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Micro-Documentaries: Format, Cost, Method and Ethics

Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A micro-documentary is a short film — usually two to ten minutes — that is documentary in method: the subject speaks for themselves, the story is found rather than scripted, and it does not resolve into a sales message. That method is exactly what makes it more persuasive than anything an organization can say about itself, and exactly what makes it uncomfortable to commission. A documentary that turns into an advertisement in its final thirty seconds loses the credibility it spent nine minutes earning.

The short answerThe edit is where a documentary is made, and it is the line most often compressed. Shooting several hours to produce five minutes is normal, which means the budget should be built from footage volume rather than from finished runtime. Protect the edit and the research that precedes it: a pre-interview before the shoot tells you what the story is, shortens the shoot, and sharpens the questions, and skipping it is the most common false economy in this format.

Progression Agency is based in New York City and works with clients across the United States. Cost figures are category-typical ranges rather than quotes, and nothing here reports the results of a specific client. Documentary work involving vulnerable subjects, children, health information or personal hardship raises consent, privacy and duty-of-care obligations that vary by jurisdiction and context; take proper advice rather than relying on a standard release.

What people search around this
The format terms are small and specific. Most of the demand sits in the broader corporate video category, where documentary is one option among several.
What makes a micro-documentary different
The fifth row is the one commissioners struggle with, and it is the whole reason the format outperforms promotional video.

A mini-doc, micro-doc or micro documentary all describe the same thing, and the naming matters less than whether the film is documentary in method or promotional in intent.

What is a micro-documentary?

A short documentary film, usually two to ten minutes, telling one true story about a real person or organization — distinct from a testimonial, a brand film or a case study video.

The defining characteristic is that it is documentary in method: the subject speaks for themselves, the story is found rather than scripted, and the film does not resolve into a sales message. That method is what makes it credible and what makes it harder to commission.

Typical length

Two to ten minutes. Under two it becomes a brand film; over ten it needs a structure and a reason for the audience to keep watching that most commercial subjects cannot support.

What makes it documentary rather than promotional

The subject’s own words, an unscripted interview, and a willingness to include material that is not flattering. Remove any of those and it becomes something else, which is fine but should be named honestly.

Where it differs from a testimonial

A testimonial is about your product, told by a customer. A micro-documentary is about the person, and your organization appears in it if it belongs there.

Where it differs from a case study video

A case study is structured around a problem, a solution and a result. A documentary is structured around a person and a change, and the commercial point emerges rather than being delivered.

Where it differs from a brand film

Brand films are written and directed toward a message. Documentaries find the message in what the subject actually says, which means you cannot know the film before you shoot it.

Why the distinction matters commercially

Audiences distinguish these instantly. A documentary that turns into an advertisement in the final thirty seconds loses the credibility it spent nine minutes earning.

Why do organizations commission them?

Because a real person’s account is more persuasive than any claim the organization can make about itself, and because the format holds attention that promotional video does not.

The commercial logic is straightforward: third-party credibility, applied to a story you are close to. What organizations underestimate is that the credibility depends entirely on not controlling the account.

Short-form video formats compared
Credibility and control are inversely related down this table, which is the trade being made. Choosing a format means choosing where on that line you want to sit.

Credibility you cannot manufacture

A subject speaking without a script carries authority that polished copy does not, and audiences are unusually good at detecting the difference.

Attention for longer than a commercial

People watch documentaries about people. Watch-time on a genuine short documentary regularly exceeds a promotional film a third of the length.

Internal value as well as external

Staff and stakeholders watch these, and a film that captures why the work matters does something for recruitment and morale that a corporate video does not.

Durability

A documentary about a person ages far better than a film about a product, and a good one remains usable for years rather than a campaign cycle.

Sales and fundraising use

In nonprofit and mission-led contexts these frequently outperform any other asset, because the case being made is inherently about people.

Award and festival potential

Real, and a poor primary reason to commission one. A film made for festivals and a film made to reach your audience are different films.

