Use case · Footage edits
Documentary Shorts made of real footage
A footage edit is a Short made of real moving clips, cut the way a documentary or news channel cuts one. Write the story in a sentence and pick the Footage edit format in ViralDub Motion: it finds real clips and freely licensed photos of the people, companies and events you name, cuts them on the narrator's words and animates titles, names and numbers over the footage. Every item is credited on screen and under the video.
Key takeaways
- Footage edit is one of 14 Motion formats, made for 9:16 Shorts, Reels and TikToks.
- Each scene has 2 to 4 shots, and each shot cuts in on a spoken word.
- Photos are used only under free licences: CC0, public domain, CC BY, CC BY-SA or GFDL.
- Clips are short excerpts of public YouTube videos, credited to their channel.
- When no real picture exists, type or another real item carries the beat. A real person is never drawn.
What a footage edit looks like
The format follows the structure of a good documentary Short. It opens on the most striking real moment, explains who and where, raises the stakes with quick shots, lands the reveal on its own clip and closes on the lesson. Text never sits on an empty page: headlines, names and numbers move over the playing footage, with a scrim where the picture is busy.
| Beat | Share of the video | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Cold open | About 12% | The most striking real moment, cut fast, with the question on screen |
| Context | About 20% | Who and where, with name tags over the footage |
| Escalation | About 33% | 3 to 5 quick shots that raise the stakes, numbers punching in |
| Turn | About 20% | The reveal on its own clip, held a beat longer |
| Payoff | About 15% | The lesson over a last strong shot, then the call to action |
How ViralDub makes it
- 1
Write the story
One or two sentences, such as "How SpaceX learned to land its rockets". Pick 9:16, a length up to your plan's Motion limit, a language and a voice.
- 2
It finds the real media
For each scene it searches Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Openverse, public YouTube videos and the Internet Archive. A vision model looks at the actual thumbnails and frames, and it can reject every candidate rather than show a poor one.
- 3
It cuts on the voice
The voice-over is recorded first. Each shot starts on a word of its scene, and several shots of one event (a keynote, an interview, a launch) come from one source.
- 4
It reviews and delivers
An art-director pass checks the frames before the render. You get the MP4 with captions burned in word by word, SRT and VTT caption files, and the list of credits.
Who it's for, and who it isn't for
Footage edits suit channels that tell stories about real companies, founders, launches, places and events, and explainers that need proof on screen. They don't suit stories about private people, or events with no public photos or clips: those beats fall back to type and designed scenes. For a paid ad, where every frame must be cleared, keep real clips off or use your own product footage; see real photos and clips for the licence rules.
Frequently asked questions
What is a footage edit video?
A Short made of real moving clips, cut on the narrator's words, with titles, names and numbers animating over the footage. In ViralDub it is one of the 14 Motion formats.
Where does the footage come from?
Freely licensed photos from Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Openverse, short clips from public YouTube videos, and archived web pages from the Internet Archive. Each item is picked by a vision model from the real pictures and credited.
Can I mix in footage of my own product?
Yes. On a paid plan a Motion video can use the film of a demo or how-to you made in ViralDub, next to the real clips of the story.
How long can a footage edit be?
Up to your plan's Motion limit: 30 s on Starter, 2 min on Pro and 5 min on Agency. The format starts at 45 seconds, and you can pick any length up to your limit.
What if there is no footage of my subject?
The beat is carried by type (the name set large, a date or role line), a real item from another scene or the background. ViralDub never draws a fake photo or silhouette of a real person.