# Toad Venom: "The Side-Scroller" storyboard

Date: 2026-10-09
Format: vertical 9:16 (1080x1920), 40.0 s, loops seamlessly. Built for Instagram Reels and WhatsApp status.
Pipeline: gpt-image-2 keyframe per shot (via Codex, character reference attached), then a 5 s image-to-video clip per shot (Kling / Veo / Seedance via fal), cut to music, real type and logos added in post.

---

## 1. Logline and tone

**Logline:** At midnight a slime-covered toadstool walks out of a field of glowing frogs and straight through a level that the symbiote has rotted, beating every trap and the giant cap-headed boss with his staff and his tongue, and the prize at the end of the level is a violet jar of Toad Venom on a plinth in the Exotic Emporium.

**Tone:** nocturnal, menacing, funny.

### Reference images used

| Ref | File | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| **REF-CHAR** | `layouts/toad-venom-wrap-frogfield/wrap_art_center_front_a.png` | Attach to every shot he is in. The character and the frog field. |
| **REF-WORLD** | `images/round6-2026-10-09-tongue/venom_world_a.png` (alt `_b`, `_c`) | Attach for the infected-level shots and the boss. Layout and props only: slimed pipes, dripping bricks, castle silhouette, giant cap-headed boss with tendrils. These refs are halftone screen-print posters. Every prompt asks for the glossy 3D render, not the print look. |
| **REF-TONGUE** | `images/round6-2026-10-09-tongue/tongue_mario_b.png` | Optional extra for shot 4: the tongue wrapping a brick block. |
| **REF-JAR** | `mockups/jars-2026-10-09/toad_venom_v6/hero.png` | Not given to the video model. Composited in post for shots 9 to 11 so the label text stays sharp (see section 4). |

### Prep step before shot keyframes: side-profile model sheet

REF-CHAR shows him from the front, but most of this film shows him from the side. Make one keyframe first and attach it, together with REF-CHAR, to every side-on shot:

> Character model sheet of the attached character, same design exactly: three views side by side on a flat dark charcoal background, left = strict side profile facing right mid-stride, centre = three-quarter front, right = strict side profile facing right standing still holding the staff upright. Glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin, black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and black slime drips from the rim, large angular white eyes, sharp white fangs, long pink tongue with neon-green slime drip, white dripping toad emblem on chest, gnarled black staff wrapped in slime. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, soft even studio light, clean silhouette. No text, no lettering, no labels. 16:9.

Save it as **REF-SIDE**.

### Character block (pasted into every prompt with him in it)

The prompts below already include this text. It is shown here so any re-roll keeps exactly the same wording:

> a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest; he grips a gnarled black wooden staff wrapped in black slime tendrils

The prompts never say "Mario", "Toad", "Venom", "Nintendo" or "Marvel". Image models refuse those names or drift toward the licensed characters. Describe the shapes, not the names.

---

## 2. Shot table

The music runs at 144 BPM, so 1 bar = 1.667 s, 3 bars = 5.0 s and 24 bars = 40.0 s exactly. Every cut lands on a bar line. Each clip is generated at 5 s and trimmed in the edit.

