How to Shorten an Overlong Pre-Choice Video: Keep the Information Needed for Judgment, Then Cut Repeated Setup
Do three things first: break the current video into information segments by shot, label each one as "fact," "emotion," or "action signal," then keep only the segments that support the player's choice. When the basis for judgment is insufficient, add facts; when emotions repeat, merge them; when the action signal is missing, add a clear direction. Below, a fictional ship-repair argument case walks through it: each of the six information segments has a clear category, and after trimming, the short script still lets the player understand "whether to give the last rivet to the opponent."
Introduction
Do three things first: break the current video into information segments by shot, label each one as "fact," "emotion," or "action signal," then keep only the segments that support the player's choice. When the basis for judgment is insufficient, add facts; when emotions repeat, merge them; when the action signal is missing, add a clear direction. Below, a fictional ship-repair argument case walks through it: each of the six information segments has a clear category, and after trimming, the short script still lets the player understand "whether to give the last rivet to the opponent."
First, put a label on every shot
The label is not for classifying the shot, but for answering "what does this segment decide for the player." A fact means a condition the player needs to know, such as the location of the hull crack, the remaining materials, or the fact that the opponent's boat is also leaking. Emotion means a character's attitude toward the situation, such as Old Zhou slamming the table or A Lan staying silent. An action signal means a character explicitly demands or blocks an action, such as "give me the rivet" or "don't touch the toolbox."
A shot can contain two kinds of information at once, but when labeling, write only its main category. If a segment has neither fact nor action signal and only repeatedly expresses the same emotion, it is the priority target for compression.
Fictional ship-repair argument: six-segment information retention table
The following case is a fictional teaching example; the characters, numbers, and lines are all invented and do not correspond to any actual work or test result.
| Information segment | Content | Label | Retention judgment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The crack in the bottom of the boat is on the starboard side and must be repaired before the tide rises | Fact | Keep, basis for choice |
| 2 | Only one rivet is left in the toolbox | Fact | Keep, basis for choice |
| 3 | Old Zhou says, "This boat won't last the night" | Emotion | Keep once |
| 4 | A Lan repeats, "We can't abandon it" | Emotion | Duplicates segment 3, compress |
| 5 | The opponent's boat is also leaking, and he demands the rivet be handed over | Fact + action signal | Keep, core conflict |
| 6 | Old Zhou slams the table and shouts, "Give it to him, we're leaving" | Action signal | Keep, gives the player a clear option direction |
The purpose of this table is to give the trimming a basis. Segments 3 and 4 both express "unwilling to give up"; keep segment 3's line, and change segment 4 into a single action of A Lan looking at the crack. The emotion is still there, and the setup is not repeated.
Short script: keep the information needed for judgment
After rearranging according to the table above, the short version can be written like this:
The starboard crack is still seeping water, and it must be repaired before the tide rises. Only one rivet is left in the toolbox. Old Zhou stares at the crack: "This boat won't last the night." A Lan says nothing, only looks at the bottom of the boat. The opponent's boat is also leaking. He reaches out: "Give me the rivet." Old Zhou slams the table: "Give it to him, we're leaving."
In these five segments, the player can get three bases for judgment: the crack's location and time limit, only one material left, and the opponent also needs it. Emotion appears only once, and the action signal appears twice, pointing to "give" and "leave" respectively. The choice the player has to make therefore falls between "give up the rivet" and "refuse," rather than guessing the point in a repeated argument.
When trimming, move repeated expression first, then facts
The recommended compression order starts with repeated emotion. If the same attitude appears more than twice, keep the earliest or most specific one, and change the rest into actions, pauses, or environmental details. If a fact segment is deleted, the player will lose the basis for judgment, so do not delete facts first just to shorten. If an action signal is left with only emotion and no direction, the player will not know what to choose; at that point, add a clear demand or block.
If a segment contains both fact and emotion, keep the fact first and carry the emotion in a shorter way. For example, "Old Zhou slams the table and says the boat won't last the night" can be compressed into "Old Zhou looks at the crack and says it won't last the night," leaving the table-slamming action for the later action signal.
Completion check: can the short version still support the choice?
After revising, check item by item:
- Can the player state more than two conditions of the current situation, such as the crack's location, remaining materials, and time limit.
- Is there at least one character who explicitly makes a demand or blocks something, giving the choice a direction.
- Is the same emotion kept only once, and have the rest been changed into actions or omitted.
- Among the deleted segments, is there any sole source of a fact? If so, move it back into a retained segment.
- After reading the short version, can the player say in one sentence "what I am choosing."
If all five pass, it means the video has kept the information needed for judgment, and the repeated setup has also been compressed. If item 3 does not pass, continue merging emotion segments; if item 1 or 2 does not pass, return to the retention table to add facts or action signals, and do not make up for it by lengthening the argument.
A brief reminder when AI generation is involved
If the video is AI-generated, prompt constraints do not guarantee that every output will meet expectations, and the generated result still needs manual review. The trimming judgment is completed by the author; AI output is only material to be labeled and cannot decide for the author which segment is a fact and which is repeated emotion.
The next time you revise a pre-choice video, first take a piece of paper and write down six to eight information segments, label each one, then rearrange them into a short version according to the retention table. After finishing, run through the five checks above before moving on to storyboard or node adjustments.