What does a micro-documentary cost?

Commonly $8,000 to $40,000 for a professionally produced short documentary, with the range driven by shooting days, travel, crew size and how much archive or animation is involved.

The variable that surprises commissioners is that documentary shooting is inefficient by nature: you shoot far more than you use, and the edit is where the film is found.

Where the budget goes and why it differs from commercial video
ElementShareWhy documentary differs
Research and pre-interview10-15%You must know the story before you shoot it
Shooting days25-35%More footage per finished minute than scripted work
Crew20-30%Frequently smaller than commercial, but for longer
Travel and access5-20%Subjects are where they are
Edit20-30%The film is found here; this is not the place to economise
Sound and color5-10%Interview audio quality decides watchability
Music and licensing3-10%Original or properly licensed; both cost
Archive and stills0-15%Rights clearance takes time and money

The edit line is the one to protect. A documentary is assembled rather than executed, and a compressed edit produces a film that says less than the footage contained.

Ratios are high

Shooting several hours to produce five minutes is normal. Budget the edit accordingly rather than by finished runtime.

Pre-interviews save money

A conversation before the shoot tells you what the story is, which shortens the shoot and sharpens the questions. Skipping it is a false economy.

Archive clearance is slow

Photographs, footage and music from third parties need permission, and the process runs on other organizations’ timescales.

Travel dominates some budgets

If the subject is somewhere remote, logistics can exceed production. Establish this before scoping.

One subject is cheaper than five

Each additional subject multiplies shooting, travel and edit time. Films with too many voices are also usually worse.

How is one actually made?

Research, a pre-interview, a shoot built around one long conversation, supporting material shot around it, then an edit that finds the story in what was said.

The order matters. Documentary crews who arrive without having spoken to the subject spend the shoot discovering what they should have known, and the film reflects it.

How a micro-documentary is actually made
Step six is skipped constantly and is faster than editing from rushes by instinct. Transcribing first is the single biggest efficiency available in documentary edit.

Research and subject selection

The single largest determinant of whether the film works. A subject who is articulate, has genuinely been through something, and is willing to say so is worth more than any production decision.

The pre-interview

An unrecorded conversation to find the story, identify the moments and establish trust. It shapes the questions and shortens the shoot substantially.

The interview itself

Long, unscripted, and conducted so the subject answers in complete statements rather than in reaction to a question that will not be heard.

Observational footage

The subject doing the thing the film is about. This is what separates a documentary from an interview with cutaways.

Supporting material

Location, environment, texture, and where relevant archive. Enough to give the edit choices without becoming a shopping list.

The paper edit

Transcribe everything and build the story in text before touching a timeline. It is faster and it produces better films than editing by instinct from rushes.

The assembly and refinement

A long first cut, then reduction. Documentaries improve almost entirely by removal.

Review with the subject

Not for approval of the edit, and as a matter of accuracy and duty of care. Agree in advance what the subject may and may not ask to change.

How do you interview somebody so it works?

Ask them to answer in full sentences, ask fewer questions than you planned, and let silence do the work.

The single most useful technique is not asking a better question; it is not filling the pause after the answer. The second thing people say is usually the true thing.

Ask for complete statements

Because your voice will not be in the film. ‘Tell me about the day it changed’ produces usable material; ‘Was it hard?’ produces ‘yes’.

Prepare, then abandon the list

Prepared questions establish direction; following them mechanically prevents you hearing what the subject actually offered.

Leave the silence

Three seconds after an answer is uncomfortable and productive. It is where the material you actually use comes from.

Ask the obvious question

Interviewers skip what feels too basic and the audience needs it. ‘What is your job?’ has saved a great many edits.

Do not lead toward the answer you want

It produces material the subject does not believe and the audience can hear that.

Record room tone and get the audio right

Interview audio quality determines whether a film is watchable more than image quality does.

What are the ethical obligations?

