Keeping the file, the plan and the date together
A finished video records nothing about the plan, the account or the terms that applied when it was made. Everything a later question will ask about has to be written down at export or lost. As of 2026-09-12.
| Recorded at export | Why it is needed later |
|---|---|
| The plan in force | Most permissions are conditional on one |
| The account used | On per-seat products the grant attaches to it |
| The date | Terms change, and readings are dated |
| The file as delivered | What the audience actually received |
Inclusion rule. Facts that exist only at the moment of export and that cannot be recovered from the file afterwards. Order. From the fact permissions most often turn on to the artefact itself.
1The file is not the record
Metadata is stripped, versions are replaced and galleries are reorganised. A clip that shipped two years ago proves that something was published and nothing about what permitted it.
Keeping the delivered version alongside four short fields is enough, and it is the same discipline broadcast has always applied to masters. Nobody regrets it.
2Hosted history disappears with access
Generation histories, version trails and prompt records live inside a product. An account that lapses or is suspended takes them with it, along with the ability to show what was made and when.
That is an argument for exporting rather than for distrust. Most suppliers will keep the history indefinitely and none of them promises to.
3What the log is actually for
Answering a client or a regulator without reconstructing a workflow from memory. The question is usually narrow, and a log turns it into a lookup rather than an investigation.
It also makes a supplier change survivable. When terms move or a product is retired, a production with dated exports knows exactly which deliverables were made under which position.
4Where the vendor statements are kept
The mechanics above apply to anyone. What a given vendor has committed to in writing is held on the register instead, each line with the plan page it came from and the date it was checked.
An explainer, not an entry in the register. Vendor statements are held, with their sources, on commercial use, and nothing on this page is legal advice. Related: Changing vendor, Running weights.
5From the making side
Alongside the terms behind “Archiving exports”, SceneMixer's guides describe the work itself this way:
You can recomposite with different end-card text, and in step-by-step mode you can reshoot individual segments. The finished file can also be downloaded and shared with a link.
SceneMixer, How to Make an Ad from One Photo — “Can I change the ad after it is finished?” (read 2026-10-13)
AI Edit Image on a step-2 card keeps the same character and applies a short change you describe — navy blue shirt, short curly hair, smiling — then Apply Edit.
SceneMixer, AI-Editing a Sheet: Outfit, Hair, Expression (read 2026-10-13)