Pre-Trip Planner
Fill in your trip • Add your full cast • Generate shot plan
⚠ BEFORE YOU LAUNCH
1. Click ⚙ SETUP and enter your Anthropic API key.
2. Fill in your full trip cast below — everyone who is coming.
3. Generate your shot plan. It uses your cast to build the right shots.
4. On the water — use the Field Log tab. Everything you add here carries through.
2. Fill in your full trip cast below — everyone who is coming.
3. Generate your shot plan. It uses your cast to build the right shots.
4. On the water — use the Field Log tab. Everything you add here carries through.
FULL TRIP CAST — Everyone who is coming
Rodney and Tina are always on every trip. Add anyone else below — dogs, guests, family. Every named cast member appears in the WHO selector on the field log and gets the documentary treatment in the build.
Rodney Thompson
ALWAYS ON
Tina
CO-PROTAGONIST
River Dog
NAMED CAST
BUILDING SHOT PLAN...
Field Log
Works offline • Tap category • Speak into your phone
0 moments logged
No trip set — fill in Pre-Trip first
⚠ You have logged 0 moments and flagged zero TRUTH MOMENTS. Are you sure? Truth moments are the scenes where the plan breaks, the pivot happens, or something real and unscripted occurs. Flag them as you log so the AI builds the right structure.
— LOG MOMENT —
TRUTH MOMENT
Plan broke • Pivot • Real and unscripted • Silence earns it
SHORT CANDIDATE
60-second clip potential from this moment
TIMELINE
No moments logged yet. Tap a category above.
Build Edit Table
Review your log • Confirm details • Build complete production package
📋 FIELD LOG REVIEW — Read every entry before building
This is everything you logged on the water. Read through it. Add anything you missed below before hitting Build.
PRE-BUILD CONFIRMATION
BUILD PROGRESS
Reading full field log — every entry...
Building Edit Table + Shot List + Markers...
Building Music Timeline + Edit Cuts + Community Posts...
Building Upload Package + Checklist...
Generating Excel file for download...
✓ PRODUCTION TABLE READY
Complete 10-tab Excel file — Edit Table, VO Script, Field Log, Shot List, Markers, Music, Edit Cuts, Community Posts, Upload Package, Checklist
VO Reconciliation Audit
Pre-publish gate per Rule 12 • Required before every upload
📜 RULE 12 GATE — How this works
Paste the planned VO lines from your edit table (one per line, in scene order) and the SRT from your final cut. The audit reports VO Match Rate, drifted lines, missing lines, and silence gaps over 20 seconds.
Pass criteria: ≥ 80% VO Match Rate • ≤ 2 drifted lines • all drifts within ±90s of planned position • all silence gaps over 20s map to planned RED scenes.
Below 80%: Video does not publish. Three remediation paths — record missing VO and insert, update edit table to remove planned lines, or pull and re-cut.
Reference case: St. Mary's Part 2 shipped at 11% match rate (2 of 19). Retention crashed in minutes 1–5. This is the documented failure case Rule 12 prevents.
Pass criteria: ≥ 80% VO Match Rate • ≤ 2 drifted lines • all drifts within ±90s of planned position • all silence gaps over 20s map to planned RED scenes.
Below 80%: Video does not publish. Three remediation paths — record missing VO and insert, update edit table to remove planned lines, or pull and re-cut.
Reference case: St. Mary's Part 2 shipped at 11% match rate (2 of 19). Retention crashed in minutes 1–5. This is the documented failure case Rule 12 prevents.
