Automated pre and post roll production

A program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor to perform:

• generating a link video list from a video database, wherein each link video in the link video list comprises at least one clip characteristic matching a video characteristic of a target video and each link video is associated with a video clip and a video address;
• selecting a link video from the link video list according to a policy;
• generating a mask script that specifies a mask dimension equal to a clip dimension of the link video, a mask mark in, a mask mark out, and a mask location of the video clip of the selected link video within the target video, and further specifies a dimension, a mark in, and a location of a pagination control;
• generating an annotation script that specifies an annotation type, a link location, an annotation dimension, an annotation motion, an annotation mark in, and an annotation mark out for a navigation link, and further specifies the dimension, the mark in, and the location of the pagination control;
• rendering the video clip of the selected link video embedded within the target video as an embedded target video in response to the mask script;
• communicating the embedded target video and the annotation script to an annotation generator;
• and
• annotating the embedded target video with the video address at the link location in response to the annotation script.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code executable by the processor to perform:
• generating a link video list from a video database, wherein each link video in the link video list comprises at least one clip characteristic matching a video characteristic of a target video and each link video is associated with a video clip and a video address;
• selecting a link video from the link video list according to a policy;
• generating a mask script that specifies a mask dimension equal to a clip dimension of the link video, a mask mark in, a mask mark out, and a mask location of the video clip of the selected link video within the target video, and further specifies a dimension, a mark in, and a location of a pagination control;
• generating an annotation script that specifies an annotation type, a link location, an annotation dimension, an annotation motion, an annotation mark in, and an annotation mark out for a navigation link, and further specifies the dimension, the mark in, and the location of the pagination control;
• rendering the video clip of the selected link video embedded within the target video as an embedded target video in response to the mask script;
• communicating the embedded target video and the annotation script to an annotation generator;
• and
• annotating the embedded target video with the video address at the link location in response to the annotation script.