| # | Time | Bars | Shot / camera | One action | World / background | Sound / music cue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0:00.0-0:05.0 | 1-3 | Wide side-on, camera tracks right at walking speed (side-scroll) | He walks left to right through the frog field; the frogs turn their heads in unison to watch him | Neon frog field, purple galaxy sky, orange-red horizon; 3 parallax layers | Black-slime drip wipe clears off the lens. Detuned square-wave lead plays the 2-bar hook over a sub drone. Title on screen. |
| 2 | 0:05.0-0:06.7 | 4 | Low side-on close-up on his feet, locked camera | His foot steps off glowing grass onto black slime-covered stone | Edge of the field; black symbiote slime creeping over the grass | Wet squelch on beat 1. Drum fill. |
| 3 | 0:06.7-0:10.0 | 5-6 | Medium side-on, locked camera | A tar flytrap lunges out of a pipe and he smashes it with his staff | Infected level: slimed green pipe, dark bricks | Trap kick and 808 enter. Staff hit lands on bar 6 beat 1, with a wet splat. |
| 4 | 0:10.0-0:13.3 | 7-8 | Wide side-on, slow track right | His tongue shoots up, wraps a floating brick block and swings him over a slime pit | Floating dripping brick blocks, black slime pit, castle far away | Tongue "thwip" and a rope-creak stretch. A riser builds into bar 9. |
| 5 | 0:13.3-0:16.7 | 9-10 | Wide side-on, camera tracks right (side-scroll) | He walks toward the corrupted castle as lightning flashes | Castle with slime pouring off its battlements, drip-ghost silhouettes in fog | **Drop.** Full beat comes in. Thunder hit on bar 9 beat 1. |
| 6 | 0:16.7-0:21.7 | 11-13 | Low angle from behind him, slow tilt up | The giant cap-headed boss rises out of the slime pool and spreads its tendrils | Castle courtyard, storm clouds, full moon | Music drops out to a sub boom and a low pitched-down roar, then a choir-pad stab. |
| 7 | 0:21.7-0:23.3 | 14 | Medium side-on, locked camera | He slams the staff down into the ground and a neon-green shockwave rings outward | Courtyard flagstones, slime puddles | Hard impact on bar 14 beat 1, a reversed cymbal, then silence for half a beat |
| 8 | 0:23.3-0:26.7 | 15-16 | Wide, locked camera, boss fills frame | Green light cracks through the boss and it bursts into a rain of black slime | Same courtyard, lightning | Big splatter plus a bitcrushed explosion. The beat returns at full. |
| 9 | 0:26.7-0:30.0 | 17-18 | Wide side-on, locked camera | The slime drains away, revealing a dark gold hall with the jar on a plinth. He walks in and stops beside it | The castle's true form: black marble, gold trim, violet UV light | The "level clear" jingle, deliberately wrong: the detuned square lead plays a descending minor arpeggio |
| 10 | 0:30.0-0:35.0 | 19-21 | Low-angle three-quarter, slow push in | He plants the staff, turns his head to camera and grins, tongue dripping | Same hall, jar glowing violet beside him, frog-green glow through a broken window | The hook comes back with full drums. Tongue drip lands on the bar 21 snare. |
| 11 | 0:35.0-0:40.0 | 22-24 | Locked end card | The jar sits still. On the last bar black slime drips down from the top and covers the frame | Dark backdrop with a soft frog-field glow and galaxy haze | Groove holds, then strips back to the sub drone on bar 24 as the pickup into bar 1 (loop) |

**16:9 use:** shots 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are side-on and naturally horizontal. They work at 16:9, but don't crop them from the 9:16 frame (a 16:9 crop keeps only about a third of the height). Instead outpaint each 9:16 keyframe sideways to 16:9 with gpt-image-2 edit, then run the same motion prompt. Shots 6, 8 and 10 depend on height (the boss towering over him, the low angle), so they need a re-composed keyframe for 16:9. Shot 2 and the end card re-lay easily.

---

## 3. Shots: keyframe and motion prompts

The style rules below are written into every prompt. **Glossy 3D animated feature film render. Night only. Deep blacks, high contrast, hard rim light. Desaturated, sickly greens for the infected world; the only saturated colours are the neon frog green, his pink tongue and the violet jar light.** No coins, no hearts, no score, no question-mark blocks, no game interface.

9:16 layout rule for side-on shots: the walking "level" runs as a horizontal band through the middle of the frame. Sky fills the top 30% and black slime ground fills the bottom 25%. Text goes in those two zones in post. Keep him inside the centre band, clear of the Instagram UI (top 220 px, bottom 420 px, right 120 px).

