A pack is footage, not a subscription
Clips and frames stay in your account for 12 months. Anything that fails goes back to your balance. How packs work, and what happens to what you do not use.
September 20, 2026 · 4 min read
Video Essay Director is sold in packs of clips and frames. There is no monthly fee. You buy footage for the film you are making, and you use it at the pace the film needs.
The three packs
- Passage, $190: 30 clips (3 minutes of motion) and 120 frames, for a film of 2 to 4 minutes.
- Essay, $590: 120 clips (12 minutes) and 480 frames, for a film of 8 to 15 minutes.
- Documentary, $1,990: 500 clips (50 minutes) and 2,000 frames, for a film of 40 to 60 minutes.
Every pack includes 10 percent spare frames on top, because some shots always need another take. The suggested lengths assume stills, maps and your own footage carry part of the cut; the clips are the moving shots.
Twelve months to use it
Units stay in your account for 12 months from purchase. Documentaries take time, and a film that stalls for a season should not lose its footage.
What comes back
If a generation fails, the unit is returned to your balance automatically. If the safety filter blocks a generation, that is returned too, within a daily allowance.
What you do not use
The unused part of a pack can be refunded pro rata, weighted 70 percent to clips and 30 percent to frames. For example, on a $590 pack with 30 clips and 200 frames used, the refund is $413. The full rules are on the refund policy page.
You are paying for pictures in a film, not for access to a dashboard.
Paste a script. Leave with shots and clips. Packs from $190.
MORE NOTES
What you paste, and what you get back
You paste a narration. It comes back as chapters, each broken into shots a crew could film. Then frames, then six-second clips.
Why 2K frames and six-second clips
Sharp enough to cut with, short enough to judge at a glance. The reasoning behind the two numbers that shape every project.