---
title: "Motion energy check by Scenario — tools & renderers tutorial and best practices for AI video"
description: "Measure if a video parks: % still frames, longest hold, motion, cuts per 10 s, plus 4K playback and loudness gates. Install in Claude Code, Codex and Grok with one command."
url: https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/scenario-motion-energy-check
updated: 2026-10-30
---

# Motion energy check by Scenario — guide skill for tools & renderers

> **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q=<what the person wants>"` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: `curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh` installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): `vargai search` and `vargai install <slug>` with no key, every varg model after `vargai login`.

Measure if a video parks: % still frames, longest hold, motion, cuts per 10 s, plus 4K playback and loudness gates.

- **Type:** [Guide](https://varg.ai/how-to/guides.md) · [Tools & renderers](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/tooling.md)
- **Slug:** `scenario-motion-energy-check`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** Scenario (vendor)
- **License:** Scenario: free download, no license file in the ZIP; fonts SIL OFL
- **Source:** https://www.scenario.com/explorations/kinetic-film/
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor
- **Requires:** Claude Code or another agent that reads SKILL.md, Scenario MCP (music, sound effects, pictures), Node 18+ with Playwright (or Google Chrome), ffmpeg and ffprobe, Python 3 with numpy and opencv-python-headless
- **Cost:** Free and local.
- **Runtime:** seconds to a minute per film; the hardware decode check needs macOS

## What it does

Part of Scenario's Kinetic Film skill (https://www.scenario.com/explorations/kinetic-film/): the checks that make a film read as motion design instead of slides, measured instead of eyeballed. dyn.py measures any video at 320x180 (frames essentially still, the longest still stretch, median motion in px/frame, hard cuts per 10 s), holds.py lists every still stretch with the beat it starts on, audit.py flags frozen frames between moving ones, blank bands and single-frame flashes, and rectify2.py flattens a phone filming a screen so a reference can be measured. finish.py gates a render: 40 % still frames or less and no still stretch over 0.6 s before the end card, median motion of 2.5 px/frame or more, the expected frame count, under 1 GB, H.264 level 5.2 or lower, a full decode on the macOS hardware decoder, loudness between -16 and -12 LUFS, and builds the 1080p and 9:16 versions. Reference numbers from the skill: the fastest reference reel has 16 % still frames and 9.1 cuts per 10 s; Scenario's film "Just code" has 30 % and 8.5.

## Use when

- Before delivery: does the edit park anywhere, is the 4K file playable on phones and in QuickTime
- Measure a reference reel's pace (still frames, holds, cuts) and put your film's numbers next to it
- Find the exact beats where a motion film goes still

## Not for

- Judging taste, story or copy
- Checking captions or safe zones
- Colour grading or audio editing

## Install

- Claude Code: `curl -fsSL -o /tmp/scenario-kinetic-film.zip "https://iieqkinwjorxrzjp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/explorations/2217ab5dbd452185a5c3c1509994da46b1ac20d2ebeaa888536244372ce73ebf/scenario-kinetic-film-skill.zip?download=1" && unzip -oq /tmp/scenario-kinetic-film.zip -d ~/.claude/skills && claude mcp add --transport http scenario https://mcp.scenario.com/mcp`
- Codex: `curl -fsSL -o /tmp/scenario-kinetic-film.zip "https://iieqkinwjorxrzjp.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/explorations/2217ab5dbd452185a5c3c1509994da46b1ac20d2ebeaa888536244372ce73ebf/scenario-kinetic-film-skill.zip?download=1" && unzip -oq /tmp/scenario-kinetic-film.zip -d ~/.codex/skills && codex mcp add scenario --url https://mcp.scenario.com/mcp && codex mcp login scenario`
- Any MCP client: `https://mcp.scenario.com/mcp`
- Any agent, with the vargai CLI: `vargai install scenario-motion-energy-check`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/files/4325c578-378d-4c43-ae53-3cc3218df1ea/file_798ec5644f2c.mp4 — Scenario's film "Just code" (NO TIMELINE. NO PLUGINS. NO RENDER FARM., then a cut on every beat) with a live meter: the share of still frames so far, the current hold and a motion history, measured per frame by varg's overlay script. (credit: Scenario, "Just code" (Kinetic Film); still/hold meter drawn by varg, https://www.scenario.com/explorations/kinetic-film/)

## More tools & renderers skills

- [varg AI](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/varg-ai.md): The official varg skill: videos, images, speech and music through one API key, rendered in the cloud or locally.
- [Local-first video downloader: private, no subscription](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/media-download.md): Save any video by link (X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, 1800+ sites) or Pinterest images as references, locally, no key.
- [Templates Gallery Ops](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/varg-templates-section.md): Internal runbook for the varg app Templates gallery: publish renders, preview clips, frame-0 posters, shelves.
- [Turn your agent skill into a varg how to listing](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/varg-publish-skill.md): Publish your agent skill to varg how to in the one card format: checked, shown to you, sent for review.
- [HyperFrames CLI](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/hyperframes-cli.md): Drive the HyperFrames CLI: scaffold, check, preview, snapshot, edit the timeline, render locally or in the cloud.
- [HyperFrames Registry](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/hyperframes-registry.md): Pull any of ~450 ready-made blocks into a video as editable source: transitions, titles, captions, charts, 3D.