Orbit With Ben — studio
Production repo for Orbit With Ben (@OrbitWithBen): animated space storytelling with Orbit, a small orange robot, and Ben's British narration. Wonder, not dread.
Agents and new collaborators: start with AGENTS.md. It lists the docs in force, the commands, where Ben signs off, and what never to do.
| Need | Go to |
|---|
| What to make, the week, hooks, the four-week test | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/FAMILIAR_DANGER_STRATEGY.md |
| How to build and ship a long or a Short | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/STUDIO_PLAYBOOK.md |
| Titles and thumbnails | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/THUMBNAIL_AND_TITLE_RULES.md |
| Latest numbers | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/audits/weekly/<date>/REPORT.md (every Monday) |
| Why views were low, and the fixes | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/audits/CHANNEL_AUDIT_2026-09-24/AUDIT.md |
| Housekeeping and what's next | 00_Brand/Channel-Setup/IMPROVEMENTS_BACKLOG.md |
| Old docs, rules, scripts and audits | _archive/ (history only) |
Repo map
AGENTS.md Start here (any agent)
00_Brand/
Brand-Guidelines/ Brand voice and look
Channel-Setup/ Docs in force, templates, ideas, backlog
tools/ Shorts ship gate, thumbnail builders + preview, weekly audit
could-orbit-survive/ Wednesday test format + test log
audits/ Current audits, weekly reports, gate data
social/ Buffer mirror: channel ids, saved plans (TikTok paused)
01_Orbit-Character/ Canonical Orbit stills and animation masters
02_Video-Projects/NNN_Slug/ One folder per film (start from _template_NNN_Episode-Slug)
04_Audio/tools/ VO settings (orbit_voice.py), Veo helper
07_Content-Ops/ Local CLIs: script review, episode gate, YouTube upload, retitle, Buffer mirror
docs/ Tech notes (Veo CG, analytics, playback fixes)
scripts/ Desktop Studio helpers for Studio-only jobs
_archive/ Superseded material, kept for history
Content Ops quick start
cd 07_Content-Ops
cp .env.example .env # fill in locally; never commit secrets
npm install
npm run youtube:auth # once: saves the YouTube login into .env
npm test
Naming convention
project_scene_asset_version_status.extension
| Part | Meaning | Example |
|---|
project | Video or character prefix | orbit, aliens |
scene | Scene or clip identifier | intro, scene-001 |
asset | What the file actually is | wave, earth-wide |
version | Zero-padded, always increments | v01, v02 |
status | raw · selected · polished | raw |
Good:
orbit_intro_wave_v01_raw.mp4
orbit_intro_wave_v02_raw.mp4
orbit_intro_wave_v02_selected.mp4
orbit_intro_wave_v02_polished.mp4
aliens_scene-001_earth-wide_v01_raw.mp4
aliens_voiceover-master_v01.wav
Never use:
final.mp4
final-final.mp4
new-final-2.mp4
Versions only ever go up. If v02 is bad, the next attempt is v03 — v02 is
never reused or overwritten.
Raw · Selected · Polished
These three words are the backbone of the whole workspace. Every video file
carries exactly one of them.
| Status | What it is | Rules |
|---|
raw | Straight out of the generator (AI Studio Veo/Omni), byte-for-byte as downloaded. | Never edited. Never deleted. Never renamed after download. Every generation is kept, including the rejects — they are the evidence behind the review scores and they cost credits to produce. |
selected | A byte-identical copy of the one raw take that passed review. | Created by copying, never by moving. It marks the decision; it does not change the pixels. |
polished | The selected take after trimming and cleanup in the editor. | This is the only file that gets used in an edit. Exported fresh — never overwritten in place. |
A polished master is then copied (not moved) into the matching
01_Orbit-Character/06_Animation-Exports/ sub-folder so it becomes part of the
reusable library.
Master assets — never overwrite
Files in these locations are protected masters:
01_Orbit-Character/01_Master-References/01_Orbit-Character/06_Animation-Exports/- every
*_raw.* file in any 04_Generated-Clips/ folder
Rules:
- Never overwrite a master. Write a new version number instead.
- Never resize, recompress or re-encode the master character sheet. If a
smaller file is needed, derive an optimised copy into
05_Seedance-References/ and leave the master untouched.
- Never delete a raw generation, even an obviously failed one. Mark it
rejected in
notes.md and leave the file in place.
- If a master genuinely must change, bump the version:
...-master-v01.png → ...-master-v02.png, keeping both.