Informed consent, honesty about how the film will be used, care with subjects who are vulnerable or discussing difficult experiences, and not editing somebody into saying something they did not mean.

Commercial documentary carries the same duties as journalism plus a commercial interest, which makes the obligations more rather than less important.

The subject should know where the film will appear, for how long, and in what contexts. ‘Marketing’ is not specific enough for somebody sharing a personal story.

Get releases and make them readable

A signed release that the subject did not understand protects you legally and not ethically. Explain it.

Vulnerable subjects need more care

Health, bereavement, addiction, hardship and children all raise obligations beyond a standard release, and some require specialist advice.

Do not edit meaning out of context

Assembling sentences from different answers to construct a statement the subject never made is the central documentary ethical failure and it is easy to do accidentally.

Tell them what they cannot change

Subjects sometimes expect editorial control. Being explicit in advance about what review means prevents a difficult conversation at the end.

Consider what happens after

A film about somebody’s personal circumstances remains online. Discuss with the subject what they want if their situation changes.

Where do these films actually get used?

Websites, sales conversations, recruitment, internal communications, fundraising, events and social platforms — and the cut that works in each is different.

A single film delivered without alternate cuts gets used in one place. Planning the versions during the edit costs little and multiplies where the film can go.

Where a micro-documentary is used, and what version each needs
UseVersion neededTypical length
Website hero or about pageThe full film3-8 minutes
Sales conversationsFull film, or a focused cut2-5 minutes
Social feedsVertical, captioned, front-loaded30-90 seconds
RecruitmentA cut emphasising people and culture2-4 minutes
Events and conferencesShorter, louder, no reliance on captions2-3 minutes
FundraisingA cut ending on a specific ask3-5 minutes
Internal communicationsFrequently the longest cut5-10 minutes

Ask for the vertical captioned cut during the edit rather than commissioning it later. It is cheap while the project is open and expensive to revisit once the editor has moved on.

Captions are not optional

Most social viewing is silent, and captions serve accessibility obligations as well. Burned-in or platform captions should be planned, not retrofitted.

Publish the transcript

It makes the film’s content readable, searchable and accessible, and it is the only way the substance of a video is machine-readable.

Host where you keep the archive

A platform embed is usually right for performance; the master files and transcripts should live somewhere you control.

Plan the still photography at the same time

A documentary shoot is the cheapest opportunity to get real photographs of the same subject, and it is regularly missed.

How do you measure whether it worked?

By watch-through rate and by what the film is used for — not by view count.

A film watched to the end by two hundred prospects is worth more than one abandoned at forty seconds by twenty thousand people, and only the first indicates the story held.

Measuring a documentary
The two most-reported measures are the two least connected to whether the film worked, and the drop-off curve — the most actionable thing available — is almost never looked at.

Watch-through is the honest metric

Documentary succeeds or fails on whether people stay. The drop-off curve tells you precisely where the story lost them.

Where it drops matters

A steep fall in the first fifteen seconds means the opening is wrong. A gradual decline means it is too long.

Track use, not just views

How often sales send it, whether recruitment uses it, whether it appears in fundraising. These indicate value that view counts do not.

Ask what people remember

A week later, what do they recall? Documentary works through memory of a person rather than recall of a message.

Compare page behavior with and without

Where the film sits on a page, conversion rate and time on page before and after are imperfect and informative.

Why has the mini-doc format grown?

Cheaper capable cameras, platforms that reward watch-time over impressions, and audience resistance to anything that reads as advertising.

None of those trends is reversing, which is a reasonable case for the format continuing to work. The countervailing pressure is saturation: as more organizations commission them, the ones that are not genuinely documentary become easier to spot.

Production capability got cheaper

A small crew can now produce broadcast-adequate image and sound, which put the format within reach of organizations that could not previously afford it.

Platforms reward retention

Recommendation systems weight watch-time, which favors content people actually finish over content that is merely clicked.

Advertising resistance is increasing

Audiences skip, block and disregard anything reading as promotional, which raises the value of formats that do not.

