> ## Knowledge Base Index > Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.comicink.ai/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further. > Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash). # Editing the script and scenes The **Script** tab in the Video Studio is where you refine the story before rendering. It's a flowing scene document — the same kind of editor used for the comic **Script** view — not a grid of cards with a separate edit panel. Each scene appears as a block headed **"Scene NN"**, and you edit its fields directly in place. For an overview of the Script / Storyboard / Video toggle and the rail, see [The Video Studio: Script, Storyboard, and Video](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/the-video-studio-script-storyboard-and-video-1inv6x3/). --- ## Editing a scene Click into any field on a scene's block to edit it — narration, dialogue, setting, and so on are all editable directly in the document. There's no separate "Edit scene" panel to open, and changes save automatically. You can also ask **[Sidekick](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/sidekick-your-ai-collaborator-1dct3ek/)** to rewrite a scene for you in plain language. ### Fields you can edit | Field | What it controls | |-------|-----------------| | **Narration** | The voice-over text read aloud in this scene. Directly sets scene length (see below). | | **Dialogue** | Lines spoken by specific characters. Each line has a speaker and text. Add, remove, or reassign lines in this scene. | | **Action / Description** | What is happening in the scene — used by the AI to compose the visual. | | **Setting / Location** | The environment for the scene, picked from your video's Locations. | | **Characters present** | Which characters appear in the scene. Speakers added to a dialogue line are included automatically; silent characters must be added manually here. | | **Per-character avatar** | The specific look (avatar) to use for each character in this scene. | | **Starting frame / Ending frame** | Continuity anchors — a short description of what the camera sees at the very beginning and very end of the clip. Helps the AI maintain visual continuity between scenes. | | **Model / Time** | Per-scene selectors with a live credit estimate — the AI model used to render this scene's clip, and its length. Models differ in how many reference images they accept and which durations they support; a scene carrying more references than its chosen model allows is blocked from rendering. See [Choosing a model and scene length](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/choosing-a-model-and-scene-length-1qc3bfq/). | Storyboard frames for a scene (its opening and closing beat) are managed on the **Storyboard** tab, not here — see [Storyboards](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/storyboards-guiding-how-a-scene-looks-dx8v9m/). --- ## How scene duration works **Scene duration is not set manually — it is calculated automatically from the word count of the narration and dialogue.** The calculation uses a natural narration pace of **1.4 words per second** (roughly 84 words per minute). A 1-second breathing buffer is added after the last spoken word so the next scene's transition doesn't feel abrupt. The result is clamped to a hard **4-second floor** and a hard **15-second ceiling**: | Word count | Approximate scene length | |------------|--------------------------| | 0 (silent) | 4 s (minimum) | | ~5 words | ~4–5 s | | ~10–15 words | ~8–12 s (soft target range) | | 19 words | ~14.5 s (hard maximum text budget) | | 20+ words | Scene text is trimmed to 19 words before rendering | **Soft target:** aim for **10–15 words** of narration + dialogue per scene for a well-paced 8–12 second clip. Scenes above 19 words are flagged with a warning in the editor and the narration is trimmed automatically at render time to fit within the 15-second ceiling. To make a scene longer, write more narration. To make it shorter, reduce the word count. You cannot type a specific duration into a field — the only exception is the scene's **Time** selector, which lets you pin the clip to one of the chosen model's fixed length options instead of using the automatic word-count calculation. See [Choosing a model and scene length](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/choosing-a-model-and-scene-length-1qc3bfq/). ### Once a scene has been rendered The word-count figure is a **prediction of how long the clip will need to be**. Once the scene has actually been rendered, its listed duration switches to the **real measured length of the clip you have**, which is what the timeline and your finished video are built from. Editing the text of an already-rendered scene therefore does **not** change its listed duration — the clip on disk hasn't changed, so neither has its length. Your edit is still saved, and the scene will use the new text (and get a new duration) the next time you render it. --- ## Building and adding scenes New videos start blank, with **zero scenes**. The primary way to build the script is to describe your story to Sidekick — it drafts scenes directly into the document as you talk, and keeps adding or rewriting scenes as you refine the story with it. You can have up to **16 scenes** per video. Each additional scene increases the total render cost — see [Story Video credits and costs](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/story-video-credits-and-costs-1lj1797/). --- ## Removing scenes Delete a scene directly in the document, or ask Sidekick to remove it for you. Scene deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. --- ## Editing while a scene is rendering The Script tab is **always editable**, even while scenes are rendering. Specifically: - You can edit the narration, dialogue, or any other field of any scene, and it saves automatically — regardless of whether that scene's render is in progress. - If you edit a scene that is currently rendering, those changes will be used the **next time** you render that scene. The in-flight render uses the script version that existed when it started. - While a scene is in-flight, it shows a **Rendering…** badge. Two actions are blocked for that scene during this window: **Delete** and **Re-Render**. All other edits are available. - Once a scene finishes rendering, the badge clears and the Re-Render button becomes available again. You can then re-render it with your updated text. A finished, rendered, or even published video stays fully editable — there's no locked or read-only state. Edit narration, dialogue, or settings any time and re-render the affected scenes to bring the video back in sync. --- ## Scene order Scenes are ordered by position in the document. Drag-and-drop reordering is disabled — to move a scene, ask Sidekick to reorder it for you. --- ## Related articles - [The Video Studio: Script, Storyboard, and Video](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/the-video-studio-script-storyboard-and-video-1inv6x3/) — overview of the toggle and the rail - [Storyboards: guiding how a scene looks](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/storyboards-guiding-how-a-scene-looks-dx8v9m/) — optional opening/closing frames per scene - [Rendering scenes](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/rendering-scenes-per-scene-vs-generate-all-z30txn/) — credit costs, partial renders, and re-rendering individual scenes - [Story Video credits and costs](https://help.comicink.ai/en/article/story-video-credits-and-costs-1lj1797/) — how render credits are calculated from scene duration and word count