Raw footage vs an edited deliverable
An edited UGC video arrives ready to post: trimmed, captioned, with a hook, a middle, and a call to action. Raw footage is everything the creator shot to make that video, usually as separate clips straight from the phone. It has no captions, no music, and often includes multiple takes of the same line.
Brands ask for it because one raw session can become many ads. Your editor can cut a 15-second version, swap the hook, test a different opening line, or pull B-roll for other creatives. That flexibility is the whole point of the deliverable.
How to specify it in a brief
Vague requests produce unusable files. Say exactly what you need: "Deliver all raw clips as separate files, vertical 9:16, minimum 1080p, original audio, no filters or captions, uploaded to the shared folder within 3 days of the edited video." Add whether you want the creator to slate each take by reading the hook number aloud.
Cover the boring details too. Ask for the phone's native format, tell the creator not to send through a messaging app that compresses video, and confirm the file naming pattern. A brief line like "clip-01-hook-A.mov" saves an hour of sorting later.
Pricing and rights
Most UGC creators price raw footage as an add-on, often quoted as a percentage of the video fee or a flat amount per session. The reason is that raw files let you produce more assets from one shoot, so creators treat them as extra value. Label your budget assumption as an estimate and confirm it in the offer.
Usage rights apply to raw footage the same way they apply to the finished video. If your contract grants 90 days of paid usage, that covers every cut you make from the raw files, not just the original. Spell this out so nobody is surprised when a re-edited version runs in month four.
How it's used
"Deliverables: 3 edited videos plus raw footage for each, so we can test alternate hooks in-house."
"Can you quote the raw footage add-on separately? We may skip it on the first batch."