Generated footage

Generated footage is video imagery produced by an AI model from a text prompt or other input, rather than recorded by a camera or drawn from an existing library. In documentary and explainer video production, it is one of three main visual sources, alongside stock libraries and archival material, and it carries different licensing and accuracy implications than either.

Why it matters

If you do not know what generated footage is, you may publish a video about a real event while believing every frame shows something that actually happened. A model asked for "the Hindenburg disaster" will produce something that looks plausible and resembles nothing in the historical record. Viewers who notice this stop trusting the channel, and platforms increasingly require disclosure of synthetic media.

The second wrong decision is legal. Generated footage usually comes with usage rights from the tool that made it, but those terms vary between plans and vendors. If you assume it behaves like licensed stock, you can end up publishing clips your plan does not cover commercially.

An example

In an August 2026 comparison of 15 tools in the faceless-video category, ViewMade's own audited table classified Revid as producing generated visuals and Pictory as drawing from a stock library, while ViewMade itself uses real archive footage and ships a media credits file naming the source of every clip. Same topic, same vertical format, three different answers to the question "where did these frames come from." A viewer cannot tell the difference from the thumbnail, which is why the distinction has to be documented by the producer, not guessed at by the audience.

Terms people confuse this with

• Stock footage: pre-recorded clips from a library, filmed before you started your project.
• Archive footage: real recordings of actual events, such as news reels or broadcast material.
• Public domain footage: footage whose copyright has expired or was never held, free to reuse.
• Media credits: the per-clip source list that documents where each visual came from.

Where this shows up in ViewMade

ViewMade does not use generated footage for its documentaries; it sources real archive imagery instead, and its media credits file exists precisely so the difference is verifiable per clip.