Experiment 02 · Video
A 7.2-second opening in three shots
Tin Kaiju’s opening — a key close-up, a walk through a cardboard city, and a stamp card composed without generation. Three paid shots and three keyframes, the walk that was set aside included, for $1.365939.
The takes
The bill
Every paid generation of the run, as its record has it: the amount the provider billed, to the last digit. The total is added in billionths of a dollar, so it never drifts.
| Item | Settings | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| Walk, first keyframe | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst · high · 16:9 · 13:29:48 | $0.05249 |
| Walk, first take — set aside | Hailuo 3 Max · 5 s · 768p · 13:30:53 | $0.40 |
| Key close-up, keyframe | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst · high · 16:9 · 13:36:14 | $0.05252 |
| Key close-up, take | Hailuo 3 Max · 5 s · 768p · 13:37:24 | $0.40 |
| Walk, second keyframe (back view added) | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst · high · 16:9 · 14:53:23 | $0.060929 |
| Walk, second take — in the cut | Hailuo 3 Max · 5 s · 768p · 14:54:02 | $0.40 |
Total$1.365939
The total rounded up to the cent, as Kiju’s buttons round it$1.37, the billed amount rounded up to the cent
The provenance file writes $1.36. marque/README.md
Prompt and settings
Low static camera at tabletop level. The brass wind-up key in the toy's back keeps turning steadily in one single direction around its horizontal shaft during the whole shot, never stopping and never reversing. The tin toy lurches to life and takes two heavy, jerky wind-up steps forward toward the camera, arms swinging stiffly; each step shakes the cardboard buildings and puffs up a little paper dust; a small camera jolt on the second step. Photographed tabletop miniature brought to life like stop-motion: a physical tin wind-up toy and a cardboard city; the toy keeps exactly the shape, colors, horns, eyes and key of the first image; stiff, jerky mechanical wind-up toy motion; one clear action beat; no morphing, no extra creatures, no people, no hands, no text, no watermark.Low static camera at tabletop level. The brass wind-up key on the toy's back turns with two sharp clicks, then the tin toy lurches to life and takes two heavy, jerky wind-up steps toward the camera, arms swinging stiffly; each step shakes the cardboard buildings and puffs up a little paper dust; a small camera jolt on the second step. Photographed tabletop miniature brought to life like stop-motion: a physical tin wind-up toy and a cardboard city; the toy keeps exactly the shape, colors, horns, eyes and key of the first image; stiff, jerky mechanical wind-up toy motion; one clear action beat; no morphing, no extra creatures, no people, no hands, no text, no watermark.Static macro shot. The fingers of the human hand firmly turn the brass wind-up key on the toy's back, two slow half-turns, then let go and withdraw out of frame; the key keeps turning on its own for a moment. Photographed tabletop miniature, macro lens, shallow depth of field; a physical tin wind-up toy and one real adult human hand; the toy keeps exactly the shape, colors, horns and key of the first image; the hand keeps five fingers with natural proportions and moves naturally; one clear action beat; no morphing, no extra hands, no extra creatures, no face, no text, no watermark.Settings
- Model
- minimax/hailuo-3-max
- Provider
- openrouter
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9
- Duration
- 5 s
- Resolution
- 768p
- First frame
- yes
- Takes
- 3
- Day
- 2026-09-25
How it was cut
The opening is three pieces (the episode file, marque/episodes/ouverture/episode.json): 1.2 seconds of a key
close-up, 3.8 seconds of the walk, then 2.2 seconds of a stamp card composed without generation. Three sound effects
ride on top; they were paid in ElevenLabs credits, not dollars, so they are not in the bill.
What was set aside, and why
The first walk put the key in the wrong place: it swung back and forth, then stayed stuck on the side of the head. The second keyframe added a view of the toy’s back as a reference, and in the new take the key turns in the back for the whole shot.
What stays open
- The key close-up was cut from a test in which a hand winds the key; the cut starts after the hand has left the frame. The studio has since made it a rule — no human hand next to the mascot in a moving shot — and that test is not shown here.
- The brand’s README writes $1.36 for the opening, tests included; the six records add up to $1.365939.