The Oldest Tree: why did a changed face pass the checks?

The film is public; its characters and passage of time define the production problem.

The maker presents The Oldest Tree as an October 2026 local-video progress film. A girl, grandfather and the tree's memory carry the story, ending with the granddaughter and her child years later. The public version runs about 2:53 across 49 shots and remains on the creator's YouTube.

The October 4 v3 commit replaces the older 2:46, 47-shot link with the current ID and updates the project artifacts. This case examines choices in an existing work. Author-backed version attribution does not establish BitShovel's full picture-and-sound acceptance.

• Watch the original progress film ↗

Sources for this section: Story Forge fixed-version README · The creator's current The Oldest Tree film · Original October 4 v3 commit

Three input portraits distinguish childhood and the two adult designs.

In the September 30 record of an older cut, the maker says the adult granddaughter still looked too young, and some close-ups drifted to a younger or different face. That judgment concerns age within the story, beyond matching wardrobe, hair or a roughly similar person.

The later masters3 input uses the girl's portrait to request the same person at 42: fine smile lines and a stronger jaw, retaining braid, freckles, eyes and yellow raincoat. It explicitly calls for an eye comparison because the age change is intentional. These are creator-published generated character inputs, not failed and repaired motion clips. Forty-two is the design requirement, rather than an independently established age.

Check visual source ↗

Check visual source ↗

Check visual source ↗

• Inspect the adult-master input ↗

Sources for this section: Human review and parked notes for the older cut · Actual input for the 42-year-old adult master · Three original character input portraits

Older questions and cast fields created separate holes in the check.

The face_check record names s4_walkback: a four-second shot changed the girl to a rounder, younger-looking face with different eyes, yet the earlier checks let it through. The maker traces two causes. The whole-film identity questions originated with cartoon animals and concerned species, ears and proportions, rather than a direct comparison of that small face.

The shot supplied the character under refs, while the old shot gate expected identity, so the character check did not run. The new code collects cast from both fields and compares detectable faces with the corresponding masters. Supplying a portrait also requires checking that the review step actually reads it.

• Read the missed-check account and implementation ↗

Sources for this section: Face check: missed-check account and actual logic

Three shots restart from stills; two others explicitly restart at animation.

The original refix_faces script restarts s4_walkback, s2_wide_walk and s7_kneel from stills, while s4_creek and s8_wide explicitly restart at animation. The former rebuild the picture before continuing downstream; the latter do not discard a still just because motion failed. The script preserves this particular allocation of rework.

The maker also records animation seeds repeatedly redrawing the girl's face, prompting face_lock: apply the cast master's identity to detected faces, then check the output. Its intent is to retain movement instead of replacing it with a camera push on a still. The implementation is inspectable; BitShovel did not regenerate the shots or make a motion comparison.

• Inspect the original three-shot and two-shot repair plan ↗

Sources for this section: Original three-shot and two-shot rework script · Face correction while retaining motion · Story Forge fixed-version README

Age is only a reported field, and skipped checks differ from passes.

The current check code explicitly says age is reported only: the model estimates the ten-year-old master as 37, so age does not gate acceptance. The decision logic uses face similarity. Although the report header still mentions an eight-year age tolerance, it cannot establish reliable story-age checking. Redefining the adult portrait and comparing it by eye answers a separate question.

Checks and corrections each skip faces that are too small or turned too far; unchecked is not passed. The maker also skips face correction on talking shots to protect lip sync. The October 4 v3 face report retains WARN, FAIL and UNCHECKED; whole-film QC passes 177/179 but reports FAIL overall. These are project reports, not our rerun or a substitute for picture-and-sound judgment.

• Read the current face-report outcomes ↗

Sources for this section: Face check: missed-check account and actual logic · Face correction while retaining motion · v3 face report · v3 whole-film QC report · Original October 4 v3 commit

Original materials explain a process; reuse needs matching inputs and a model environment.

To borrow the idea, use character references you may use and specify whom a shot must show, what happens and the intended age. Separate failures in the still from failures in motion. The scripts, portraits and local model stack belong together. The README's starter .sf route lacks the full judge/director pipeline; the full route needs additional models and tools and retains machine-specific paths.

Code is MIT, with separate terms for media and model weights. The asset license specifically lists the older saga.mp4 as CC BY-NC-SA; that does not cover the current film or every portrait. This is an entry to the original work and decisions, rather than a requirement to copy the pipeline or evidence of income, market success or reliable automatic acceptance.

• Read the original inputs and runtime requirements ↗

Sources for this section: Story Forge fixed-version README · Code, media and model licensing boundaries