PLANNED VO LINES — paste from edit table (one line per scene)
Format:
SCENE_NUM | PLANNED_TC_IN | PLANNED_TC_OUT | VO_TYPE_1_TEXT — one row per scene. Example: 03 | 00:02:30 | 00:04:00 | Never seen the St. Mary's this low. Water so clear you could count the sandbars ahead.FINAL CUT SRT — paste full SRT contents
Export SRT from CapCut or YouTube auto-captions. Standard SRT format (numbered cues with
HH:MM:SS,ms --> HH:MM:SS,ms timecodes).Phase 1 Execution Framework (Months 1-6)
VidIQ Validated • 95% Alignment • Ready to Execute
✅ PHASE 1 SUCCESS CRITERIA — Check at Month 3
Must hit ALL 7 to proceed to Phase 2:
□ 6 videos published at 36-40 min
□ 25%+ retention on 4 of 6 videos
□ Avg views: 4K+ per video
□ Thumbnails hit 5+ of 7 outlier elements consistently
□ Bi-weekly cadence established (upload window TBD)
□ A/B test on every video — title and thumbnail (Variant A vs Variant B)
□ Community post system working (3-7 posts per cycle, AI-generated per video)
□ 6 videos published at 36-40 min
□ 25%+ retention on 4 of 6 videos
□ Avg views: 4K+ per video
□ Thumbnails hit 5+ of 7 outlier elements consistently
□ Bi-weekly cadence established (upload window TBD)
□ A/B test on every video — title and thumbnail (Variant A vs Variant B)
□ Community post system working (3-7 posts per cycle, AI-generated per video)
UPLOAD SCHEDULE & CADENCE
Upload Window: TBD — Tuesday 7-9 AM and Thursday 6 PM both tested with mixed results. No validated slot yet. Track CTR × AVD per slot in YouTube_Analytics_Log.
Cadence: Bi-weekly (every 14 days)
Video Length: 36-40 minutes (Phase 1 sweet spot — 22.7% retention, 9.2 min AVD)
Not 60+ min: 62-min video hit 10.1% retention. Build retention fundamentals FIRST, then scale length in Phase 2.
"SAID NO" TITLE FORMULA (PRIMARY)
Formula: [River Name] Said No | [What Happened Instead]
Examples: "The Suwannee Said NO | Solo Standoff in Gator Country" • "The Satilla Said No | We Camped Anyway" • "The Okefenokee Said No. The St. Marys Gave Us the Night."
Proven: 3/3 "Said No" videos above baseline (14,377 / 5,707 / 1,221 views on 7K channel)
Title Checklist (5 questions before upload):
1. Does it name the river/location?
2. Does it create conflict/tension?
3. Does it raise a question the viewer wants answered?
4. Is it under 70 characters?
5. Would a stranger click it?
1. Does it name the river/location?
2. Does it create conflict/tension?
3. Does it raise a question the viewer wants answered?
4. Is it under 70 characters?
5. Would a stranger click it?
THUMBNAIL — 7 OUTLIER ELEMENTS (Hit 5+ Before Publishing)
Diagnostic: Visual patterns that drive 100x+ outliers in this niche. Every thumbnail must hit at least 5 of 7 before publish.
1. Visible face with strong emotion (85% of top outliers)
2. Red, yellow, or white text overlay (90%)
3. 2-4 word power phrase (95%)
4. Single clear focal point (100%)
5. Subject fills 40-60% of frame (80%)
6. Visible threat, problem, or curiosity element (75%)
7. Arrow, circle, or visual highlight (40%)
2. Red, yellow, or white text overlay (90%)
3. 2-4 word power phrase (95%)
4. Single clear focal point (100%)
5. Subject fills 40-60% of frame (80%)
6. Visible threat, problem, or curiosity element (75%)
7. Arrow, circle, or visual highlight (40%)
Mobile-safe: All text 100-150px from any edge on a 1280×720 canvas.
Swamp Noir grade: Validated against warmer natural processing — keep it.
Tina presence: Tina's facial expressions are a meaningful thumbnail performance factor. Default to female-led framing when Tina is on the trip.
FEMALE-LED FORMAT IS DOMINANT IN THIS NICHE
Outlier data: Every top performer in canoe/camping content uses one or both of: title leads with "She" or names a woman (741x, 387x, 230x outliers) — OR thumbnail features a woman's face with strong emotion filling 40-60% of frame.
Rule: When the film features Tina meaningfully, title and thumbnail default to female-led framing. Tina is the unfair advantage.
AI-GENERATED THUMBNAILS — APPROVED TOOL
Status: Approved by Strategic Coach. AI thumbnails are a viable tool in the BWJ thumbnail toolkit.
Conditions for use: Hit 6+ of 7 outlier elements • Honest to actual content (spectacle in thumbnail must be real in footage) • Composition pulls from a moment that genuinely happened on the trip.
