Widescreen episode maker

Why the aspect is a series setting

The shape of an episode is not a per-take decision. A widescreen series wants its cast framed in landscape compositions, its sets wide enough to show a room, its cards laid out across the frame and its poster shaped like a banner. If one take came back tall, it would sit in black bars in the middle of the episode. So the aspect is chosen when the series is created and locked once the first take has rendered.

Every render in the series inherits that choice automatically. You never pass the aspect to a take; the studio reads it from the series and sends it with the request. The draft tool is told the aspect too, so the outlines it writes describe landscape compositions when the series is widescreen and tall ones when it is vertical.

The output file follows the same rule. A widescreen episode is written at 1920 by 1080 when any take in it was rendered at 1080p, at 1280 by 720 when the tallest take is 720p, and at 854 by 480 for 480p-only episodes. Takes of a lower resolution are scaled into that frame with their aspect preserved.

What renders in 16:9

Takes render through the same two video models as vertical takes. The Sketch tier produces text-only previews without cast references. Standard and High tiers accept up to nine reference images drawn from your library: up to three characters, each with an optional outfit and prop, plus one set. The references are the same images whichever aspect you pick; the model frames them for the width you asked for.

Posters are aspect-matched. A widescreen series gets banner-shaped key art; a vertical series gets a one-sheet. The poster prompt is built from the series title, the logline and, for an episode poster, that episode's synopsis, so the image reflects the story you have written rather than a generic still.

Cards render at the episode frame. On a 1920 by 1080 episode, the Marquee theme runs its bulbs across a wide black card and the title wraps to at most two lines. On the Cards page you can preview every theme in both shapes side by side.

Runtime targets in widescreen

A series also carries a runtime target: 60 seconds, 2 minutes or 5 minutes. The target has nothing to do with the aspect, but it is worth knowing how the two interact. Each take runs between 4 and 15 seconds and an episode holds up to 12 takes, so a 60-second episode is typically four 12-second takes plus five cards, and a 2-minute episode is eight takes plus nine cards.

The runtime meter on the episode page shows the planned total against the target as you add takes, including the two seconds each card contributes. It is the same calculation the packaging job uses, so the finished file lands where the meter said it would.

Pricing for 16:9 takes

Takes are priced per second by tier and resolution, and the aspect does not change the price. A Standard 720p take costs 6 credits a second, a High 1080p take 30 credits a second. The price line under the render button updates as you change the duration, and the backend refuses any job whose price has drifted from what the studio showed you.

Packaging an episode is two credits, cards included. Posters are three credits. Drafting an episode outline is two credits. Nothing on the site is free to generate, which is how the credits on every plan stay honest about what they buy.