# Spoken Institute — Canonical Production Document
## Source of truth. Consolidated from Google Doc (ID: 1mXuVKwhKYwD6B_T7114Ntvd-u1Vf5pT4fplFykiJJag)
## Last synced: 2026-03-13

---

# PART I — STRUCTURE

**Campaign Name:** A Day in the Life of an R&D Teacher
**Duration:** ~75 seconds
**Language:** English (text overlays)
**Format:** Photorealistic AI stills → animated (parallax, camera moves, environmental motion)
**Aspect:** 9:16 primary + 16:9 + 1:1

**Campaign Thesis:** "The days of the bureaucratic teacher are over. The teacher is a driver of development."
**Recruitment message:** "You're already this person. We built a place that deserves you."

**Target:** Intellectually curious polymaths in Israel — late 20s to early 40s. Academics, researchers, educators who feel too expansive for conventional teaching roles.

## Scene Map
| # | Scene | Timecode |
|---|-------|----------|
| 1 | Cold Open: The List | 0:00–0:10 |
| 2 | Morning: The Physicist | 0:10–0:25 |
| 3 | Midday: The Mentor | 0:25–0:40 |
| 4 | Afternoon: The Connector | 0:40–0:55 |
| 5 | Evening: The Student | 0:55–1:05 |
| 6 | The Turn | 1:05–1:12 |
| 7 | The Close | 1:12–1:18 |

## Production Pipeline
1. **Generate hero stills** — AI image gen with character reference lock, style reference, scene prompt. 4 variations per scene, select best.
2. **Animate stills** — Parallax layers, subtle camera moves, environmental motion (wind, dust, steam). 2–3 seconds of motion per still.
3. **Typography + edit** — English text overlays, timestamps, transitions, music bed, sound design.
4. **Render** — 9:16, 16:9, 1:1. Individual stills for print and social.

---

# PART II — SCRIPT

## Scene 1 — Cold Open: The List (0:00–0:10)
**Visual:** Words written across an enormous chalkboard, floor to ceiling, scattered organically like a mind map — not in rows:
> Quantum non-locality · Maxwell's equations · Meditation · Dialectics · Phenomenology · Black holes · Riemannian geometry · Pre-Socratics · Phase transitions · Psychodynamic therapy · The equivalence principle · Kant · Psychology · Human beings · The Langlands program

Teacher standing with his back to us, facing the board.

**Text Overlay:** "Do you have something to say about eight of these?"

**Transition:** Cut to white. Beat.

---

## Scene 2 — Morning: The Physicist (0:10–0:25)
**Visual:** Outdoor teaching space under a concrete pergola on campus. Teacher stands at a large whiteboard, marker in hand, mid-explanation. Maxwell's equations with visible thinking — annotations, arrows, circled question mark. Not a clean presentation — evidence of a mind working in real time.

6–8 students on concrete steps and benches in a loose arc. Ages 16–20, diverse Israeli faces. One student challenges him — hand raised, questioning. Another sketches furiously. Energy is conversational — a debate, not a lecture.

Beyond the pergola: harsh midday sun bleaches the courtyard. A eucalyptus tree. Dry golden hills in the distance. They are in shade — faces lit by reflected light bouncing off bright ground.

**Camera:** Shot from a distance, partially through a concrete column. Slight motion blur on the teacher's gesturing hand.

**Text Overlay:** "7:30 AM · You teach physics like a language, not a formula."

---

## Scene 3 — Midday: The Mentor (0:25–0:40)
**Visual:** Outdoor covered terrace. Brutalist concrete columns frame the scene. Teacher sits on a simple wooden bench against a white plaster wall. Across from him: a young woman, mid-20s, dark hair, earth-tone clothing, sitting in a chair. Intense conversation — he leans in listening with his whole body. She makes a point with both hands.

Between them on a low stone ledge: two Arabic coffee cups, an open notebook with handwritten notes, a pen across the page.

Beyond the terrace: a courtyard with a single mature olive tree, dry stone ground, Mediterranean blue sky.

**Camera:** Shot from behind a column — concrete edge enters left side of frame. Caught from across the courtyard. Dust motes or pollen visible in the shaft of light between shade and sun.

**Text Overlay:** "12:00 PM · You are mentoring the next teacher."

---

## Scene 4 — Afternoon: The Connector (0:40–0:55)
**Visual:** Seminar room with doors thrown open to the landscape. Teacher sits at a round table with five adults — a research meeting, not a class. He sits among them as an equal. The others: a woman with her lab coat on her chair, a man in startup-casual, an older woman with reading glasses pushed up on her head, two younger researchers.