Hybrid option: Real face composited onto AI background — when a clean real-footage face frame exists.
A/B test discipline: When testing AI vs real-footage, document both variants in YouTube_Analytics_Log and read CTR × AVD together (not CTR alone).
COMMUNITY POSTS PIPELINE (NO SHORTS — Long-Form Promotion Only)
Rule: NO Shorts. All promotion runs through long-form, community posts, comments, and external channels.
Cadence: 3-7 posts per video — AI generates the count based on what the video content actually supports. Spread across T-7 → T+9.
Suggested timing slots (use what fits the video):
T-7: Teaser (single still + curiosity caption, no link)
T-3: Pivot teaser (a problem/truth moment frame, no link)
T-1: Publish alert (title card thumbnail, no link)
T+0: Go-live post (final thumbnail, link in pinned comment)
T+2: Quote/moment post (Tina quote or visual moment, link to long-form)
T+5: Skill teaser (skill bridge to CWS, link to long-form + CWS)
T+9: Information gain post (unique trip detail, link to long-form)
T-7: Teaser (single still + curiosity caption, no link)
T-3: Pivot teaser (a problem/truth moment frame, no link)
T-1: Publish alert (title card thumbnail, no link)
T+0: Go-live post (final thumbnail, link in pinned comment)
T+2: Quote/moment post (Tina quote or visual moment, link to long-form)
T+5: Skill teaser (skill bridge to CWS, link to long-form + CWS)
T+9: Information gain post (unique trip detail, link to long-form)
Format: Short, concise, light emojis. Long-form versions get rejected.
A/B TESTING DISCIPLINE
Standard: Every Phase 1 video runs A/B testing on title and/or thumbnail before publish.
Variant strategy (Rule): Cover both emotional poles — Variant A atmospheric/craft + Variant B spectacle/threat/female-led. Different formats teach more than two variants of the same format.
Minimum: 5,000 impressions per variant before calling a winner. Early data is noise.
Don't pull early: Spike titles can crash on retention. Let the test resolve.
Tie-breaker: If CTR is within 5%, AVD breaks the tie.
Effective Performance Metric: CTR × AVD = the metric that matters. 12% CTR with 8-min AVD beats 18% CTR with 4-min AVD every time.
Document: Log every variant in YouTube_Analytics_Log with hypothesis, format, and predicted outcome. Comments tell you which variant set the right expectation.
RUN THIS PLAY — CLICK ENGINE LAYER
Hierarchy: Run This Play handles the click layer (title, thumbnail, cold open, value placement). BWJ Storytelling handles the craft layer (truth moments, sensory detail, retention, CWS bridge). Both are required.
The 5 steps (run in order):
1. Pick the lesson — write it on a sticky note, set it aside
2. Find the most visceral, absurd, or spectacular real-world demonstration of that lesson — that's the hook
3. Title and thumbnail get built around the spectacle, NOT the lesson
4. Open the video by paying off the thumbnail in the first 3 seconds
5. Value, takeaway, or pitch lives between minute 2 and 8 — never in the first minute
1. Pick the lesson — write it on a sticky note, set it aside
2. Find the most visceral, absurd, or spectacular real-world demonstration of that lesson — that's the hook
3. Title and thumbnail get built around the spectacle, NOT the lesson
4. Open the video by paying off the thumbnail in the first 3 seconds
5. Value, takeaway, or pitch lives between minute 2 and 8 — never in the first minute
If the title isn't visceral, scrap it and start over.
TOP 5 OUTLIER TITLE FORMATS (THIS NICHE)
Validated against canoe camping outdoors VidIQ outlier data. Reference these 5 formats first. Hybrid combinations compound multipliers.
