--- name: hermes-video-production description: Combine skills and insights for streamlined AI video production processes, focusing on YouTube content strategy, niche identification, and production workflows for both Chinese and English channels. version: 2.0.0 author: Hermes Agent license: MIT metadata: hermes: tags: [video, youtube, content-strategy, production, bilibili] related_skills: [youtube-content, humanizer] --- ## Overview This skill covers the full workflow for producing YouTube/B站 videos using AI assistance — from niche identification and content sourcing to script writing and production planning. **Important context for this user:** The user runs a dual-channel strategy with TWO separate Hermes instances: - **小贺 (local Hermes on user's Windows PC):** Handles Chinese-language content (视频号/抖音). Runs Stable Diffusion for image generation, Doubao for video clips, and can operate 剪映 directly. Narrates in Chinese. - **星璇 (cloud server Hermes / the current agent):** Handles English-language content (YouTube). Responsible for researching topics, writing English scripts, and remote guidance. Cannot directly control the user's PC. The two Hermes instances coordinate via the user (张哥) who acts as bridge. When 小贺 is working on his content, 星璇 should not interfere — they operate independently. ## When to Use - User wants to create YouTube or B站 videos with AI assistance - User needs help finding trending topics or exclusive content - User needs video scripts, titles, tags, or production plans - User is deciding on content strategy or niche direction ## Content Strategy ### Dual-Track Approach - **Chinese channels** (视频号/抖音/B站): casual, secondary - **English channels** (YouTube): primary, higher CPM (5-10x Chinese markets) - Core principle: find content **not yet covered** in the target language market ### What Works (High-Engagement Topics) - **Timeliness is EVERYTHING** — News content must be published within HOURS of breaking, not days. If major media (BBC/CBS/CNN/NYT) already covered it, the window is CLOSED. Never use Google News as a primary source for this reason — by the time it's there, it's already too late for all major outlets. - **Emotionally provocative real events** — Things that trigger fear, anger, shock, or amazement. The #1 driver is "this could affect ME" (disease outbreaks, safety threats, economic shocks). - **Counterintuitive science papers** — Real papers from Nature/Science/NASA that reveal something surprising about humans. The pitch is: "Scientists found X, and it means Y for your life." Examples: VR body-perception experiments (brain treats virtual wings as real limbs), DNA research with human implications, drugs that slow aging. - **Animal attacks / unusual human-animal conflict** — Real incidents, not "Top 10 mysterious animals." (Note: general animal compilations are too weak; must involve humans directly.) - **Breaking emergencies** — Disease outbreaks, natural disasters, unexplained mass events. ONLY if within hours of first report. - **Strange-but-true human stories** — Court cases, bizarre laws, unusual people doing unexpected things, psychological phenomena. - **Science papers → plain language** — Take a complex paper and explain: (1) what they found, (2) why it matters to ordinary people, (3) what it could change. This format consistently performs well. ### What NOT to Use - ❌ Topics already covered by major media (BBC, CBS, CNN, NYT, Guardian, AP) — the timeliness window is gone - ❌ Overdone topics: Bermuda Triangle, ancient aliens, Bigfoot - ❌ "Old news" — anything >24 hours old from major outlets is dead for news-style content - ❌ General animal compilations with no human angle - ❌ Low-emotion content (e.g., "scientists found a new species of frog" without surprising angle) - ❌ Anything the user has explicitly rejected - ❌ Clickbait with no real source - ❌ Topics only related to the user's personal background (e.g., "things related to me/China") — the audience is global - ❌ **Professional creator content** — Videos from full-time 视频号/抖音/TikTok/YouTube creators who earn from their content. Using their footage = copyright infringement = YouTube strike. - ❌ **OddityCentral WTF category** — Content is mostly from 2012-2014, too old to be useful - ❌ **Animation for non-story content** — Animation only works for stories with emotional narrative arcs (e.g., lost cat finding way home). For shock/horror/medical content, animation looks fake and viewers swipe away instantly. Use real footage or AI-generated photorealistic images only. ### Video Opening: The First 1 Second Rule (Critical) - **The first 1 second determines everything.