Archive research, with the clearance paperwork attached.

Why generated frames are not always right

Documentary credibility depends on material the audience can verify: real streets, real hardware, real archive stills. The stage classifies each shot-list entry as authentic-required or interpretive, and only routes the former to licence search.

Clearance is part of the deliverable

Every returned asset carries source, author, licence identifier and canonical URL. Attribution strings are pre-formatted for the description box, so the monetisation review never turns on missing paperwork.

• Modification-allowed licences only — required for grading and reframing
• Editorial-only material excluded from commercial cuts
• Assets that fail clearance fall back to a generated frame automatically

Conform to the episode look

Licensed material is reframed to the master ratio and pushed through the episode grade before it reaches the timeline, so mixed-provenance footage cuts together without a visible seam.