OpenMontage/skills/creative/enhancement-strategy.md

Enhancement Strategy Skill

When to Use

Apply this skill when deciding how to enhance talking-head footage: which face/color/audio presets to use, what overlays to add, and how to balance enhancement visibility with naturalness.

Enhancement Tools

Tool	What It Does	Recommended Preset
face_enhance	Skin smoothing, sharpening, tone correction	talking_head_standard
color_grade	Cinematic color look with intensity control	cinematic_warm at 0.85
audio_enhance	Loudness normalization, noise reduction, EQ	clean_speech
code_snippet	Render code as styled overlay image	monokai theme
diagram_gen	Generate box/flow diagrams as overlay images	dark theme
image_selector	AI-generated illustrations (requires API key)	—

Enhancement Chain

Apply in this order — each step is optional and gracefully skipped on failure:

raw footage
  → subtitle burn (video_compose)
  → face enhance (face_enhance)
  → color grade (color_grade)
  → audio enhance (audio_enhance)
  → final encode (video_compose)

Face Enhancement Presets

Preset	When to Use
talking_head_standard	Default for any talking head — smoothing + sharpening + warm
soft_skin	Webcam footage with visible pores — gentle smoothing
sharpen	Soft/blurry camera — adds edge definition
brighten	Dark/underlit footage — lifts shadows and midtones
denoise	Grainy footage (low light, high ISO) — temporal noise reduction

Color Grade Profiles

Profile	Look	Intensity
cinematic_warm	Warm highlights, lifted shadows, slight saturation	0.85
cinematic_cool	Teal shadows, orange highlights	0.7
bright_clean	Vivid, lifted, YouTube-style	0.8
moody_dark	Crushed blacks, desaturated — dramatic	0.6
neutral	Minimal correction — just normalizes levels	1.0

Audio Enhancement Presets

Preset	When to Use	Target
clean_speech	Default talking head — full processing chain	-16 LUFS
voice_clarity	Speaker sounds muddy — boosts 3kHz/5kHz presence	-16 LUFS
podcast	Interview/podcast — heavier compression	-16 LUFS
noise_reduce	Noisy environment — aggressive FFT denoising	-16 LUFS
normalize_only	Clean source that just needs loudness matching	-16 LUFS

Overlay Enhancement Types

Type	When to Use	Tool	Placement
Text overlay	Key terms, statistics, quotes	video_compose overlay	Upper or lower third
Code snippet	Technical content, API examples	code_snippet → overlay	Side of frame or full-screen
Diagram	Explaining a concept visually	diagram_gen → overlay	Side of frame or full-screen
Lower third	Speaker name, topic label	video_compose overlay	Bottom 20% of frame

Overlay Density Guidelines

Short-form (< 60 seconds)

• High density: overlay every 3-5 seconds
• Quick visual changes, bold text
• Subtitles mandatory (most viewers watch muted)

Medium-form (1-10 minutes)

• Moderate density: overlay every 10-20 seconds
• Let the speaker carry sections without visual competition

Long-form (> 10 minutes)

• Low density: overlay every 30-60 seconds
• Only enhance when the content benefits (key points, complex topics)

Placement Rules

1. Never cover the speaker's face — eyes, nose, mouth must remain visible
2. Subtitles go in the bottom 20% — margin_v: 50 for vertical, 40 for horizontal
3. Consistent positioning — once you place overlays on the left, keep them there
4. Text overlays: 2-5 seconds on screen — long enough to read, short enough to not feel stuck

Deciding What to Enhance

For each section of the script, ask:

1. Is the speaker explaining something visual? → Add a diagram (diagram_gen)
2. Is there a key statistic or quote? → Add a text overlay
3. Is there code or technical content? → Add a code screenshot (code_snippet)
4. Has the speaker been on camera > 30 seconds straight? → Consider B-roll or overlay
5. Is this the intro or conclusion? → Bold text overlay with the key message

Quality Checklist

• Face enhancement looks natural — not over-smoothed or orange
• Color grade is visible but subtle — skin tones look healthy
• Audio is normalized to target LUFS — consistent volume throughout
• Subtitles are readable on mobile, positioned below the face
• Overlays add value (not just decoration)
• Enhancement density matches content length and platform