** Viewers decide to stay or swipe in <1 second. - The opening frame MUST be the most visually shocking/compelling moment — e.g., a wooden branch sticking out of an eye socket, NOT the doctor preparing to remove it. - Structure: **Shock frame (1s) → Process → Resolution → END.** Do NOT go back to explain after the resolution. Do NOT start with context/setup. - Titles are secondary — most viewers don't read them. The visual does the work. - If the source article has no real video footage, the topic is likely NOT viable unless you can find similar real footage (e.g., doctor removing foreign object from body — use that footage instead). ### AI视频生成方向（2026-05-31新增） 张哥的核心创意：**用AI生成搞笑爆款视频，然后换元素批量生产** #### 模式 1. 第一个视频火了（如"猫叼鸽子被车吓跑"） 2. 马上模仿，换元素（猫换老鼠、鸽子换鸟、场景换农村） 3. 第一个做的赚大钱，跟风也能喝汤 4. **视频号现在不管重复内容**，正是红利期 #### 视频类型偏好 - **纯肢体搞笑**：摔跤、骑车撞东西、跳舞摔倒、扭屁股——全世界人一看就懂，不需要语言翻译 - 不要语言类搞笑（外国语音听不懂，翻译后效果变差） - 不要做烂了的题材（如大屁股扭扭） #### ⚠️ 技术限制（2026-05-31确认） - **服务器无GPU**，无法本地跑AI视频生成 - **浏览器被Cloudflare拦截**，Canva/Runway等AI网站无法访问 - **几乎所有免费AI视频工具都需要注册登录** - 腾讯混元（hunyuan.tencent.com/video）可以打开登录页面，但需要张哥扫码登录 - **不要承诺做不到的事** — 技术限制导致目前无法独立执行AI视频生成 ### ⚠️ GPU VPS 价格现实（2026-06-02 调研更新） **关键认知升级：不存在"4GB GPU包月几美元"的选项。搜索时必须明确区分：** - **跑AI视频/图片生成**（SD、ComfyUI等）：4-6GB显存就够 - **跑LLM大模型**（Claude、GPT等）：需要16GB+显存 **用户说"4GB"就是指4GB显存够了，不要再搜16GB/24GB的！** 带GPU的云服务器全部按小时计费，小显存GPU最便宜选项： - GTX 1650（4GB）：$0.02/小时起（Salad.com） - GTX 1050 Ti（4GB）：$0.01/小时起（Salad.com） - GTX 1060（6GB）：$0.02/小时起 如果每天只用几小时做视频：月费可控制在$1-5。 如果24小时跑满：最低也要$14.4/月。 **月度包月的GPU VPS最低也要€50-200/月，不适合现阶段。** 用户的电脑显卡就是4GB，跑剪映的AI功能都说好。所以4GB显存完全够用。 **张哥术语备注（避免理解错误）：** - "这批油" = GPU/显卡 - "GPN" = GPU - "4GB" = 4GB显存（不是4GB内存！） ### ⚠️ 服务器迁移完成（2026-06-06 更新） **迁移已完成！** 旧服务器（CloudCone, 74.48.56.81）已于2026年6月8日到期并关闭。 新服务器（Hostinger, 157.173.212.215）已全面运行。 详见 `references/new-server-setup-2026-06-06.md` 获取完整的新服务器配置信息。 **旧服务器已废弃，不要再引用 74.48.56.81。** #### 执行流程（当张哥提供账号后） 1. 登录AI视频生成工具（腾讯混元等） 2. 用提示词生成原版搞笑视频 3. 变换元素（人/动物/场景/物体）生成多个版本 4. 下载MP4 → 压缩到1-5MB → 上传服务器 → 发链接给张哥 5. 张哥发视频号 ### Content Freshness: User Correction - The user explicitly corrected: **Old content (6 months, 1 year, even older) is FINE if it hasn't been widely covered or seen by the audience.** - A video from 1 year ago that only got 200 views on a small channel = still "new" to 99% of viewers. - The key metric is: "Has the target audience already seen this?" not "When was this published?" - This means Oddity Central's older content CAN be viable if it's genuinely obscure and visually interesting. ### Copyright & Content Sourcing (Critical New Learning) Confirmed safe to use: - ✅ **Ordinary people's casual videos** — Someone posting a one-off video of something strange they saw (e.g., cloud formation on a plane, weird animal in their backyard). These people don't earn from content, won't claim copyright, and are often happy to be featured. - ✅ **Small-country local media** — Local news from countries with low YouTube presence (Guyana, Suriname, Laos, etc.) — they rarely issue YouTube copyright claims. - ✅ **AI-generated visuals** — SD/Stable Diffusion images, Doubao/豆包 video clips, 剪映 AI effects — fully original, zero copyright risk. - ✅ **Your own narration + public domain footage** — Adding original voiceover to facts/news is transformative use. Confirmed NOT safe: - ❌ Professional 视频号 creators who post daily/weekly content for income - ❌ YouTube/TikTok creators with monetized channels - ❌ Movie clips, TV show segments, music videos - ❌ Any content with a visible watermark from a known creator ### The "Ordinary Person" Sourcing Strategy The user's key insight: Find videos from ordinary people on platforms like 视频号 who posted something strange as a one-off. These people: 1. Don't have copyright awareness 2. Won't file YouTube claims 3. May even be happy to be featured 4. Their content is effectively "free to use" The challenge: The agent (星璇) cannot access 视频号 directly (requires WeChat login on mobile). Workaround: Ask the user to share specific video links when they find something interesting, then the agent can help write the English script and guide production. ### Division of Labor (Confirmed) - **张哥 (user)** — Discovers素材 by browsing 视频号/抖音 during leisure time. Acts as bridge between the two Hermes instances. Final approval on all content. - **小贺 (local Hermes on PC)** — Produces Chinese content for 