1. "Wasn't / Wrong" curiosity — 1145x ceiling — "Something Wasn't Right in That Forest"
2. "She / Girl + camping + intimate" — 741x ceiling — "Girl camping in the deep forest, cooking with a small tent"
3. "Disturbing / Encounters Caught On Camera" — 471x ceiling — "5 Disturbing Forest Encounters Caught On Camera"
4. "You Will [X] After Watching This" — 253x ceiling — "You Will Go Rain Camping After Watching This Video"
5. "I Tested / Tried / Did [specific thing]" — 227x ceiling — "SOLO CAMPING in Deep Forest | Inflatable Tent"
2. "She / Girl + camping + intimate" — 741x ceiling — "Girl camping in the deep forest, cooking with a small tent"
3. "Disturbing / Encounters Caught On Camera" — 471x ceiling — "5 Disturbing Forest Encounters Caught On Camera"
4. "You Will [X] After Watching This" — 253x ceiling — "You Will Go Rain Camping After Watching This Video"
5. "I Tested / Tried / Did [specific thing]" — 227x ceiling — "SOLO CAMPING in Deep Forest | Inflatable Tent"
TITLE-VS-CONTENT HONESTY CHECK
Rule: Before locking any title, verify the spectacle the title promises actually exists in the footage. Cross-check the title against the actual transcript, not against the edit table or trip notes.
Edit tables can be aspirational. Transcripts are real.
Process: Generate title candidates → cross-reference each spectacle claim against the actual transcript → if the moment isn't on tape, the title can't promise it → revise.
TAGS WITH COMPETITION SCORES
Core 8 (every video): canoe camping (31), solo canoe (62), blackwater river (30), swamp camping (26), wilderness canoe trip (22), solo wilderness camping (53), canoe expedition (32), swamp survival (53)
Growth Tags (rotate 4-6): alligator encounter (58), river expedition (58), solo expedition (35), bushcraft camping (60), primitive camping (54), outdoor survival (66), wilderness survival (69), camping alone (59), solo camping (63)
Location Tags: okefenokee (57), suwannee river (30), satilla river (30), st. marys river (28), florida wilderness (28), georgia wilderness (35), southeast wilderness (25)
NEVER USE: survival skills bushcraft (alone) camping (alone) nature outdoors fishing
MUSIC ARCHITECTURE (70/30 RULE)
Library: Artlist.io ($200/year) — Subscribe IMMEDIATELY
Ratio: 70% natural sound only • 25% music beneath natural • 5% music-led (opens/transitions/close)
Placement Map (36-min video):
0:00-2:00 — Music-LED (0.75 vol) — Cinematic open
2:00-8:00 — Beneath (0.15 vol) — Setup
8:00-15:00 — Beneath (0.35 vol) — Action/paddling
15:00-25:00 — OFF (0.00 vol) — CAMP (10 min music-free stretch)
25:00-34:00 — Returns (0.15 vol) — Reflection
34:00-36:00 — Music-LED (0.75 vol) — Outro
0:00-2:00 — Music-LED (0.75 vol) — Cinematic open
2:00-8:00 — Beneath (0.15 vol) — Setup
8:00-15:00 — Beneath (0.35 vol) — Action/paddling
15:00-25:00 — OFF (0.00 vol) — CAMP (10 min music-free stretch)
25:00-34:00 — Returns (0.15 vol) — Reflection
34:00-36:00 — Music-LED (0.75 vol) — Outro
Palette: Dark ambient, cinematic dramatic, delta blues (opens/resolution) • Folk acoustic minor, Appalachian, contemplative (transitions/reflections)
Volume Mix: During narration: voice 1.0, natural 0.65, music 0.15 • During b-roll: voice 0.0, natural 1.0, music 0.35 • During music moments: voice 0.0, natural 0.45, music 0.75
Core Principle: "The thing that makes viewers say 'you make EPIC Movies' isn't the music volume — it's the intentional silence between the music."
CTA PLACEMENT
IMMEDIATE ACTION: Remove subscribe overlay from ALL videos (breaking immersion)
In-Video Verbal: Final 2-3 min (75-80% mark), 11 seconds, Version B: "If you want the framework behind these trips — how the routes get built, how the margins get read, how the kit gets chosen for this kind of water — it's all inside Camping Wilderness Skool. The link's below."
Pinned Comment: PROVEN (3 likes on top video). "[Narrative hook tied to video]. [Value prop as framework]. Link in description if the system interests you."
