Motion Formats: VHS, pixel art, lyric and launch videos — workflow skill for animation & motion graphics
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Seven full formats with beat structures and presets: analog-horror trailer, VHS screensaver, pixel runner, wave wordmark, DAW one-shot, launch film, lyric video.
- Type: Workflow · Animation & motion graphics
- Slug:
motion-formats - Status: live
- Publisher: varg (varg, verified)
- License: MIT
- Source: https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/motion-formats
- Works in: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw, varg Studio
- Requires: Node 22 + ffmpeg (HyperFrames) or a Remotion 4 project
- Cost: Free: renders locally with HyperFrames, Remotion or ffmpeg. Generated footage, voice or music is billed in varg credits with an estimate first.
- Runtime: Minutes per template, mostly render time
What it does
Seven formats with the structure already worked out: every time derives from the BPM, hits land a frame or two before the transient, and old media is degraded with a signal model rather than an overlay.
7 templates, 32 presets. Every rule in the skill cites its source; every preset is exact values (durations, easing, sizes, colors, fonts) in a JSON file the agent loads.
| Template | Presets |
|---|---|
| DAW timeline one-shot: One continuous camera move over a mock music-app arrangement view; a bracket tracker locks onto every clip the playhead hits on the beat, the drop pulls back to the whole arrangement | Follow cam, Build and drop reveal, Vertical follow, Light studio |
| Found-footage website trailer: A 25 s analog-horror teaser that browses a fictional website as a screen recording or a camcorder pointed at a CRT, escalates, and ends on a title | Camcorder filming a CRT, Clean screen capture that corrupts, Broadcast-slate interruptions, 9:16 |
| Import-from-any-editor launch trailer: 18 s feature launch film: project files from other editors are dropped onto the app and the timeline rebuilds on the beat, ending on the logo | Drop and rebuild, Format rain, One-take loop, Vertical cutdown |
| Kinetic lyric video: Lyrics animate in sync with the vocal; type size, weight and motion carry emphasis; for releases, hook teasers and social clips | Word punch, Line karaoke, Ballad drift, Build and slam, Lyrics in the world |
| Pixel-art runner on a CRT: An 18 s side-scrolling pixel-art mini game (run, jump, reach the logo) shown through a curved, scanlined CRT | 16-colour console, 16:9, 4-shade handheld green, Strict 8-bit sprite limits, 9:16, 1:1 fantasy console |
| VHS bouncing-logo screensaver: A 5 s brand sting or loop: a logo bouncing at constant speed on a worn videotape at 50/60 fps, landing in a corner on cue | PAL 50 fps, landscape, NTSC 60 fps, landscape, 9:16 phone screensaver, 1:1, Worn EP rental tape |
| Wave-through wordmark: A 2 s logo sting: a crest of lift, weight or seesaw tilt runs through a wordmark letter by letter and settles back to the exact logo | Lift wave, Seesaw, Weight wave, Snap, Idle loop |
Rules every template follows
- Derive every time from 60/BPM: t0 + n·beat; never sum rounded frames.
- Visual hits 1–2 frames before the transient; entrances start 3–5 frames early.
- Every camera move needs a reason; hide unavoidable seams in 4–6 frame whip pans, never dissolves.
- One event per beat, holds of 1 s or less, end card held at least 1 s.
- Degrade with a signal model (tape damage → downscale → CRT shader), not overlays.
- Seek-safe and true to the medium: triangle-wave bounce, floor(t/pose) sprites, integer pixels, 50/60 fps field rate.
Built from: Finn McKenty + ntsc-rs defaults (VHS); Pedro Medeiros (saint11), Raymond Schlitter (Slynyrd) (pixel art); Joey Korenman / School of Motion (kinetic type); Netflix timed text; @twoclipping, @bohdanmotion (launch films); Timur Bekmambetov (screenlife).
Renders locally with HyperFrames or Remotion for 0 credits; generated footage, voice or music runs through varg with a cost estimate first.
Use when
- How to make an authentic VHS bouncing logo screensaver
- How to make an analog horror found-footage trailer of a website
- How to animate a pixel-art runner with a CRT effect
- How to animate a wave through a logo wordmark
- How to make a beat breakdown video that follows the DAW playhead
- How to make a product launch video for an import feature
Not for
- Generate the song for my lyric video (use varg-ai (music))
- Make an AI music video with a consistent singer (use varg-music-video)
- Add a VHS grade to my wedding footage (use footage-effects)
Install
- Claude Code:
claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg - Codex:
npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill motion-formats -a codex -y - Cursor:
npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill motion-formats -a cursor -y - OpenClaw:
npx clawhub@latest install motion-formats - Gemini CLI:
npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill motion-formats -a gemini-cli -y - Any agent, with the vargai CLI:
vargai install motion-formats
Example output
https://s3.varg.ai/files/72c55813-c0fa-4cf2-9f64-ec4f7ed0e7ae/file_7846529f1ac7.mp4 — example (credit: varg)
More animation & motion graphics skills
- Day in My Life: A 60–75 s hand-drawn ink film of your agent's day with you, built from local Claude Code history, scored for strings.
- p5 Paint Animation: Handwriting that writes itself, photos that paint themselves and clips repainted as living paintings, in p5.js code.
- Session Story: A 40–70 s watercolor film of a typical session with your agent, told in your real messages, with its own score.
- Remotion Markup: Write Remotion markup that animates well: timing, transitions, motion blur, effects, audio, fonts and 3D.
- Motion AI Kit: Write production-grade UI animation with Motion or CSS: best practices, docs search, springs, perf audits.
- Motion Design: Animate with intent: timing, easing, choreography and Disney principles for UI and motion graphics.