---

### Shot 1: Field walk (0:00-0:05)

**Attach:** REF-CHAR, REF-SIDE
**Keyframe prompt (start frame):**
> Strict side-on view, like a scrolling platform game seen from the side, of a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall walking to the right mid-stride, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest; he grips a gnarled black wooden staff wrapped in black slime tendrils. He walks through a field packed with hundreds of small glowing neon-green translucent frogs with glossy black eyes. The frogs nearest him have turned their heads toward him, all the same way, which looks eerie. Night: a starry purple galaxy sky fills the top third, and a thin band of orange-red sunset sits low on the horizon. Three clear depth layers: blurred frogs in the foreground, the walking band in the middle, and dark hills and sky behind. Vertical 9:16 composition: he is in the centre band slightly left of centre and walking room opens to the right; the sky above and the dark grass below stay clear. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, hard white rim light on his helmet, deep shadows, high contrast. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> He walks steadily to the right in side profile with an even walk cycle and the staff swinging slightly. The camera tracks right at the same speed so he stays in frame centre while the frog field scrolls past: foreground frogs fast, background hills slow (parallax). The frogs' heads turn to follow him. The stars twinkle softly. 5 s.

**Kid-appeal check:** this is the brightest and cutest shot in the film. To push it older, keep the frogs as glowing glass-like shapes with black eyes and no smiles, have them turn their heads together so it reads creepy, keep the foreground frogs dark and out of focus, and grade the sky deep purple-black.
**16:9:** yes (outpaint sideways).

---

### Shot 2: Off the edge of the field (0:05-0:06.7)

**Attach:** REF-CHAR, REF-SIDE
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Extreme low side-on close-up at ground level of the stubby black foot of a small chibi creature covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin, mid-step, about to come down onto stone covered in black slime. He walks to the right. Behind and above him, partly out of frame and slightly out of focus, you can make out his black mushroom-cap helmet with round glossy bumps and dripping rim, and the bottom of his gnarled black staff wrapped in slime tendrils. On the left side of the frame is the end of a field of glowing neon-green translucent frogs. On the right side the grass is being swallowed by thick creeping black symbiote slime with glossy wet highlights, ending in dark cracked stone bricks. A sick green glow comes from a slimed metal pipe in the background on the right. Night, purple-black sky. Vertical 9:16 composition: the ground line sits in the lower middle, the foot is in the centre, and black slime dominates the lower right. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, hard rim light, wet reflections, high contrast, deep shadows. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> The foot comes down onto the black slime with a heavy squelch, and the slime ripples and splashes outward in glossy strands. The edge of the slime creeps a little further over the glowing grass. The camera is locked. 5 s, trim to the first 1.7 s.

**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 3: Tar flytrap (0:06.7-0:10)

**Attach:** REF-SIDE, REF-WORLD
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Medium side-on shot, platform-game side view, of a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest. He faces right with his gnarled black slime-wrapped wooden staff pulled back over his shoulder like a bat, ready to swing. In front of him on the right, a carnivorous plant made of black tar lunges up out of a short dull-green metal pipe dripping with symbiote slime. The plant has a split jaw lined with white fangs and neon-green drool. Behind them is an infected level: dark oxblood bricks oozing black slime, more slimed pipes, and storm clouds. Vertical 9:16 composition: both figures sit in the middle band; dark sky above, black slime floor below. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, cold blue moonlight with a hard rim light, sickly desaturated greens. Do not copy the halftone print style of the reference. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**End frame (optional, for start+end mode):** same framing, with the staff swung through and the plant burst into flying black droplets.

**Motion prompt:**
> The tar plant snaps forward. He swings the staff hard from his shoulder in one quick horizontal arc and hits the plant, which bursts into a splash of glossy black slime droplets that fly to the right. He holds the follow-through pose. The camera is locked with a small impact shake. 5 s.

**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 4: Tongue swing (0:10-0:13.3)

**Attach:** REF-SIDE, REF-TONGUE
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Wide side-on shot, platform-game side view. On the left edge of a crumbling dark brick ledge stands a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest; he grips a gnarled black wooden staff wrapped in slime tendrils. His long wet pink tongue shoots straight up at an angle and wraps around a dark floating brick block that drips black slime. Below him is a wide gap with a bubbling pit of glossy black slime. The far ledge is on the right. In the distance a corrupted castle silhouette stands under storm clouds and a pale full moon. Vertical 9:16 composition: the brick block hangs in the upper middle and the tongue makes a strong diagonal line from his mouth to the block; the black slime pit fills the bottom quarter. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, hard rim light, cold moonlight, wet reflections. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> His tongue pulls tight and he swings in an arc under the floating block, from the left ledge across the slime pit, and lands on the right ledge. Slime drips fall from the block. The camera tracks slowly right. 5 s, trim to 3.3 s.

