Shorts Handle Bug

Everything below can be changed without touching the animation. Hand the list to an agent, or edit the values at the bottom of the component file.

• Handle

  handle · string

  The @handle, and the only line that has to survive being watched at phone size. Keep the @ — it is what makes the line read as a channel rather than a caption. Around fourteen characters is the comfortable maximum; past about twenty the plate starts crowding the action rail.

  now: @quartershift

• Note

  note · string

  Second line under the handle — what the channel is, or when it posts. Sentence case, deliberately: this is texture at phone size rather than something anyone reads, and it exists to give a two-line object a hierarchy. Omit it for a single-line bug, which is what a sponsor lockup wants.

  now: Startup finance, every Tuesday

• Mark

  mark · "aperture" | "initial"

  The drawn monogram. 'aperture' is the geometric mark this component ships — a stroked square with a sweep through it, drawn on frame by frame. 'initial' puts a single letterform in the same square instead, for a channel whose logo really is its letter.

  now: aperture

• Initial

  initial · string

  The letter drawn when mark is 'initial'. One character; two will fit but crowd the square. Ignored by the 'aperture' mark.

  now: Q

• Top zone

  topZone · number

  Percent of the frame height reserved at the TOP for platform chrome — the back arrow, the format wordmark, the camera and overflow icons. The bug hangs below this line. 7 clears Shorts and Reels; TikTok's header sits a little lower, so 9 is safer there. Set 0 for a website cut or a paid placement with no interface over it.

  now: 7

• Rest

  rest · number

  Percent opacity the bug settles to about a second and a half after it lands, and holds for the rest of the clip. 100 never recedes, which is what a sponsor bug does; 82-88 is what a channel bug does — still present, no longer competing with the footage. Below about 70 it stops being legible over a bright shot.

  now: 86

• Backdrop

  backdrop · "footage" | "none"

  'footage' puts a defocused stand-in shot underneath, with a blowout that crosses the corner mid-clip, so you can see whether the bug survives the footage changing exposure under it. 'none' leaves the brand ground bare, which is what you export when you are burning this over your own video.

  now: footage

• Brand

  brand · string

  Brand token id — one of the keys of BRANDS. The accent is the sweep through the monogram and nothing else, so this is the one colour the channel gets. Light palettes flip the plate to a white tile with an ink hairline.

  now: ledger