Resources / The cutdown map

The cutdown map

Twelve assets from one fifteen-second film.

By Raunak Singh Bhogal. Published 18 September 2026, updated 26 September 2026.

The short version

Twelve assets from one fifteen-second film. Ask for them at the start. Every one is cheaper planned than requested later.

The hero

Fifteen seconds, vertical, with sound. The full idea. Everything else on this list is cut from it, so nothing else needs its own budget.

Asset 1.

The six-second cut

Hook, product, name. For ads where nobody has asked to watch you.

Asset 2. The hardest working file you will own.

Square and wide

The same film reframed for feeds and for YouTube or a website banner. Planned at the start, this costs little. Asked for later, it costs a lot.

Assets 3 and 4.

Two more openings

Same film, two different first two seconds. You will not guess which hook wins. Let the ad account tell you.

Assets 5 and 6.

Three stills

Frames pulled from the film: a cover, a listing image, a post. Same light, same look, no extra shoot.

Assets 7, 8 and 9.

The loop

A three-second seamless loop for your product page and stories. Motion where people expect a photo.

Asset 10.

End card and story

The closing frame as a static ad, and a vertical version with space left for a link sticker.

Assets 11 and 12.

The twelve

  • 1. Hero film, 15 seconds, 9:16, with sound
  • 2. Six-second cut for ads
  • 3. Square version, 1:1
  • 4. Wide version, 16:9
  • 5. Alternate opening A
  • 6. Alternate opening B
  • 7. Cover still
  • 8. Listing still
  • 9. Post still
  • 10. Three-second loop for the product page
  • 11. End card as a static ad
  • 12. Story version with link-sticker space

Tell the studio up front

  • Every placement you will run it in
  • Where text must stay clear of platform buttons
  • Whether you need versions without text, for other languages

The rule

One idea, shot or built once, exported twelve ways. If a studio quotes twelve separate jobs, ask why.

What you get

  • The twelve
  • Tell the studio up front
  • The rule

Free. PDF.

Tell us what you're launching.

Send the brief, the product or just the problem. We reply with an approach and a quote.