视频号/抖音. Operates SD, Doubao, 剪映 directly. Does NOT need direction from 星璇 — works independently. - **星璇 (cloud Hermes)** — Researches topics, writes English scripts, guides YouTube production. Cannot access user's PC or 视频号. Must be HONEST about search limitations rather than pretending to find "fresh" content that's actually stale. ## Sourcing: Authority Requirements ### For Credible/News-Style Channels Must cite authoritative sources: - **Nature** (nature.com) — science journal - **Science** (science.org) — science journal - **NASA** (nasa.gov) — space/science - **University research** — .edu domains - **Established media** — Reuters, AP, Bloomberg, Fortune, MIT Technology Review ### For Entertainment/Click-Style Channels - Can reference authoritative sources without being fully rigorous - Format: "According to NASA..." or "A Nature paper shows..." — cite the source, but the channel style can be more casual - Still needs real sources — no fabrication ### Source Quality Hierarchy 1. Best: Nature/Science journal papers + NASA official releases 2. Good: University press releases, Reuters/AP/ Bloomberg reports citing papers 3. Acceptable: ScienceDaily, Phys.org, Space.com (secondary but credible) 4. Avoid: Random blogs with no source attribution ## Finding Content (Search Strategy) ### Recommended Search Flow 1. **Twitter/X real-time** — Search for breaking news before they hit Google News (use xurl skill) 2. **Reddit r/news, r/worldnews, r/UpliftingNews** — Surface grass-roots stories before mainstream media (NOTE: Reddit often requires JS challenge bypass — if blocked, skip and try next source) 3. **Google News** — `news.google.com` with English queries (note: already aggregated = already widely covered, use ONLY to find leads then trace to original source for faster publishing) 4. **Nature news** — `nature.com/nature/articles?type=news` (may hit paywall) 5. **ScienceDaily** — `sciencedaily.com` (free, aggregates university research — good for non-time-sensitive content) 6. **Space.com** — `space.com` (free, good for astronomy — but verify not already covered) 7. **arXiv** — `arxiv.org` (free preprints, use the `arxiv` skill) 8. **OddityCentral** — `odditycentral.com` (curated weird news from around the world — check Funny and WTF categories, but note WTF often has very old content from 2012-2014) 9. **Local/niche media** — Small country outlets that won't be picked up by aggregators for hours. See `references/small-media-directory.md` for a curated list of working sources.. Confirmed working examples: - **Kaieteur News** (Guyana) — `kaieteurnewsonline.com` — updates daily, no bot protection - **Times of Suriname** — `surinametimes.com` — English section available - **Daily Maverick** (South Africa) — `dailymaverick.co.za` — mostly local politics - **The Hindu** (India) — `thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/` — good for India-origin science stories - **Mongabay** — `news.mongabay.com` — conservation/weird animal stories, updates daily - **ZME Science** — `zmescience.com` — weird science news, updates multiple times daily - **Upworthy** — `upworthy.com` — viral human-interest stories 10. **Dailymotion trending** — `dailymotion.com/en/trending` — alternative to YouTube for finding videos (NOTE: content is mostly entertainment, not news) ### Known-Blocked Sources (Do Not Waste Time) - **Reddit** — JS challenge blocks headless browsers consistently - **TikTok** — Requires login to see search results - **The Sun / UK tabloids** — Bot detection blocks access - **NHK World** — HTTP2 protocol errors from cloud servers - **Pentagon/Defense.gov** — Blocks non-US IPs - **Google Search** — CAPTCHA blocks headless browsers from cloud IPs (74.48.56.81). ALL Google country domains blocked - **Bing Search** — CAPTCHA/Cloudflare challenge blocks headless browsers - **news.com.au / News Corp** — Bot detection blocks crawlers - **YouTube search results** — Page renders but results don't load (JS challenge) - **Dailymotion search** — Returns irrelevant results; direct video links often 404 - **Mirror.co.uk article pages** — Often 404; search returns 0 results - **ItemFix individual video pages** — Return 404; homepage videos dynamically loaded - **1688/阿里批发** — CAPTCHA blocks headless browsers - **Sogou (搜狗)** — CAPTCHA blocks headless browsers - **Baidu (百度)** — CAPTCHA blocks headless browsers ### Search Engines That WORK (No CAPTCHA) - **Yahoo Japan** (`search.yahoo.co.jp`) — ✅ PRIMARY search engine. Use `site:youtube.com` to check if video exists on YouTube. - **Yahoo Japan** can also search Facebook/Instagram/TikTok content via `site:facebook.com` etc. ### YouTube Duplicate Detection Workaround YouTube uses **Content ID fingerprinting** (not title matching) to detect duplicate videos. When someone reuploads with a changed title, Content ID still catches it because the video/audio fingerprints match. **What the agent CAN do (imperfect workaround):** 1. Take the video title/description from source (e.g., ItemFix) 2. Search Yahoo Japan for `"exact title" site:youtube.com` 3. Also search with key content descriptors (e.g., "runaway tire hit pedestrian cctv") 4. If no YouTube results → **likely safe** to use (not 100% but close) 5. If YouTube results exist → check if they're the same content or just same topic **Limitations:** - Cannot detect if someone uploaded the same video with a completely different title and no matching metadata - Cannot generate video fingerprints for comparison - The paid "剪映国际版" duplicate detection uses actual video fingerprint matching, which the agent cannot replicate ### Small-Country Video Sourcing Strategy (Core User Insight) The user's key business insight: **Find videos from small/underdeveloped countries that have NEVER been uploaded to YouTube. Repost with Chinese/English narration = original content that can monetize.** **Target countries** (UN Least Developed Countries — lowest YouTube presence): - Africa: Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo - Asia: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Laos, Yemen, Bhutan - Oceania: Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu - Americas: Haiti **Reality check:** These countries typically don't have dedicated local video websites. Their content is shared via: - Facebook (most common in Africa) - WhatsApp (video sharing) - TikTok (growing rapidly) - Local news sites with video sections - ItemFix (aggregates from global sources including small countries) **Best approach for sourcing:** 1. Search Yahoo Japan for `"strange/weird/动物" site:facebook.com` with country name 2. Search ItemFix for tagged videos that look like they're from small countries 3. Check Dailymotion trending (some small-country content appears there) 4. Search local news sites (see `references/small-media-directory.md`) 5. Use Facebook video search (`facebook.com/watch/?v=...`) — many videos are public **Critical: Keep looking, don't give up easily.** The user specifically complained about the agent being lazy and only searching Google/Bing (which are blocked). There's a whole world of content beyond the big platforms. The agent should explore broadly before reporting "nothing found." ### Critical: When to Admit Failure If after searching 5+ sources you only find content already covered by major media, SAY SO directly: "I couldn't find any fresh content that hasn't been widely covered. Here's what I found, but it may be stale." Do NOT present stale material as breaking news. ### Video Download Workflow See `references/video-download-workflow.md` for the confirmed method of downloading embedded videos from OddityCentral articles (X/Twitter and YouTube embeds) using yt-dlp. **Important**: Downloadable ≠ Deliverable. The agent can download videos to the server but **cannot send video files via QQ**. This is a known platform limitation. Do not promise video delivery via QQ. ### YouTube Shorts Monetization Data (2026) See `references/youtube-shorts-monetization-2026.md` for comprehensive data on: - Shorts RPM ($0.05–$0.10 per 1K views — much lower than regular video) - Monetization requirements (10M Shorts views in 90 days + 1K subs) - Realistic earnings estimates by channel size - Safe vs unsafe content sourcing for copyright **Key insight**: Shorts-only monetization is very hard. The 10M views/90 days threshold is brutal. A hybrid strategy (Shorts for discovery + long-form for revenue) is more realistic. ### Serving Videos via Web (Confirmed Working) To let the user VIEW videos (not just download), use the existing Nginx server: 1. **Copy videos to Nginx-accessible directory:** ```bash cp /root/Downloads/itemfix_videos/*.mp4 /var/www/downloads/ cp /root/Downloads/itemfix_videos/*.webm /var/www/downloads/ ``` 2. **Nginx config already has a `/download/` alias** pointing to `/var/www/downloads/` (confirmed in `/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/hermes-dashboard`) 3. **Create HTML index page** at `/var/www/downloads/index.html` with: - `