[Neko Five Production Diary #07] The Project Manager's Ordeal. The 'Automation Trap' Lurking in the Mass Production Phase and the Completion of the Transformation Bank
▲ From the ring of light to the landing, Neko Red's transformation sequence has been assembled into a single, continuous flow.
A word from this week
This is Rousseau, struggling with both AI development and parenting.
This week was spent more on 'thoroughly doubting what we've made' than on 'creating new assets'.
No sooner had I rejoiced that all patterns of the transformation scene videos were ready, than a fatal accident was discovered the moment I started the review: 'Wait, don't the file names and the actual content of these videos mismatch?' I ended up wasting time on verification work that felt like playing detective.
Believing that 'maintaining the invisible parts' during the mass production phase is what directly leads to quality later on, I will continue to grind through it this week as well.
What I did this week (1): The 'Transformation Bank' for all 3 characters is finally complete!
Neko Five requires a 'transformation scene' that can be reused every time, which is a staple of tokusatsu.
Since it is inefficient to recreate this from scratch for every episode, I created a 40-second transformation video (composed of 8 seconds x 5 cuts) that can be used universally for Neko Red, Neko Blue, and Neko Yellow.
A magic circle of light emerging from a black background, gradually donning the transformation suit from their usual cat form, and finally striking a pose... The 'smooth movement of light particles'andthe 'hard texture of the suit' unique to AI were expressed firmly, resulting in a quality I am satisfied with. A total of 15 cuts for the 3 characters have all been generated and verified.
What I did this week (2): Solving the 'The number is 3 but the content is 2' incident
While reviewing the 50 cuts of the main story, I noticed something strange: 'This video looks exactly the same as the previous cut.' Upon closer inspection, I discovered an accident similar to a delivery error, wherethe file name was 'C003' but the video content was exactly the same as 'C002'.
▲ An accident like a 'delivery error' where the label number and the actual content were misaligned.
💻 Technical Memo: Why does a 'one-off shift' occur during downloads?
The cause was a 'gallery (list screen) update lag' when automatically downloading via batch processing from the video generation tool.
The tool operates on the premise that 'the top thumbnail = the latest generation,' but when there is a slight delay between the completion of generation and the screen update, a phenomenon occurs where 'I thought I retrieved the latest one, but it was actually the previous video.'
Once this misalignment occurs in one place, all subsequent numbers shift in a chain reaction. You might notice it if it's one or two, but when you process 50 automatically, the error proceeds without anyone noticing.
In the end, I restored all the cuts through a very steady process of cutting out the videos frame by frame and visually comparing them with the correct ones.
'The more you advance automation (RPA), the more you must not cut back on end-user visual confirmation (quality gates)'. I learned a lesson that hit home as a project manager: efficiency and verification must always be a set.
What I did this week (3): Maintenance of review judgment code and the 'dual-wielding' policy
To stop relying on subjective, person-dependent reviews where decisions are made based on 'gut feeling,' I have established clear judgment criteria.
We must fundamentally separate and manage 'artistic quality (direction)' from 'file mix-ups (technical accidents)' like the one that occurred this time.
▲ A system that separates the judgment of 'artistic quality' from 'accidents'.
At the same time, I have also decided on the division of roles (policy) for future video generation.
Base Generation: Using the local engine 'LTX-2.3' running on my personal computer (a VRAM 12GB 'marginal village' environment).
Retake Correction: Using the external high-precision generation service 'Hailuo' exclusively for critical shots where I absolutely need to fix specific parts.
While the other service I had been using was convenient, it caused many accidents during downloads, so I made the 'two-sword style' decision to remove it from the new mass production pipeline.
Furthermore, during this review process, I identified an issue where the footage in the 'incident part' felt lacking in movement, so I have already created a storyboard for the retakes.
Neko Five Worldview Corner
Once again, let me introduce the heroes of this work.
Character Name Color Species/Model
Neko Red Red Brown Tabby (Model: Kotetsu)
Neko Blue Blue Calico (Model: Komachi)
Neko Yellow Yellow Mackerel Tabby (Model: Hazuki)
With the transformation sequence completed this time, all three characters now have a unified 'transformation style' for the first time. Being able to insert the transformation scene with the same flow regardless of where they appear in the future is a major step forward for the project.
The models are my own beloved cats that exist in real life. Seeing them, who usually just relax peacefully on the sofa, transform into cool heroes every week in the video is incredibly exciting for me as their creator.