# Generate

> New footage from words, stills, and references — the shot you didn't get.
> Part of the Cuts Guide (en) — https://ferment.run/cuts/docs (Markdown map: https://ferment.run/cuts/docs/index.md)
> Canonical page: https://ferment.run/cuts/docs/generate

Sometimes the shot doesn't exist. On paid plans, Cuts can make it — everything here starts in chat.

## What you can ask for

- **A clip from words.** Describe the shot; Cuts generates it.
- **A still, animated.** Give Cuts a photo — a product shot, a poster — and it moves. The most common ask, and usually the right one.
- **A match for your footage.** Hand over reference images or clips, and the generation follows their style or keeps a character consistent.
- **More of a clip.** Extend a shot past where you stopped recording — new seconds grow from the out-point.
- **The same clip, changed.** Restyle existing footage, add and remove things.
- **Images.** Generate stills, or edit the ones you have with plain instructions.

Music and narration are generation too — and they're included on every plan, Free too; they live in [Music](/cuts/docs/music) and [Speech & captions](/cuts/docs/speech-and-captions).


## Quality and cost

Video generation comes in two tiers: fast (720p) for drafts, standard (1080p) for the version you ship. When you're choosing between variants, explore fast and re-render only the winner at standard — Cuts will suggest the same.

Video generation quotes its cost in credits and waits for your yes; cheap jobs like images just run. Either way, you're only charged when a job succeeds — the rules are in [Credits & plans](/cuts/docs/credits-and-plans).

Generated video arrives in clips of 4–15 seconds — you build a reel from generated moments, not generate a reel.

## Jobs

Generation runs in the cloud. Leave the app and the job keeps going; its progress lives in the jobs panel, and you can cancel there anytime — reserved credits come back. Jobs that start from your own footage — restyling, extending — upload just the piece they need; see [Your library](/cuts/docs/your-library).