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Kill the MonkeyThe workshop

The workshop

The road to being able to make a music video several minutes long. What each shot cost, and what it taught me.

Destination Getting to a music video several minutes long, made entirely at home: my own song, my own characters, one story that holds from start to finish. I still don't know how.

Author
Mario Calzada León
Channel
Teatro de Juguetes
Report
6 / 15
Production notebook
Report Date Title What changed Video Status
Stage 1 · The job I couldn't do July
00 16.07.2026 The video I couldn't put together I wanted to stitch six phone videos into a gift and found no way: everything starts there Pending
Stage 2 · Getting ten good seconds 5-12 August
01 05.08.2026 The only clip that came out right came from one sentence A real photo and one Spanish sentence beat 200 words of English Watch Draft
02 09.08.2026 The shipwreck started in our own pool You don't write the idea: you film it at home, then strip what you can't show Watch Pending
03 10.08.2026 Twenty-five takes, not one usable Forbidding a thing puts it in the shot; a longer prompt makes it worse Watch Draft
04 11.08.2026 You don't lock a camera by writing The last frame beats any written framing instruction Watch Draft
05 11.08.2026 The day I retired my own tool Read the house rules before automating inside the house Watch Draft
06 12.08.2026 Both ends Hand over the first and last frame, ask only for the movement Watch Draft
07 12.08.2026 What a thirty-second video really costs You pay for the roll, not the result: move spend from video to stills Watch Pending
Stage 3 · Making one piece fit the next August, in progress
08 07.08.2026 My daughter's song came out a mess Ten generated pieces don't make one work: that's why I'm still on ten-second clips Pending
09 18.08.2026 Three shots in one go One clip can hold three shots: between them, continuity comes free Pending
10 18.08.2026 Continuity: making the next piece the same place The next piece starts from the last frame of the one before, and the script leaves half a second of silence at each end Watch Closed
Stage 4 · Getting it out there 12-18 August
11 12.08.2026 I'm building on borrowed ground Branded characters grow faster and aren't mine; clay drops both the brand and the label Watch Pending
12 13.08.2026 Half of the platform is switched off on my channel Made for kids kills subs, comments and links: only format is left Watch Pending
13 18.08.2026 The good video isn't the one people see Vertical gets 4× the views: publishing is a different trade from generating Watch Pending
Stage 5 · The music video still ahead
14 My daughter's music video The destination: several minutes, my own song, my own characters, one story Pending

The log next door covers twenty years. This is this month: I tried to stitch six phone videos into a gift, couldn't, and built a children's video channel as a school. Making ten generated pieces look like one still beats me, which is why I'm still on ten-second clips. Each entry is one step, and it only exists if something changed the way I work. What failed stays written down — that's half the value.