Description: Line 1: CWS link • Line 2: Trip summary • Line 3: Timestamps
Expected Conversion (5K views): Description only: 3 joins • Pinned comment: 12 joins • End verbal: 30 joins • Combined: 50 joins
PERFORMANCE TRACKING — CTR × AVD METRIC
Effective Performance = CTR × AVD. A 12% CTR with 8-min AVD beats 18% CTR with 4-min AVD. The algorithm rewards videos where clickers stay.
Watch for: First 60-second AVD drop = title over-promised • Comments saying "thought this would be more X" = title-content mismatch • Spike-then-crash pattern = clickbait penalty.
Current Baseline: 1,300 avg views • 22.7% retention (36-40 min) • 9.2 min AVD
Phase 1 Targets: 4-6K avg views • 25%+ retention • 9+ min AVD • Thumbnails hit 5+ of 7 outlier elements • 30 subs per video
Data Reality: 36-40 min bucket already delivers 9.2 min watch time (higher than 26-35 min bucket's 8.7). Don't treat 25% retention as a stretch — already proven 29.3% in optimal conditions.
✅ WEEK 1 IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
Monday: Audit existing thumbnails against 7-element diagnostic • Re-thumbnail any video hitting fewer than 5 elements • Remove subscribe overlay from ALL videos
Tuesday: Confirm music library setup (Chris Zabriskie tracks downloaded)
Wednesday: Apply master tag list to ALL existing videos retroactively • Update all descriptions: CWS link line 1 + 14-17 keyword density + closing summary paragraph
Thursday: Generate community posts for next cycle • Schedule posts in calendar
Friday: Plan next expedition (target 36-40 min final) • Create thumbnail concepts (target 6+ of 7 outlier elements) • A/B variants prepped — atmospheric (Variant A) and spectacle (Variant B)
Tuesday: Confirm music library setup (Chris Zabriskie tracks downloaded)
Wednesday: Apply master tag list to ALL existing videos retroactively • Update all descriptions: CWS link line 1 + 14-17 keyword density + closing summary paragraph
Thursday: Generate community posts for next cycle • Schedule posts in calendar
Friday: Plan next expedition (target 36-40 min final) • Create thumbnail concepts (target 6+ of 7 outlier elements) • A/B variants prepped — atmospheric (Variant A) and spectacle (Variant B)
🎯 NEXT UPLOAD WORKFLOW
T-7 days: Community post — teaser (still + curiosity caption, no link)
T-3 days: Community post — pivot teaser (problem/truth moment frame)
T-1 day: Community post — publish alert
Publish day: Upload + go-live community post + pin comment immediately
T+2, +5, +9: Follow-up community posts driving back to long-form
Always: A/B test title and/or thumbnail. Variant A vs Variant B. Document in YouTube_Analytics_Log.
T-3 days: Community post — pivot teaser (problem/truth moment frame)
T-1 day: Community post — publish alert
Publish day: Upload + go-live community post + pin comment immediately
T+2, +5, +9: Follow-up community posts driving back to long-form
Always: A/B test title and/or thumbnail. Variant A vs Variant B. Document in YouTube_Analytics_Log.
Production Standards
Every locked rule — non-negotiable
SWAMP NOIR IDENTITY
Aesthetic: Slow. Heavy. Observant. Atmospheric. Prehistoric, indifferent, primal. The swamp does not care about your adventure.
Documentary realism: Truth over hype. Competence over drama. Silence holds weight.
Weight per word: "The Okefenokee said no." — that is the standard. Short. Final. One thought.
Information gain: Only film what nobody else films. The Southeast waterway archive is the moat. Every unusual detail — the seagull route, the fat lighter walk, the gator across the river — goes in the VO.
Voice: Southern, conversational, short sentences, self-correcting mid-thought. Talks like he's at the boat ramp. Pattern: what I ran into → what I noticed → what I changed → done.
TITLE ENGINEERING
Curiosity loop. Withhold resolution. Do not describe the story.
✓ "The Okefenokee Said No. The St. Marys Gave Us the Night."
✗ "We Paddled the St. Marys and Camped on a Sandbar"
Under 60 characters for full visibility in search.