On the table: laptops, papers, coffee cups, a molecular model, diagram printouts. Behind them: a screen connecting neuroscience and mathematics. Someone has drawn linking lines on a whiteboard nearby.

Through the open doors: late afternoon golden light pours in from the hills. The landscape is present in the room.

**Camera:** Elevated angle from the doorway — looking in from outside. Frame includes the door frame and a slice of golden landscape on the right. The photographer walked past and paused.

**Text Overlay:** "4:00 PM · You connect science, philosophy, and technology."

---

## Scene 5 — Evening: The Student (0:55–1:05)
**Visual:** Rooftop terrace at golden hour. Teacher sits alone at a simple table. A single Arabic coffee cup. Open books — physics, philosophy, Hebrew text. Notebook open, pen in hand, writing.

Behind him: panoramic view of Israeli hills at sunset. Golden dry grass, dark green pines, distant buildings catching amber light. His white shirt glows warm in the side light. Long shadows.

He is absorbed. Peaceful. Content. This is his favorite part of the day — alone with his curiosity.

**Camera:** Medium shot from the side. Golden light creates a rim on his profile. Shallow depth of field melts the hillscape into painterly colors. A half-empty coffee cup in the foreground, slightly out of focus.

**Text Overlay:** "9:00 PM · And at night, you are still learning."

---

## Scene 6 — The Turn (1:05–1:12)
**Visual:** Quick montage — flash cuts between all four scenes, each held for 1.5 seconds. The teacher in white in every frame. The world changes. He does not.

All four scenes appear as quadrants. A thin white line draws itself connecting them. Quadrants dissolve to white.

**Text Overlay:** "You have something to say about eight things — and want to learn to say eight more?"

---

## Scene 7 — The Close (1:12–1:18)
**Visual:** Clean white background.

**Text Overlay:**
> "The days of the bureaucratic teacher are over."
> "R&D Teacher. The Spoken Institute."

Logo. CTA: **spoken.institute/teach**

**Sound:** Piano resolves. Silence.

---

## Standalone Still Headlines
| Scene | Headline |
|-------|---------|
| The List | "Do you have something to say about eight of these?" |
| Morning | "Physics is a language. Come teach it that way." |
| Midday | "The next teacher is sitting across from you." |
| Afternoon | "When science meets philosophy, everything changes." |
| Evening | "And at night, you are still learning." |

---

# PART III — STYLING

## The Character (LOCKED)
**One person. Every scene. He never changes.**

| Attribute | Spec |
|-----------|------|
| Age | Mid-30s |
| Skin | Fair with light olive undertone |
| Hair | Light brown, wavy, falls slightly across forehead |
| Beard | Neat, trimmed, dark brown — **always present, non-negotiable** |
| Eyes | Warm brown |
| Build | Slim and athletic |
| Shirt | White linen, untucked, top button undone, sleeves rolled to forearms |
| Pants | Light beige chinos |
| Shoes | Simple leather sandals or shoes |
| Energy | Calm, confident, warm, intellectually intense |

> The beard and white shirt are his visual anchors. They never change across any scene.

---

## Photography Direction: Israeli Documentary

**Core principle:** Images should look caught, not composed. Documentary photography, not advertising. The photographer is observing, not directing.

### Lighting
- Harsh Mediterranean sun with strong shadows
- High contrast between shaded areas and bright backgrounds
- Subjects in open shade — soft light on faces, hot bright backgrounds
- Golden hour for evening scenes — side light, long shadows, amber skin tones
- No even studio lighting. No fill flash. Real light only.

### Color
- Warm golden stone, cool blue shadows, bleached sky
- Israeli light — hard, bright, unforgiving but beautiful
- **Kodak Portra 400 and 800** color science — creamy skin tones, warm midtones
- Greens are real Mediterranean: olive, eucalyptus, pine
- Whites are warm, not clinical

### Texture and Grain
- Real film grain — gritty, present, with structure
- Material surfaces emphasized: concrete, plaster, wood, stone, fabric
- No AI-smooth surfaces. No digital perfection.
- Micro-imperfections are essential: shirt creases, wind in hair, dust motes

### Composition
- Shot from a distance or through architecture — the photographer observes
- Imperfect framing — not symmetrical, not centered
- Elements partially obscuring the frame: columns, doorways, foliage
- Generous negative space — the environment breathes
- Israeli architecture: Brutalist concrete, white plaster, Bauhaus influence

### Camera References
| Camera | Lens |
|--------|------|
| Leica M6 or M10-R | Summicron 50mm |
| Mamiya 7 medium format | 80mm |
| Contax G2 | Zeiss 45mm |
| Nikon FM2 | 35mm f/2 |

### Film Stocks
| Stock | Use |
|-------|-----|
| Kodak Portra 400 | Default |
| Kodak Portra 800 pushed | Harsh light scenes |
| Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600 | High contrast scenes |
| Ilford HP5+ rated at 200 | Indoor / corridor scenes |

### Anti-Qualities (What This Is NOT)
- Not HDR. Not teal-and-orange graded.
- Not AI-smooth or digitally perfect.
- Not stock photography. Not posed.
- Not New York or European. **This is Israel.**
- Not dark or moody. The light is bright and honest.