**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 5: Castle approach (0:13.3-0:16.7)

**Attach:** REF-SIDE, REF-WORLD
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Wide strict side-on shot, like a side-scrolling game level. A small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall walks to the right mid-stride. He is fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest; a gnarled black staff wrapped in slime tendrils over his shoulder. He walks along a path of dark bricks soaked in slime. Behind him are slimed dull-green pipes and black-spotted mushrooms. Further back, a dark stone castle has black symbiote slime pouring off its battlements like waterfalls, and faint dripping ghost-shaped silhouettes hang in the fog. A fork of lightning lights up a storm sky. Three clear parallax depth layers. Vertical 9:16 composition: he sits in the centre band left of centre; the castle and lightning are in the upper right; black ground is below. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, blue-white lightning rim light, deep shadows. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> He walks steadily to the right in side profile with an even walk cycle. The camera tracks right with him: foreground pipes slide past fast and the castle moves slowly (parallax). One lightning flash lights up the scene. Slime keeps pouring from the battlements. 5 s, trim to 3.3 s.

**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 6: Boss rises (0:16.7-0:21.7)

**Attach:** REF-CHAR, REF-WORLD (venom_world_a for the boss design)
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Low-angle shot from behind and slightly to the side of a small chibi mushroom-capped creature in the lower third of the frame, seen from the back: glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin, a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and black slime drips from the rim, gripping a gnarled black staff wrapped in slime tendrils, standing at the edge of a castle courtyard. Rising out of a huge bubbling pool of black slime in front of him is a giant monster that fills the upper two thirds of the frame: an enormous glossy black mushroom-cap head with big round raised bumps, huge angular white eyes, a jagged grin of white fangs, a long wet pink tongue dripping, a white toad silhouette on its chest, and thick black dripping tendrils curling out on both sides. Storm clouds, lightning and a pale full moon are behind it. Vertical 9:16 composition: a tall towering scale contrast, the small figure at bottom centre and the giant head at top centre. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, a cold rim light outlining the giant, deep blacks, horror-movie lighting. Do not copy the halftone print style of the reference. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> The giant black mushroom-headed monster slowly rises out of the slime pool while sheets of slime run off it. Its tendrils uncurl and spread wide and its jaw opens. The small figure in the foreground stays still. The camera tilts up slowly to follow the rise. 5 s.

**Kid-appeal check:** none. This is the strongest adult horror beat. Keep it.
**16:9:** needs a re-composed keyframe (put the giant to the right and him at lower left).

---

### Shot 7: Staff slam (0:21.7-0:23.3)

**Attach:** REF-SIDE
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Medium side-on shot of a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes narrowed and angry; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest. He holds his gnarled black slime-wrapped wooden staff high above his head in both hands, about to drive its end down into the ground. He stands on cracked wet courtyard flagstones with puddles of black slime. Off-frame on the right, a giant black dripping tendril reaches in toward him. Neon-green light glows faintly from inside the cracks in the stones. Vertical 9:16 composition: he sits in the centre band; the staff points up into the dark sky above; wet stone is below. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, hard green under-light mixed with cold moonlight, high contrast. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> He drives the staff straight down into the ground in one hard motion. A ring of neon-green light and a splash of black slime blast outward along the ground, and the cracks flare bright green. The camera is locked with a short impact shake. 5 s, trim to 1.7 s.

**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 8: Boss bursts (0:23.3-0:26.7)

**Attach:** REF-WORLD (the boss alone, he is not in this shot)
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Wide shot of a giant monster filling the frame above a castle courtyard at night: an enormous glossy black mushroom-cap head with big round raised bumps, huge angular white eyes, a jagged grin of white fangs, a long wet pink tongue, and thick black dripping tendrils curling out on both sides. Bright neon-green light bursts out of jagged cracks across its cap and face as if it is about to explode. Lightning flickers in the storm clouds and a pale full moon is behind it. Dark castle towers stand in silhouette below. Vertical 9:16 composition: the head is in the upper two thirds, the green cracks are the brightest point in the frame, and dark towers and a slime pool are at the bottom. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, the green glow lighting the slime from inside, deep blacks, horror-movie lighting. Do not copy the halftone print style of the reference. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> The green cracks spread fast across the giant head, then it bursts apart into a huge splash of glossy black slime that rains down. Tendrils go limp and fall away. Green light flashes and fades. The camera is locked. 5 s, trim to 3.3 s.