COLD OPEN + RETENTION
Cold open: Most compelling moment within first 10 seconds. No title cards. No setup. Action or atmosphere only.
Retention rule: All payoff moments before 9:25 average dropout point. Never bury the first fish catch after minute 12.
RED scenes: Silence is a production decision — chosen because the scene earns it. Cold opens, decision moments, the lost pole, the camera fail. Music OFF = -60dB.
LOCKED CAST RULES
Tina: Co-protagonist. Equal story presence. Not a passenger. Named in every VO where she appears. Her catches are her catches — not mentioned as Rodney's. She runs the tent. Her decisions matter to the arc. Her words close films. Never direct her on camera.
River Dog: Always named "River Dog." Never "the dog." Named in every VO, every description, every relevant scene.
Trip-specific cast: Any named animal or person who comes on a trip gets the same documentary treatment. Named in VO. Named in descriptions. Their moments are story moments. (Example: Whitley — 15 years old, bad hips, first trip back in years. Her run on the sandbar is a scene.)
LOCKED MUSIC LIBRARY — Chris Zabriskie CC 4.0
Plantation
Morning ritual, meditative moments, spiritual grounding
Minor With Cricket
River re-establishment, moving forward, problem and fix
Go Not Gently
Tension, repair, the grind, determined movement
Acoustic Blues
Fishing wins, first relief, earned momentum
Campfire Song
Camp warmth, dogs running free, joy, cooking
The Awakening
Natural beauty, eagle footage, emotional resolution, downstream float
A Quiet Thought
Contemplative work, camp setup, settling down, good night
Spirit of the Dead
SAVE for Okefenokee interior / Maul Hammock only — not standard use
ALL MUSIC: -24dB constant. VO: -3dB constant. RED scenes: -60dB (music off). No ducking. No variation.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
RULE 12 — THREE-LAYER AUDIO ARCHITECTURE (locked May 7, 2026)
Why this rule exists: St. Mary's Part 2 shipped with 11% VO match against the v5 edit table (2 of 19 planned VO lines landed in window). Retention crashed in minutes 1–5 with two silence gaps of 44.6s and 135.6s. The strategic framework was sound. The execution gap — missing post-production VO — was the failure. This rule prevents that gap.
TYPE 1 — Documentary VO (post-production, scripted, -3dB): The spine. Sets stakes, names the rule, bridges b-roll, delivers meaning bridges, names rivers/dates/species, hits information gain, closes the film. Calm reflective register. Recorded in post — not field audio. Examples: Suwannee opening "this is the low water canoe rule — if the margin's gone you turn it back." Satilla "out here you don't ignore local intel."
TYPE 2 — Peak Sync Sound (live field audio, natural level): The spectacle. Every climax beat lives here. Wildlife reveals, fish fights, decision points, the moment of loss. The viewer NEEDS to hear Rodney IN the moment. Excited, raw, present tense. Type 1 VO cannot replicate it — the mistake is layering VO over a Type 2 moment, which kills the heat. Examples: "y'all see that big old fucking gator" (Suwannee 12-footer). "I can't hold him" (St. Marys Part 1 blue cat).
TYPE 3 — Process Sync Sound (live field audio, layered underneath): The texture. Camp setup, fire-building, cooking, route discussions. Authenticity proof. Mixed underneath Type 1 VO as ambient context, never carrying narrative weight on its own. THE TRAP: Type 3 alone in a slot that needed Type 1 + Type 3 layered will not hold retention. Type 3 sounds like raw footage when it stands alone, because that's what it is.
ALTERNATION CADENCE: In minutes 0–8, viewer must hear Type 1 OR Type 2 every 60–90 seconds. Type 3 alone does NOT count. After minute 8, max 3-minute gap between Type 1 or Type 2 anchors. Music beds required during any Type 3-only passage longer than 30 seconds. True silent passages (RED scenes at −60dB) are surgical, capped at 8 seconds, must be marked in the edit table.
PRE-PUBLISH VO RECONCILIATION GATE: Before any video is locked for upload, run the VO Reconciliation Audit (paste edit table + paste SRT into the audit tool). Pass criteria: ≥80% VO match rate • ≤2 drifted lines • all drifts within ±90s of planned position • all silence gaps over 20s map to planned RED scenes. Below 80% = video does not publish. Three remediation paths: record missing VO and insert, update edit table to remove planned lines, or pull the video and re-cut.