---

## Setting Design
All scenes: modern Israeli educational campus — research institute in the Galilee hills, or campus near Haifa.

**Architecture:** Israeli modernist — Brutalist concrete, white plaster walls, natural wood accents, deep overhangs for shade.

**Landscape:** Mediterranean — dry golden hills, olive trees, eucalyptus, cypress, pine. Distant rolling terrain.

**Spaces:** Generous, airy, high ceilings. Connected to nature through windows, terraces, and courtyards. Functional but beautiful — concrete, wood, plants, natural light. Not a typical school. A place where research happens.

---

## Style JSON — AI Generation Pipeline

```json
{
  "character": {
    "age": "mid-30s",
    "skin": "fair with light olive undertone",
    "hair": "light brown wavy, falls slightly across forehead",
    "beard": "neat trimmed dark brown — always present",
    "eyes": "warm brown",
    "build": "slim athletic",
    "shirt": "white linen, untucked, top button undone, sleeves rolled",
    "pants": "light beige chinos",
    "shoes": "simple leather sandals or shoes"
  },
  "style": {
    "approach": "documentary — caught not composed",
    "lighting": "harsh Mediterranean, strong shadows, high contrast",
    "color": "Portra 400 — warm stone, cool shadows, bleached sky",
    "grain": "real film grain, gritty, present",
    "composition": "through architecture, imperfect framing, generous space",
    "setting": "Israeli campus — concrete, plaster, olive trees, golden hills",
    "anti": "no HDR, no AI-smooth, no posed, no stock, no studio lighting"
  }
}
```

---

## Reference Topic List (Full — for chalkboard scene)
Turbulence · Psychodynamic therapy · Quantum non-locality · Maxwell's equations · Meditation · Lebesgue integral · Dialectics (Plato, Marx, Hegel) · Pre-Socratics · The equivalence principle · Non-Euclidean, Riemannian, differential, and algebraic geometry · Kant · Phenomenology · The Langlands program · Phase transitions · Black holes · Psychology and mentoring · Human beings

> Note: The Langlands program is the largest unifying project in modern pure mathematics, connecting number theory, harmonic analysis, algebraic geometry, and representation theory. It embodies the Spoken Institute ethos: seemingly separate fields, deeply connected.

---

# CHANGES VS. EARLIER DRAFTS

## What changed from SCRIPT.md (v1, Feb 27)
- ❌ **Dropped:** Illustrated style (hand-drawn digital, teal-cyan + warm peach palette, European graphic novel)
- ✅ **Now:** Photorealistic, Israeli documentary, Portra film stock
- ❌ **Dropped:** Animated illustrations, Hebrew-only language
- ✅ **Now:** AI-generated stills → animated; English text overlays
- ❌ **Dropped:** Character — red-haired, glasses, beard
- ✅ **Now:** Light brown wavy hair, no glasses, neat trimmed dark brown beard, white linen + beige chinos
- ❌ **Dropped:** Diamond motif (◇), logo badge, blue Hebrew typography
- ✅ **Now:** Clean, typographic, minimal — CTA at close only
- ❌ **Dropped:** Cold open with Hebrew text scrolling on white
- ✅ **Now:** Cold open on the chalkboard with teacher's back to us

## What changed from SCRIPT-v2.md (Mar 2)
- ❌ **Dropped:** Sandy-blond hair, clean-shaven
- ✅ **Now:** Light brown wavy hair, **beard (non-negotiable)**
- Scene descriptions significantly expanded and grounded (specific campus architecture, Israeli light, Arabic coffee cups, olive trees)
- Text overlays confirmed in English (not Hebrew)
- Setting locked to Israeli campus — Galilee hills / near Haifa

## What STAYED consistent across all versions
- Teacher in white in every scene — never changes
- 5 scenes + turn + close structure
- The world changes around him, he doesn't
- Quadrant montage in Scene 6 with connecting line
- The topic list on the chalkboard
- "The days of the bureaucratic teacher are over."
- spoken.institute/teach CTA

---
*Google Doc ID: 1mXuVKwhKYwD6B_T7114Ntvd-u1Vf5pT4fplFykiJJag*
*Consolidated: 2026-03-13*