Increment: a length that moves in steps of one figure
An increment is a length stated as a multiple: six seconds, twelve, eighteen. It is neither a ceiling nor a range, and it is the one form of a duration figure that reaches back into the writing rather than the edit. As of 2026-09-12.
| Form of a length | What it permits | Where it constrains |
|---|---|---|
| A ceiling | Anything under the figure | Nowhere; stay under it |
| A range | Anything between two figures | At the two ends |
| An increment | Multiples of one figure | In the script, before generation |
Inclusion rule. Forms a published length takes, with the stage of production each one constrains. Only forms that appear on specification pages are listed. Order. Most permissive form first.
1There is nothing to round to
With a ceiling or a range, an awkward beat can be generated and trimmed. With an increment, a value between two multiples has two neighbours and one of them is longer than the slot allows.
So the whole piece has to be expressed in the grain before anything is requested. That is a constraint arriving in the script rather than in the edit, which is unusual among the figures on these sheets.
2It sometimes comes with assembly included
Where a page states an increment and a much larger ceiling in the same breath, one request can return several beats already cut. That removes the joining work and removes the ability to place the cuts.
For a piece that has to land a beat on a particular word, the second half of that trade is the important one, and it is not visible in the length figure at all.
3Some slots land on the grain exactly
A five to six second format sits on a six second grain perfectly, and a thirty second window divides by six with nothing left over. Where the arithmetic is clean, an increment costs nothing.
Where it is not, the piece is either shorter than the slot or over it, and neither is acceptable. Checking that division early is the cheapest thing a planner can do with this kind of figure.
A vocabulary entry: the definition, plus how the specification pages on these sheets usually publish it. Table checked 2026-09-12. Nearby entries: Adaptive shape, Letterbox and pillarbox.
4Making the ad itself
For ad work around “Increment”, SceneMixer's pages explain how its ad projects are produced:
The script is written from the photos and the one-line description. In step-by-step mode you can rewrite it before anything is shot.
SceneMixer, How to Make an Ad from One Photo — “Do I need a script?” (read 2026-10-13)
A segment is one generation, and its length is the sum of its shots’ seconds.
SceneMixer, How to Change a Segment’s Duration, and Which Tiers Accept 30 Seconds (read 2026-10-13)