Saturation is the risk ahead

As the format becomes common, the credibility advantage narrows for anybody producing something documentary-shaped but promotionally controlled.

Series work better than singles

Several related short films outperform one, because the audience returns and the production learns. It also amortises the research and setup cost.

How do you run a mini-doc series rather than a single film?

By choosing a frame that can hold several stories, shooting in batches, and publishing on a schedule the organization can actually sustain.

The commonest series failure is the same one as with any content program: three strong episodes, then nothing. Commit to a number you can finish rather than to an open-ended run.

Single film against a series
One filmA series
Cost per finished minuteHigherLower after the first
Research overheadFull, for one storyAmortised across episodes
Audience behaviorOne viewReturn viewing, and subscription
RiskAll of it rests on one subjectSpread across several
Commitment requiredA projectA program somebody must own
Commonest failureNowhere to use itStopping after three episodes

If a series is the plan, decide the number of episodes and fund all of them before publishing the first. A visibly abandoned series is worse than a single well-made film.

Pick a frame, not a topic

‘People who do difficult work in our industry’ holds many episodes; ‘our customers’ does not, because it collapses into testimonials.

Shoot in batches

Two or three subjects per trip amortises travel and crew and keeps the visual language consistent.

Publish on a schedule you can keep

Monthly indefinitely beats weekly for six weeks and then silence.

Name somebody as owner

Series die when they are nobody’s job. The owner does not have to make them; they have to keep them scheduled.

How do nonprofits and mission-led organizations use these?

As the central fundraising and awareness asset, because the case they are making is inherently about people — and with heavier consent and duty-of-care obligations.

This is the context where micro-documentary performs best and where the ethical requirements are most demanding, because subjects are frequently sharing hardship and are not in an equal power relationship with the organization filming them.

The format fits the case

Mission organizations are arguing that something matters to real people, which is exactly what documentary demonstrates rather than asserts.

Somebody receiving services from your organization may not feel free to decline. Consent processes should account for that explicitly.

Avoid dignity-stripping framing

Portraying people solely as recipients of help is both ethically poor and less persuasive than showing them as people with agency.

Agree what happens if they change their mind

A subject’s circumstances change. Deciding in advance whether they can withdraw, and what that means for a published film, is a kindness and a protection.

Artists and community subjects

Frequently have their own audience and their own rights in the work shown. Clear the material and agree how they may use the film themselves.

The fundraising cut needs an ask

A documentary that moves people and does not tell them what to do next converts far below one that does. Make it a separate cut rather than compromising the film.

What are the anatomy elements of a strong short documentary?

One person, one change, a specific moment, and an ending that does not tie a bow on it.

Short documentary fails most often by trying to cover a whole life or a whole organization. The ones that work narrow to a single change and let the audience infer the rest.

Anatomy of a short documentary that works
ElementWhat it looks likeHow it fails
A single subjectOne person’s account carries itFive voices, no through-line
A specific changeSomething was one way and became anotherA general description of a role
A concrete momentA scene the subject can describe in detailAbstraction and summary
Observational materialThem doing the thingInterview with generic cutaways
A turnSomething surprising or difficultUniformly positive, therefore unbelievable
An ending that resists closureThe audience draws the conclusionA summarizing voiceover
Restraint with musicSupports, does not instructScore telling people how to feel

The fifth row is the one commissioners resist and the one that makes the film credible. A documentary in which nothing was difficult is a commercial with a longer runtime.

What practical tips actually improve the result?

Record the audio properly, shoot the subject working, transcribe everything, and cut the first thirty seconds you thought were essential.

Most improvement in this format comes from a small number of unglamorous disciplines rather than from ambition in the shooting.

Get the interview audio right

It determines watchability more than any image decision. Lavalier plus boom, quiet room, room tone recorded.

Shoot the subject actually working

Not walking down a corridor. Real activity gives the edit material that matches what is being said.

Transcribe everything before editing

It is faster and it surfaces lines you did not notice were the best thing in the interview.

