MiniMax H3 Paper-Cut Style Epic Short: The Fall of Troy

The fall of Troy but it's paper cut-out.

Made with H3 and the prompt below:

{
  "archetype": "Cinematic Narrative",
  "duration": "15s",
  "prompt": {
    "concept": {
      "title": "THE FALL OF TROY",
      "description": "15-second pure motion-graphics retelling of the Battle of Troy told in exactly four visual acts. No voice-over. Everything is built from tactile paper cut-outs, cardboard, ink silhouettes and layered collage. Transitions between the four acts are hard stop-motion style jumps: elements are abruptly repositioned frame-by-frame as if moved by hand.",
      "duration": "15-second continuous paper cut-out sequence"
    },
    "camera_direction": {
      "shot_type": "Mostly locked wide with occasional slow lateral drifts",
      "forbidden": ["No smooth cinematic camera moves", "No morphing transitions", "No dissolves", "No fancy digital effects"],
      "camera_journey": "Starts locked on the Greek camp and walls. Between each act the frame freezes and the entire composition jumps in hard stop-motion steps to the next configuration. Final act ends on a static wide of the burning city."
    },
    "visual_style": {
      "overall": "Tactile stop-motion paper theater — everything feels hand-cut and physically moved",
      "inspired_by": [
        "Classic stop-motion cut-out animation",
        "Paper collage epics",
        "Graphic novel battle sequences rendered in physical materials"
      ],
      "color_palette": [
        "Aged parchment and cardboard browns",
        "Deep ink black silhouettes",
        "Muted blood red for fire and accents",
        "Pale dusty grey for walls and smoke"
      ],
      "materials_and_texture": "Torn paper edges, visible cardboard corrugation, thick ink silhouettes, layered overlapping cut-outs, soft paper shadows, slight hand-made imperfections, fine film grain"
    },
    "storyboard": {
      "total_beats": 4,
      "beats": [
        {
          "id": "01",
          "time": "0.0–3.5s",
          "description": "Wide shot: massive paper-cut walls of Troy on the right. On the left, a dense field of Greek ships and tiny soldier silhouettes. The composition holds for a moment, then subtle stop-motion twitching of the army (tiny stepped advances) shows the endless failed siege."
        },
        {
          "id": "02",
          "time": "3.5–7.5s",
          "description": "Hard stop-motion jump. The Greek army and ships collapse and disappear in three abrupt frames. In their place a giant wooden horse cut-out appears alone in front of the closed gates. The horse is built from layered cardboard and wood-grain paper. It stands motionless, imposing."
        },
        {
          "id": "03",
          "time": "7.5–11.5s",
          "description": "Hard stop-motion jump. Trojan silhouettes (smaller paper figures) rush out of the gates in stepped frames and begin pulling the horse inside with ropes. The horse is dragged frame-by-frame through the open gates into the city. The gates close behind it with a final hard cut."
        },
        {
          "id": "04",
          "time": "11.5–15.0s",
          "description": "Hard stop-motion jump to night. The horse stands in the dark city square. In three sharp frames its belly opens and Greek soldier silhouettes pour out. Immediate cut to wide: the paper city is now on fire — red and orange tissue-paper flames rise in stepped bursts, walls collapse in stop-motion chunks, black smoke layers accumulate. Final static hold on the burning ruins of Troy."
        }
      ]
    },
    "negative_prompt": [
      "No voice-over or narration",
      "No smooth animation or fluid motion",
      "No morphing or dissolving transitions",
      "No photorealistic humans or 3D characters",
      "No modern digital effects",
      "No extra text or subtitles",
      "No logos or watermarks",
      "No camera shake",
      "No continuous camera movement across acts"
    ]
  }
}

And there are more to come! 🫡