**16:9:** needs a re-composed keyframe (wider, with the head in the centre).

---

### Shot 9: Level clear, the Emporium (0:26.7-0:30)

**Attach:** REF-SIDE
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Wide strict side-on view of a grand dark hall that looks like a luxury boutique inside a castle: polished black marble floor, black stone pillars with gold trim, and violet ultraviolet light. Black slime is draining away down the walls and into floor cracks, uncovering the gold. On the right of centre stands a black marble plinth with gold edges under a single violet spotlight. On it sits a tall violet glass jar with a black lid, glowing purple, its label area plain and blank. Above the arch at the back hangs a large blank polished gold shield, bare and unmarked. On the far left, entering the frame and walking right, is a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips from the rim; large angular white eyes; a grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue with a neon-green drip; a white dripping toad emblem on his chest; a gnarled black slime-wrapped staff. Vertical 9:16 composition: the gold shield is at top centre and the plinth sits in the middle band; the floor reflection is below. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, violet and gold light, deep blacks. No text, no lettering, no logos, no game interface.

**Motion prompt:**
> The last of the black slime drains down the walls and floor, uncovering the gold trim. He walks right in side profile and stops beside the plinth. The jar and plinth stay perfectly still; only the violet glow pulses gently. The camera is locked. 5 s, trim to 3.3 s.

**Post:** composite the real jar (REF-JAR or a clean render of it) over the blank jar; this is easy because the camera is locked. Composite the crown logo onto the gold shield.
**16:9:** yes.

---

### Shot 10: Hero grin (0:30-0:35)

**Attach:** REF-CHAR
**Keyframe prompt:**
> Low-angle three-quarter view, slightly below eye level, of a small chibi mushroom-capped creature about three heads tall standing proud, fully covered in glossy jet-black liquid symbiote skin; a big round black mushroom-cap helmet with raised round glossy bumps and thick black slime drips hanging from the rim; large angular white eye shapes narrowed in a sly menacing look; a wide grin of sharp white fangs; a long wet pink tongue hanging out with a neon-green slime drip about to fall; a white dripping toad silhouette emblem on his chest. He grips a gnarled black slime-wrapped wooden staff planted upright beside him. Just behind him and to the right, on a black marble plinth with gold edges, a tall violet glass jar with a black lid glows purple; its label area is plain and blank. The background is a dark hall with gold-trimmed black pillars, and through a broken arched window the glowing neon-green frog field shows under a purple galaxy sky. Vertical 9:16 composition: he fills the lower two thirds, the jar sits in the upper right third, and there is dark space above his head. Glossy 3D animated feature film render, hard rim light, violet fill, high contrast. No text, no lettering, no logos.

**Motion prompt:**
> He slowly turns his head toward the camera with a menacing grin. The green slime drip falls off his tongue. The slime drips on his helmet run slowly. The jar glows steadily and does not move. The camera pushes in slowly toward him. 5 s.

**Kid-appeal check:** a close-up of a chibi character is the second-highest risk. To push it older, use a low angle, narrowed eyes, visible fangs and drool, hard rim light and a dark grade. Don't let him wave, wink, do a thumbs-up, jump for joy or look wide-eyed. He must not touch, open or hold the jar.
**16:9:** needs a re-composed keyframe (put him on the left third and the jar on the right third).