Cut your opening

The first thirty seconds you shot are almost always throat-clearing. The film usually starts about a minute in.

Resist the summarizing voiceover

If the film needs narration to explain itself, the structure is the problem.

Watch it with somebody who does not know the subject

They will tell you within a minute what is unclear, which nobody close to the project can see.

Where should the film live once it exists?

On a page built for it, with the transcript published, and embedded rather than self-hosted.

Films delivered as a file and dropped onto a general page underperform for reasons that have nothing to do with the film. Where it sits and what surrounds it decide much of the result.

What should the surrounding page contain?

A short written summary of what the film is about, the transcript, and a next step — because most page visitors will not watch.

On any given page, most visitors do not play the video. Writing out the substance means the content still works for them, and it is what makes the material machine-readable.

How does this fit with the rest of the marketing?

As the credibility asset that other channels point to, rather than as a campaign in itself.

A documentary works hardest when sales send it, when it sits on the page a prospect reaches after an ad, and when recruitment uses it — which means its value is realized by other people’s activity rather than by its own distribution.

Who should own the film internally?

Somebody with an interest in it being used, not just made. Films with no internal owner get delivered, praised, and then forgotten.

The pattern is consistent: an expensive film is commissioned, everybody likes it, and six months later it has been used twice. Naming who is responsible for it being deployed is worth more than another day of shooting.

How long should the film actually be?

As long as the story holds and no longer. In practice that is usually three to six minutes, and the honest test is whether you could remove a minute without losing anything.

Length should follow the material rather than a specification. A four-minute film with nothing wasted outperforms a seven-minute one with three minutes of padding, and audiences leave at the padding rather than at the end.

What should you ask a documentary producer?

How they choose subjects, whether a pre-interview is included, how much edit time is budgeted, and what they would refuse to do.

The edit question is the practical one. A producer quoting a short edit on a documentary either intends to shoot very little or has not made one before, and both show in the result.

When is a micro-documentary the wrong choice?

When there is no genuine story, when the organization cannot tolerate an unflattering moment, and when the real need is an explainer.

The most common failure is commissioning a documentary and then requiring it to behave like an advertisement, which produces something with the cost of one and the credibility of neither.

No real story

Not every organization has one, and the format cannot manufacture it. An honest producer will say so before taking the budget.

An explainer is the actual need

If the requirement is to make a product understood, that is a different film with a script and it will do the job better and cheaper.

No tolerance for an unflattering moment

If every frame must serve the brand, commission a brand film. Documentary credibility comes from the possibility that it might not.

Subject unwilling to be candid

A guarded subject produces a guarded film. Better to find somebody who will speak freely than to shoot somebody who will not.

No budget for the edit

The film is made in the edit. A shoot funded without a proper edit produces expensive unused footage.

Want the film to have somewhere to work once it exists?

We work with clients across the United States on where video actually lives — the page it sits on, the transcript that makes it findable, and the cuts that let one shoot serve six places.

Talk to Progression Agency

Video: production and marketing practice

A general library on marketing and video practice. The documentary material is written out in full above.

