Raw footage is what the camera recorded before anyone edited it: full takes, multiple hooks, B-roll of the product, the clean audio. A brand that receives raw footage can build many ads from one shoot. A brand that receives only a finished 30-second cut has one ad.
For brands that test creative, raw footage is the more valuable thing to receive. For creators, it is more work to organize and a bigger grant of rights, since the brand can now make versions the creator never saw.
Example. An hourly session of three hours produces 40 minutes of raw footage: six hook variations, four product demos, two testimonials and B-roll. The brand’s editor cuts twelve ads from it over two months. If the deal had been “two finished videos”, the brand would have had two ads. Example scenario.
When brands use it. The pain this answers: “Our ads are fatigued and we can’t make new creative fast enough.” Brands ask for raw footage when they have an editor and a testing process, and when the videos will run as the brand’s own ads rather than on the creator’s account. The brief should say the file format, resolution, whether to deliver separate audio, and how the footage is organized.
The creator’s view. Raw footage is a different product from a finished video and is usually priced separately or covered by an hourly rate. The creator owns the footage from the moment it is recorded (Copyright Office), so the deal should say what the brand may do with it: edit, re-cut, combine with other footage, and for how long. A creator should also ask whether edits that change the meaning of what they said are allowed, because the ad will still carry their face.
On HourlyUGC. Hourly: the brand books hours and each session ends in videos, which is where raw footage usually comes from.