---

### Shot 11: End card and loop wipe (0:35-0:40)

**Attach:** none (plate only)
**Keyframe prompt:**
> A dark, empty product backdrop for a vertical poster: a deep purple-black void with a soft haze of starry purple galaxy at the top, fading down to a low glow of out-of-focus neon-green light at the bottom, as if a field of glowing frogs lies far below and blurred. A faint orange-red horizon glow sits along the lower third. In the centre is a black glossy marble plinth top with a thin gold edge, lit by one violet spotlight from above, with nothing on it. Black glossy slime drips hang along the very top edge of the frame. Plenty of empty dark space above the plinth for a title and below it for a logo. Vertical 9:16 composition, symmetrical, the plinth at the vertical centre. Cinematic 3D render matching a glossy animated feature film, deep blacks, violet and gold highlights, soft wet reflections on the marble. No text, no lettering, no logos, no objects on the plinth.

**Motion prompt (plate):**
> The haze drifts slowly and the green glow at the bottom pulses gently. The slime drips along the top edge stretch slowly downward. The camera is locked. 5 s.

**Loop wipe (bar 24):** in the final bar, thick black slime runs down from the top and covers the whole frame. Shot 1 opens with black slime sliding off the lens. So the clip loops black-to-black on the bar line. Generate the wipe once as its own 5 s clip on pure black (motion prompt: "thick glossy black liquid slime pours down from the top edge and covers the whole frame, wet highlights, on a transparent-looking dark background, 5 s"), or use a stock drip transition and key it in post.

---

## 4. Title, logos, jar and sound

### Where type and logos go (all added in post, never generated)

| When | What | Where in the 9:16 frame |
|---|---|---|
| Shot 1, 0:00.8-0:04.5 | **TOAD VENOM** title: TOAD in the client's multicolour lettering over VENOM in the white comic lettering with the navy/royal-blue spiky splash | Sky zone, top 30% (inside the 220 px safe margin). Slight push-in. Drip-wipe it off on the cut to shot 2. |
| Shot 9 | Gold **crown logo** | Composited onto the blank gold shield above the arch, tracked (the camera is locked) |
| Shots 9-10 | **Real jar** | Composite REF-JAR (or a clean render from the same 3D scene at a matching angle) over the blank AI jar. Video models scramble label text, so the AI jar must never be the one anyone reads. |
| Shot 11 | End card: **real jar hero render** on the plinth; **TOAD VENOM** title above it; **EE caduceus logo** with the **crown logo** below it; "EXOTIC EMPORIUM" wordmark | Title in the top third, jar at centre, logos in the lower third above the 420 px bottom UI zone |
| Shot 11 | Compliance line: "For use only by adults 21 and older" plus the licensee's **DCC license number** | Small, bottom of the logo block, legible. California requires the license number on all advertising. |

There is no other on-screen text, no game interface, and no "LEVEL CLEAR" banner in a pixel font. The "level clear" beat is told only by the music and the slime draining away. If the client wants a nod to the game, use one small line "WORLD 4-20" in the white comic VENOM lettering at the top of shot 5. Treat it as optional, because it is a game-UI element.

### Music and sound direction

- **Genre:** dark trap and horror synthwave, with a detuned, bitcrushed square-wave lead as the only "video game" sound. Think of a horror-film score playing a cartridge game, not a kids' game.
- **Tempo and key:** 144 BPM, D minor (phrygian colour: the flat second, Eb, sounds menacing). 24 bars = 40.0 s, so the track loops cleanly with the picture.
- **Structure:** bars 1-8 intro (hook, sub drone, trap hats from bar 5) / bars 9-16 drop and boss (full beat, a stop on bar 14) / bars 17-21 corrupted "level clear" jingle back into the hook / bars 22-24 end card groove, stripped back on bar 24 as the pickup into bar 1.
- **Key hits:** squelch (shot 2, bar 4 beat 1), staff splat (bar 6 beat 1), tongue thwip (bar 7), thunder plus the drop (bar 9), boss roar (bar 11), slam stop (bar 14 beat 1, half a beat of silence), burst (bar 15), jingle (bar 17), drip on the snare (bar 21).
- **Do not use:** any copied or soundalike Nintendo effect (coin ding, jump boing, power-up chime, flagpole jingle). These are infringement risks, and they are also exactly the sounds that read as made for kids.
- **No voice or dialogue.** At most one low wet growl on shot 10, processed and pitched down.

