Timing the Freeze on the Beat
The hinge lands on the downbeat. One held frame. Then the new look.
The timing rule: a clean World Stop is one downbeat of motion, one held frame of stillness, then the new look on the next downbeat. Three beats total - move, stop, land. The held frame is the whole point, and it has to be exactly one frame, not half and not two.
Why the beat is not arbitrary: the audience is watching the music, not the cut. If the freeze lands off the beat, the eye catches the mismatch before the transformation, and the magic leaks out. The skill is reading the track, not the editor's timeline.
How the game measures it: the World Stop remix runs the track and a motion strip. You tap to freeze, and the game grades how close your tap was to the downbeat. A perfect freeze is the hinge; an early or late one reads as a fumble, and the card prints your tightest hinge.