalCoherence
+ EmotionalArc
+ RhythmDiversity
- Redundancy
- Contradiction
- ContextDebt
- DurationOverflow

Use constrained set selection:

REQUIRE one hook
REQUIRE orientation before specialized terminology
REQUIRE evidence for high-impact factual claims
REQUIRE payoff for each retained open loop
LIMIT repeated propositions
PREFER performance and visual diversity

16. Organization views

The UI should offer:

1. Bin view — familiar folders and selects.
2. Transcript view — words linked to media.
3. Graph view — claims, questions, setup/payoff, and dependencies.
4. Storyboard view — beats and coverage.
5. Timeline view — ordered output.
6. Matrix view — clips × story roles × quality dimensions.
7. Map view — locations and geographic evidence.
8. Version view — reuse across outputs.

17. Usage tracking

For every clip, record:

where used
which source range was used
which words were omitted
which version used it
what graphic/audio covered it
whether it was reframed
whether it was generated or transformed
which human approved it
performance after publication

This creates a reusable media memory rather than a one-off project folder.