Social, content and brand

Frequently asked questions

What are mini docs used for in business?
Culture, customer stories and process explanation, usually three to ten minutes. Mini docs work commercially because the documentary form buys credibility that an advert cannot: the subject speaks, the camera observes, and the viewer draws the conclusion.
What is a mini documentary exactly?
A short-form documentary, typically under fifteen minutes, built on real subjects. What is a mini documentary comes down to intent rather than duration: it observes and reports rather than pitching, which is what distinguishes it from a branded video of the same length.
Are there mini documentary examples that work for brands?
Founder origin stories, customer profiles and process films. Mini documentary examples that convert commercially share one trait — the brand is present but not the subject. The moment the film becomes about the company rather than a person or a process, it reverts to being an advert.
What are micro docs?
Short documentary films, typically two to six minutes, built on real access rather than scripted narrative. Micro docs suit brands with a genuine story and no appetite for a long-form commitment, and they fail when there is no real access to film.
What is a micro-documentary?
A short documentary film, usually two to ten minutes, telling one true story about a real person or organization — documentary in method rather than promotional in intent.
How is it different from a testimonial?
A testimonial is about your product, told by a customer. A micro-documentary is about the person, and your organization appears in it only if it belongs there.
How is it different from a case study video?
A case study is structured around problem, solution and result. A documentary is structured around a person and a change, and the commercial point emerges rather than being delivered.
How is it different from a brand film?
Brand films are written and directed toward a message. Documentaries find the message in what the subject actually says, which means you cannot know the film before you shoot it.
Why does the distinction matter?
Because audiences detect it instantly. A documentary that turns into an advertisement in the final thirty seconds loses the credibility it spent nine minutes earning.
Why do organizations commission them?
Because a real person’s account is more persuasive than any claim the organization can make, and because the format holds attention that promotional video does not.
What does a micro-documentary cost?
Commonly $8,000-$40,000 professionally produced, driven by shooting days, travel, crew size and how much archive or animation is involved.
Why is documentary more expensive per finished minute?
Because the shooting ratio is high — several hours of footage for five minutes of film — and the edit, where the film is actually found, is correspondingly longer.
Which budget line should be protected?
The edit. A documentary is assembled rather than executed, and a compressed edit produces a film that says less than the footage contained.
Is a pre-interview necessary?
It is the most valuable step. An unrecorded conversation before the shoot finds the story, sharpens the questions and shortens the shoot. Skipping it is a false economy.
How is one made, step by step?
Research and subject selection, pre-interview, a long unscripted interview, observational footage, supporting material, a paper edit from transcripts, assembly and reduction, then review with the subject.
What is a paper edit?
Transcribing everything and building the story in text before touching a timeline. It is faster than editing by instinct from rushes and produces better films.
How should the interview be conducted?
Ask for complete statements because your voice will not be in the film, ask fewer questions than planned, and leave the silence after an answer — the second thing people say is usually the true thing.
What is the most common interview mistake?
Filling the pause. Three seconds of silence after an answer is uncomfortable and is where the material you actually use comes from.
What are the ethical obligations?
Informed consent that is specific about where the film will appear, readable releases, extra care with vulnerable subjects, and not editing somebody into saying something they did not mean.
What does informed consent mean here?
The subject knows where the film will appear, for how long and in what contexts. ‘Marketing’ is not specific enough for somebody sharing a personal story.
Can the subject approve the edit?
Agree in advance what review means. Subjects sometimes expect editorial control, and being explicit up front prevents a difficult conversation at the end.
What is the central documentary ethical failure?
