# 02 · Media Catalogue

Point it at a folder of footage and it indexes every file: contact sheets, tagged and scored shots, muted loops
for websites, vertical windows for Reels, and an index for every folder. Nothing gets cut until you approve.

**For your AI:** walk me through building this one step at a time. Ask what footage I have and what I use it
for first. Don't move on until the current step works.

## First, check

- Do you have a folder of footage you never use because you can't find anything in it?
- Do you or your team spend hours scrubbing through clips for one shot?

## What you need

- A Mac or PC with enough disk space for the footage and the cuts.
- ffmpeg (runs on your computer) for reading, cutting and resizing video.
- Python or Node, which your AI writes the scripts in.
- An AI that can look at pictures (Claude or ChatGPT) to tag the contact sheets.

## Where it runs

On your computer. The footage never has to leave it.

## The steps

1. **The inventory.** A script lists every video in the folder: length, size, shape (vertical or wide),
   date. Skip the ones that aren't yours (downloads, films, other people's clips).
2. **Contact sheets.** For each video, a grid of frames, one every few seconds, so a person or an AI can
   see the whole clip at a glance. Seek to each frame; never decode the whole file.
3. **Tags and scores.** Your AI looks at each contact sheet and writes what each shot shows, plus a score
   for each use: website, Reel, promo.
4. **The proposal.** A page listing the best shots with their pictures. You pick. Nothing is cut yet.
5. **The cut.** Only the picks: muted loops for the website (wide, short, small file) and vertical windows
   for Reels (tall, a few seconds, at real speed).
6. **The index.** A CSV and a readable index in every folder: what each file is, its shape, length, tags.

## Checklist before you rely on it

- [ ] The originals are never changed or moved. Cuts go into a new folder.
- [ ] Every cut is checked: it plays, it has the right shape, length and size.
- [ ] Clips with other people's faces or private moments are flagged for you to decide.
- [ ] You can find one shot by a word in under a minute.
- [ ] Run it on 20 videos before you run it on 800.