---

## 5. Risks and fallbacks

### Production risks by shot (hardest first)

| Shot | Why it is hard for current video models | Fallback |
|---|---|---|
| **4 Tongue swing** | A tongue that stays attached while the body swings in an arc is a hard physics problem. Expect the tongue to detach, stretch wrong or spawn a second tongue. | Split it into two cuts: **4a** his tongue lashes up out of the top of frame (he stays still, which is easy), then **4b** he drops into frame and lands on the far ledge (start+end frame). The cut sells the swing. The Kling start+end frame mode is best for 4b. |
| **1 and 5 Side-on walks** | Walk cycles drift: legs merge or slide, the staff changes hands, and in a side view the chibi head can turn to face the front. | Keep side-on with a tracking camera; this is the easiest walk for these models. Attach REF-SIDE. Generate 3-4 takes and keep the best 3.3 s. If the legs still slide, turn the walk into a hop cycle (one bounce per beat), which models hold better. Last resort: put him on a locked camera in the frame centre and scroll a separately generated background plate behind him in post (a real side-scroller parallax done in After Effects). |
| **10 Hero grin** | Teeth and tongue morph in close-ups; the helmet bumps change count; the jar label goes to soup. | Keep the mouth closed-to-static in the motion prompt and animate only the head turn, the drips and the push-in. The jar is replaced in post anyway. If the head turn breaks his face, drop the turn and keep only the push-in and the drip. |
| **9 Emporium reveal** | Two things move at once (the slime draining and him walking). | Run it as two passes, the slime drain on an empty-hall plate and him walking in, and comp them. Or drop the walk: he is already standing by the plinth and only the slime drains. |
| **3 and 7 Impacts** | Contact moments (staff hits plant, staff hits ground) can whiff or merge. | Use the start+end frame mode with an end keyframe showing the result (splatter or shockwave), so the model only has to fill in the motion. Hide a missed contact frame under a 2-frame white or green flash in the edit. |
| **6 and 8 Boss** | Low risk: tendrils, slime and a slow rise are what these models do well. The risk is a style jump to the halftone print look from REF-WORLD. | If the print look bleeds in, regenerate the keyframe with REF-CHAR attached as the style reference and REF-WORLD only described in words. |
| **All: on-model** | Helmet bump count, chest emblem and staff texture drift between shots. | Use the same character block word for word in every prompt, attach REF-CHAR and REF-SIDE every time, approve every keyframe against REF-CHAR before animating, and fix the emblem in post with a tracked overlay if it melts. |

### Compliance risks (California: not attractive to anyone under 21)

The format itself is the main risk: an animated chibi mascot moving through a platform-game level. California rules on "attractive to children" are read broadly and cartoon characters are a known flag. These rules keep it reading adult:

1. **Palette:** night only. Blacks, storm blues, sickly greens, violet. Never the bright primary red, yellow, green and blue of a classic platformer. The multicolour TOAD letters appear only as the brand mark in post, never as the colours of the world.
2. **Tone:** horror and streetwear. Fangs, drool, a monster rising from slime, lightning, and drip-ghost silhouettes. He never waves, hugs, dances or smiles sweetly.
3. **No kids' game UI:** no coins, hearts, lives, score, timers, question-mark blocks, power-up stars or "Press Start". No chiptune jingles copied from games kids play.
4. **Highest-risk shots:** **1** (the glowing frogs are the cutest element; fix: they turn their heads together, they have no smiles, and the grade stays dark) and **10** (a chibi close-up; fix: low angle, narrowed eyes, fangs, dark grade).
5. **No product use:** he never opens, holds, sniffs or uses the jar. The jar is a trophy on a plinth. No smoke, no flower close-ups, no claims, no "effects" language.
6. **Distribution:** post organically from an account age-gated to 21+ (Meta does not allow paid cannabis promotion). Show the 21+ line and the license number on the end card.
7. **IP:** the film quotes a famous platformer and a famous comic character. Keep the prompts and sound free of the actual names, characters, sounds and logos. Have the client's counsel or compliance person clear the final cut for both the IP risk and the cannabis-advertising rules before posting.