Assembling sentences from different answers to construct a statement the subject never made. It is easy to do accidentally and it is the thing to guard against in the edit.
Where do these films get used?
Websites, sales conversations, recruitment, internal communications, fundraising, events and social — and the cut that works in each is different.
Should I commission multiple cuts?
Yes, during the edit. A vertical captioned cut is cheap while the project is open and expensive to revisit once the editor has moved on.
Are captions necessary?
Yes. Most social viewing is silent, and captions serve accessibility obligations. Plan them rather than retrofitting.
Should the transcript be published?
Yes. It makes the film’s content readable, searchable and accessible, and it is the only way the substance of a video is machine-readable.
How should a documentary be measured?
By watch-through rate and by what the film is actually used for — not by view count. A film watched to the end by two hundred prospects beats one abandoned at forty seconds by twenty thousand.
What does the drop-off curve tell me?
Where the story lost people. A steep fall in the first fifteen seconds means the opening is wrong; a gradual decline means it is too long.
Why has the mini-doc format grown?
Cheaper capable production, platforms that reward watch-time over impressions, and audience resistance to anything reading as advertising. The risk ahead is saturation.
Is a series better than a single film?
Usually, if you can finish it. Cost per minute falls after the first, research is amortised and risk is spread — but a visibly abandoned series is worse than one well-made film.
How do I structure a mini-doc series?
Pick a frame that can hold several stories rather than a topic, shoot in batches, publish on a schedule you can keep, and name somebody as owner.
How do nonprofits use micro-documentaries?
As a central fundraising and awareness asset, because the case is inherently about people — with heavier consent and duty-of-care obligations than commercial work.
What changes about consent in a nonprofit context?
Power imbalance. Somebody receiving services from your organization may not feel free to decline, and the consent process should account for that explicitly.
Should a fundraising film include an ask?
Yes, as a separate cut. A documentary that moves people without telling them what to do next converts far below one that does — but do not compromise the film to add it.
What makes a short documentary work structurally?
One subject, one specific change, a concrete moment, observational material, a genuine turn, and an ending that lets the audience draw the conclusion.
Why does the film need something difficult in it?
Because a documentary in which nothing was hard is a commercial with a longer runtime. The turn is what makes the rest credible.
What practical things most improve the result?
Get the interview audio right, shoot the subject actually working, transcribe everything before editing, and cut the opening thirty seconds you thought were essential.
Where should the film live?
On a page built for it, embedded rather than self-hosted, with the transcript published — because most page visitors will not press play.
What should surround the film on the page?
A short written summary, the transcript, and a next step. Writing out the substance serves the majority who do not watch and makes the content machine-readable.
Who should own the film internally?
Somebody with an interest in it being used rather than just made. Films with no internal owner get delivered, praised, and then used twice.
How long should a micro-documentary be?
As long as the story holds — usually three to six minutes. The test is whether you could remove a minute without losing anything; audiences leave at the padding, not at the end.
What should I ask a documentary producer?
How they choose subjects, whether a pre-interview is included, how much edit time is budgeted, and what they would refuse to do. The edit question is the most revealing.
When is a micro-documentary the wrong choice?
When there is no genuine story, when the organization cannot tolerate an unflattering moment, when an explainer is the actual need, or when there is no budget for the edit.
What is the most common way these fail?
Commissioning a documentary and then requiring it to behave like an advertisement, which produces something with the cost of one and the credibility of neither.
How many subjects should a film have?
Usually one. Each additional subject multiplies shooting, travel and edit time, and films with too many voices are also generally worse.
Should we photograph at the same time?
Yes. A documentary shoot is the cheapest opportunity to get real photographs of the same subject, and it is regularly missed.

