# Documentary Research Brief Template

> A compact research handoff that separates evidence, interpretation, uncertainty, pronunciation, and visual reconstruction before scripting begins.

Canonical: https://onira.studio/templates/documentary-research-brief
Audience: Documentary researchers, writers, producers, and creator teams
Production job: Research handoff
Runtime: Pre-production artifact
Format: Structured source brief

## Use this brief

Research [subject] to answer [central question] for [audience]. Return a dated timeline, named people and institutions, claim-to-source notes, disputed or uncertain points, quotable material with exact provenance, pronunciation notes, and visual opportunities. Do not convert inference into fact.

## Required inputs

- Topic, central question, audience, target runtime, and editorial angle
- Source inclusion and exclusion rules, preferred languages, and research cutoff date
- Sensitivity, rights, living-person, cultural, or geopolitical constraints
- The decision this research must enable in the story blueprint

## Editorial structure

1. Write a five-sentence orientation covering what happened, where, when, who, and why it matters.
2. Build a dated timeline containing only events that affect the story argument.
3. Create a claim ledger with source, evidence strength, uncertainty, and exact wording limits.
4. Separate primary evidence, reliable secondary synthesis, interpretation, and unsupported anecdotes.
5. List visual evidence and reconstruction opportunities without treating generated imagery as proof.

## Acceptance checks

- Open every source and confirm it supports the attached claim.
- Record publication date, author or institution, title, URL, and access date.
- Flag source disagreement, translation ambiguity, missing context, and evidence gaps.
- Exclude fabricated quotes, unattributed statistics, and claims copied from search snippets.

## Visual direction

Research should identify places, objects, processes, maps, and documented visual constraints, not prescribe unsupported spectacle.

## Narration direction

The research brief is not narration. Keep language literal, sourced, and easy for a writer to interrogate.

## Product boundary

- Onira delivers a final MP4; it does not upload or schedule posts on YouTube or social platforms.
- Onira provides a reviewable production workflow; creators remain responsible for approving the story, facts, rights, disclosure, and final publication.
- Director chat is limited to regenerating one selected PREVIEW timeline video clip; other available Studio controls are separate direct actions.
- Creators must review facts, sources, rights, realistic-synthetic-media disclosure, and platform policy before publishing.
- Onira does not guarantee YouTube monetization, reach, factual accuracy, or legal clearance.