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Name: island-film-treatment.md
Description: Treatment, area coverage and shot list for the whole-island cinematic (#757, milestone #758).
Purpose: Records which island areas are built out in the dated build and how the film shows them, so the capture (#759) films only what exists.
-->

# Forge Island film: treatment and area coverage

Written 2026-09-26 for #758 (parent #757). Build surveyed: **2026.09.26.5** (origin/dev `78320660d2`),
the package the build train last passed. Survey stills (game-captured, autumn, clock 0.52):
[island high](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489270-01-island-high.png),
[island from the north](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489272-02-island-north.png),
[homestead](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489274-03-homestead-wide.png),
[John Deere yard](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489277-04-jd-yard.png),
[Rodeo arena](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489279-05-rodeo.png),
[Bayside through the trees](https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/images/1790489281-08-bayside.png).

## Model film

The #617 John Deere dig cinematic, 45 s, game-rendered:
https://gwijimqfbexzqdssnree.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/forgemedia-assets/videos/1790342410-jd-617-cinematic.mp4
(ForgeMedia record `3d15fdd0-596e-4478-8e4d-cc44f8d6ce4e`). What made it work: every frame drawn by the
game on a fixed 24 fps step with no UI; real lenses (full-frame depth of field, grain, vignette, a touch
of fringe, bloom, motion blur, warm grade); nine shots cut on the machine's own rhythm (orbit, ground
lens at the teeth, cab shoulder, dump, slow-motion bite, crane pull-back); a hand-held breath on every
shot; 2.39:1 bars and fades added in the edit. Its gap: no sound.

## Area coverage (game as truth)

| Area | Web x, z | State in 2026.09.26.5 | In the film |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homestead farm (farmhouse, old barn, machine shed, silo, water tower, windmill, grain bins, wheat field, radio mast) | −138, −279 | Film-ready. Real models; farm realism cards #566-#582 still open | Overview + close detail |
| John Deere training yard (210 P excavator, 650 P dozer, trailer, stockpiles, diggable ground) | −195, −321 | Film-ready, the strongest area | Overview + live dig close-up |
| John Deere Rodeo arena | 15, −261 | Partial: generated geometry, bleachers wrong (#653), #619 open | Wide overview only |
| Boeing 777 at the GGS de-icing stand | 420, −621 | Partial: real 777; the de-icing truck is a greybox (#584, #587) | The aircraft only, low arc on the nose |
| Northeast airstrip and apron | 477, −399 | Stand-in, labelled "not a deliverable" (#583) | Seen only in the opening wide, never featured |
| Bayside Convention Center | −75, 204 | Greybox blockout (#618, #644, #658) | Seen only far off in wides, never featured |
| Forest, coast, coves and islets | whole island | Film-usable; haze washes out high wides | The scale act |
| Ranger station, radio tower, shrine | various | Partial; the ranger station is the armed compound | Left out (no guns in this film) |
| Purple Woods / Crystal Island | −375, 363 | Not built (billboard only, #652) | Left out |
| Research station, bunker, fishing dock, bridges | various | Not in Unreal | Left out |

## Treatment

**"An island, then a working day on it."** Scale first, then the places, then the people's work, then back out.
About 70 s at 24 fps, 2.39:1, the #617 lens look so the two films cut together.

1. **Scale (17 s).** Come in off the sea from the north with the 777 in the foreground and the whole
   landmass behind, then a long lateral move down the forested west coast. No cuts inside a move.
2. **Places (42 s).** Each built area gets one overview move, then the best of them get a close detail:
   the homestead from a descending crane, a low dolly past the wheat, the John Deere yard in a slow orbit
   with the excavator digging, a ground-level lens at the bucket, the Rodeo arena from a high orbit, and a
   low arc under the 777's nose.
3. **Close (11 s).** One unbroken crane from the farmyard up and back until the island sits in the sea again.

Transitions: hard cuts on motion inside the acts, a short dissolve between acts, fade from and to black.
Sound: the game's frames carry no audio, so the cut gets a quiet ambient bed (wind, surf, distant engine) that
rises under the machine shots; no voice-over and no titles or logos. Unfinished areas are never framed as a subject.

## Shot list

All shots come from the new data-driven director (`-ForgeIslandFilm=<shots.json>`, `IslandFilmDirector.cpp`,
#759), which reuses the #617 camera look and frame writer. Machines move on their own flags: the dig runs on
`-ForgeJdDigScript=trench,20`, the mowing tractor on `-ForgeMowingDemo`, and the crop duster flies its lap
by default. The shot list itself is `shots.json` beside this file.

| # | Shot | Area | Camera move | s | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea approach | Whole island, 777 in the foreground | Slow push in from 1 km north, 70-95 m up | 9 | Film director |
| 2 | West coast | Forest, coves, islets | Lateral traverse 460 m along the coast at 120 m | 8 | Film director |
| 3 | Homestead reveal | Homestead farm | Crane down from 75 m to 32 m, pushing in | 8 | Film director |
| 4 | Wheat | Homestead field | Low 5 m dolly along the field edge | 6 | Film director |
| 5 | Yard orbit | John Deere yard | 40° orbit at 42 m radius, excavator digging | 7 | Film director + `-ForgeJdDigScript` |
| 6 | Bucket | John Deere dig | Ground-level lens creeping toward the teeth | 6 | Film director + `-ForgeJdDigScript` |
| 7 | Arena | Rodeo arena | High orbit, 85 m radius, 45 m up | 7 | Film director |
| 8 | 777 | De-icing stand | Low arc under the nose, 62 m radius, 9 m up | 8 | Film director |
| 9 | Pull back | Farm to whole island | Rising crane out to 330 m over the sea | 11 | Film director |

Built before capture (all in #759): the film director and its shot list. Nothing else is needed.