Total length of shot or edited material—measured in meters or minutes. Broadcast context: cost-per-minute differs significantly from feature work.
The footage determines how much material you actually bring into the edit at the end of the shoot. For feature films, you calculate generously: if you shoot for three days for one scene, you quickly accumulate ten times the final cut length. For a 90-minute production, we're talking about 15–20 kilometers of raw material — some cinematographers speak of a 12:1 to 20:1 ratio, depending on the genre and directorial style.
In documentary work or low-budget series, the situation is bleaker. Here, footage becomes a cost trap. You shoot less, you edit tighter. A television series with 45 minutes of broadcast time can get by with 60–80 kilometers of material — that's tight, but it also requires discipline on set. It becomes even more precarious with news magazines or live event coverage: here, the footage often falls below a 3:1 ratio because broadcast time is limited and the budget is tight. This makes editing a high-wire act.
Practically, footage serves as a control metric for several things simultaneously. Firstly: storage. Anyone with 25 kilometers of DCP material or 4K RAW needs corresponding hard drive capacity and backup strategies — this impacts the budget. Secondly: editing time. An editor who turns 18 kilometers of material into a 90-minute final cut in four weeks works differently than one with only six kilometers. The first has more choices, the second must be able to justify every cut. Thirdly: insurance and rights clearance. If locations or extras are featured in more material than you ultimately show, you need more clearances.
The footage also says something about the directorial handwriting. A perfectionist with classical training often shoots sparingly — three, four takes per shot, then done. An experimental director lets the camera roll, tries things out, varies. The ratio between raw material and the edit reveals how precisely pre-production was done. Was the storyboard detailed? Was the set design clear? Or was there a lot of improvisation? The footage is the silent answer to these questions.