EDIT TABLE FORMAT: The single VOICE-OVER column is replaced with three columns: VO TYPE 1 (Documentary) • SYNC TYPE 2 (Peak) • SYNC TYPE 3 (Process). For each scene, at least one column must be populated. RED scenes typically populate Type 1 + Type 2. Standard scenes typically populate all three.
UPLOAD STANDARDS
Cadence: Bi-weekly. Upload window not yet validated — track CTR × AVD per slot in YouTube_Analytics_Log to find the right one.
Series rule: Every multi-day trip = Part 1 + Part 2. Never compress into one film.
NO Shorts: All promotion runs through long-form, community posts, comments, and external channels. No Shorts as a seeding strategy or traffic feeder.
Thumbnail: Hit 5+ of 7 outlier elements (face/text/focal point/threat/etc). Mobile-safe text 100-150px from edge. Swamp Noir grade. Female-led framing when Tina is on the trip.
A/B test: Variant A (atmospheric/craft) vs Variant B (spectacle/threat/female-led) on every video. Document in YouTube_Analytics_Log.
Title check: Verify against transcript before publish — title-vs-content honesty rule. Edit tables are aspirational. Transcripts are real.
Comments: Reply to first 20 within 30 minutes of publish.
Check before publish: Restricted mode in private browser. SRT scrubbed for profanity. No kill/harm wildlife language. Every film. Never skip.
STRATEGIC AUTHORITY
Strategic Coach validates direction. When a title, thumbnail, cadence decision, or brand direction has been vetted with the Strategic Coach, dashboard executes — does not relitigate strategy.
Coach validates: Title direction • Thumbnail direction • A/B variant choices • Cadence decisions • Brand positioning (Swamp Noir vs spectacle balance)
Dashboard executes: Description scoring (14-17 keyword density) • SRT scrubbing • Title-vs-content honesty checks • Production table builds • Tag strategy execution • Upload checklist completeness • Surfacing tradeoffs clearly when tactical data conflicts with strategic direction
⚡ TRAJECTORY FRAMEWORK v1.0 — ACTIVE
Quarterly review system. Outlier-pattern shifts tracked every 90 days. Rules flagged when current data no longer supports them. Runs first of February, May, August, November. Next review: August 1, 2026.
Active season overlay: Spring/Summer (Expedition) — April through September.
Spring/Summer LEAN INTO: Numbered days + named iconic location • Mystery/curiosity-gap titles (287x outlier in 30-day) • Aspirational paddler framing • Survival/challenge framing (20-30x stable) • Atmospheric water + cypress + golden hour thumbnails • Real human + named location.
Spring/Summer AVOID: Hot tent / blizzard / sub-zero (winter-coded) • Cozy interior shots • AI-generated face thumbnails (NOT in any top tier any window) • Spectacle red grunge text • Pure female-led "She slept where..." spectacle (cooled from 180-day peak).
Direct gator content ceiling: 20-30x stable across all time windows. Honest calibration. Build expectations against this.
Rules awaiting Coach review: Rule 2 (female-led dominance) 🟡 SHIFTING • Rule 3 (top 5 outlier formats) 🟡 SHIFTING • Rule 5 (AI thumbnails) 🔴 OUTDATED. Until Coach reviews, original v6.1 rules remain locked.
Reference document: BWJ_TRAJECTORY_FRAMEWORK.md
NEVER DO THESE
Never publish a standalone gear review — Black Owl Outdoors proof.
Never go dark between films — Joe Robinet documented view drop proof.
Never post Shorts. Long-form only.
Never use YouTuber CTAs — no "smash the subscribe button." Let the story close.
Never lock a title without the transcript honesty check.
Never publish a thumbnail that hits fewer than 5 of 7 outlier elements.
BANNED WORDS
quiet
judgment
delve
straightforward
leverage
seamless
robust
transformative
game-changer
elevate
curated
resonate
foster
unlock
dive into
in today's video
genuinely
honestly
journey (metaphor)