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  57. FTC endorsement guides — reviews and testimonials
  58. FTC: rule on consumer reviews and testimonials
  59. HHS: HIPAA guidance on online tracking technologies
  60. New Jersey Courts: attorney advertising guidelines
  61. New Jersey DCA: construction codes and permits
  62. New Jersey Home Improvement Contractor registration
  63. New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
  64. TikTok for Business
  65. TikTok Creative Center
  66. TikTok Ads Help Center
  67. TikTok Community Guidelines
  68. TikTok Terms of Service
  69. TikTok Privacy Policy
  70. TikTok Safety Center
  71. TikTok Transparency Center
  72. TikTok Creator Portal
  73. TikTok Newsroom
  74. TikTok for Developers
  75. TikTok advertising solutions
  76. TikTok Creator Marketplace
  77. TikTok Business Center
  78. TikTok for Business blog
  79. TikTok Creative Center: top ads
  80. TikTok Branded Content policy
  81. TikTok Shop for sellers
  82. Instagram for Business
  83. Instagram for Creators
  84. Instagram Help Center
  85. About Instagram
  86. Meta Business Suite
  87. Meta Business Help Center
  88. Meta Transparency Center
  89. About Meta
  90. Meta: Instagram platform docs
  91. YouTube Creators
  92. YouTube Official Blog
  93. YouTube Shorts help
  94. How YouTube Works
  95. YouTube Studio
  96. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
  97. LinkedIn Help
  98. Pinterest Business
  99. Pinterest Business Help
  100. Snapchat for Business
  101. X for Business
  102. Reddit communities
  103. Reddit for Business Help
  104. ASCAP
  105. BMI
  106. SESAC
  107. Global Music Rights
  108. PRS for Music (UK)
  109. PPL (UK)
  110. SOCAN (Canada)
  111. APRA AMCOS (Australia)
  112. GEMA (Germany)
  113. SACEM (France)
  114. SIAE (Italy)
  115. JASRAC (Japan)
  116. IFPI
  117. RIAA
  118. National Music Publishers Association
  119. Harry Fox Agency
  120. SoundExchange
  121. Music Reports
  122. Epidemic Sound
  123. Artlist
  124. Soundstripe
  125. PremiumBeat
  126. AudioJungle
  127. Free Music Archive
  128. Creative Commons
  129. Incompetech
  130. FTC: advertising and marketing
  131. FTC: disclosures 101
  132. FTC: endorsement guides
  133. FTC: consumer reviews rule
  134. FTC: advertising FAQs
  135. US Copyright Office
  136. US Copyright Office: DMCA
  137. US Copyright Office: music FAQ
  138. US Copyright Office: fair use FAQ
  139. USPTO: trademarks
  140. UK Advertising Standards Authority
  141. ACCC (Australia)
  142. Competition Bureau Canada
  143. GDPR overview
  144. California Consumer Privacy Act
  145. COPPA
  146. FTC: children’s privacy
  147. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
  148. W3C: WCAG
  149. W3C: captions
  150. W3C: making audio and video accessible
  151. ADA.gov
  152. WebAIM
  153. Epilepsy Foundation
  154. Pew Research: internet and technology
  155. DataReportal
  156. US Census Bureau
  157. US Bureau of Labor Statistics
  158. Interactive Advertising Bureau
  159. Think with Google
  160. Google Trends
  161. Nielsen insights
  162. Schema.org: VideoObject
  163. Schema.org: SocialMediaPosting
  164. Schema.org: MusicRecording
  165. Schema.org: HowTo
  166. Schema.org: FAQPage
  167. Schema.org: Organization
  168. Google: video best practices
  169. Google: video structured data
  170. CapCut
  171. Adobe Premiere Rush
  172. DaVinci Resolve
  173. Canva
  174. Descript
  175. VEED
  176. Kapwing
  177. Otter.ai
  178. Later
  179. Buffer
  180. Hootsuite
  181. Sprout Social
  182. Google Analytics
  183. Google Search Console
  184. Google Analytics developer docs
  185. GA4: events and conversions
  186. Matomo
  187. Plausible Analytics
  188. Similarweb
  189. UK Information Commissioner’s Office
  190. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  191. Australian OAIC
  192. European Data Protection Board
  193. EU data protection
  194. EU Digital Services Act
  195. Ofcom
  196. FCC
  197. AIGA
  198. Nielsen Norman Group
  199. Smashing Magazine
  200. web.dev
  201. MDN: web media
  202. MDN: the video element
  203. ISO 21001 (reference)
  204. Buma/Stemra (Netherlands)
  205. STIM (Sweden)
  206. Teosto (Finland)
  207. Koda (Denmark)
  208. TONO (Norway)
  209. IMRO (Ireland)
  210. SGAE (Spain)
  211. ZAiKS (Poland)
  212. KOMCA (South Korea)
  213. MCSC (China)
  214. CISAC
  215. World Intellectual Property Organization
  216. TikTok: creating videos
  217. TikTok: exploring videos
  218. TikTok: privacy settings
  219. TikTok: growing your audience
  220. TikTok Creator Academy
  221. TikTok Effect House
  222. TikTok for small business
  223. Instagram: Reels help
  224. YouTube: Shorts best practice
  225. How YouTube recommends
  226. Pinterest Predicts
  227. Snapchat for Business
  228. Hootsuite blog
  229. Social Media Examiner
  230. Marketing Week
  231. Adweek

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