AI video quality assurance checklist: 42 checks before export

Use this as a release gate, not a promise that any generator will pass all 42 checks. Mark each item pass, fail, or not applicable; write the timestamp and owner for failures. Review the complete exported video and the version viewers will actually see. Magic Hour publishes this editorial checklist; the examples below illustrate review decisions, not measured model outputs.

How to use the 42 checks

First freeze the brief and hard requirements. Watch the entire clip at normal speed, then inspect the timestamped defects frame by frame. Compare claims and assets with approved sources, export at the destination settings, and review that file again. A failed hard requirement blocks release; a cosmetic preference can be revised separately.

For a one-person project, keep a short review sheet with check number, pass/fail/not applicable, timestamp, evidence, fix, and final approver. For teams, assign different owners to facts, likeness, rights, and technical delivery. The checklist is a quality-control framework, not a legal opinion or a benchmark of Magic Hour or its competitors.

Brief, story and claims

1. Write the acceptance brief Record audience, destination, one intended message, duration, aspect ratio, and the person who can approve the result. Reject a clip that serves a different brief even if it looks impressive.

2. Match the opening to the promise Watch the first seconds without reading the caption. The opening should show or state what the title, ad, or script promises. Rewrite the hook if viewers would expect a different product or outcome.

3. Check the sequence of events Read the shot list beside the entire clip. Each required action should happen in the intended order, with no unexplained jump that changes the story. Split an overloaded shot into shorter clips when necessary.

4. Verify every factual claim Compare prices, names, statistics, dates, capabilities, and superlatives against the approved source. If a claim cannot be substantiated, remove it rather than approving plausible-looking copy.

5. Confirm the call to action Check that the spoken, on-screen, caption, and landing-page actions agree. Open the final destination link. Fix a mismatch before distribution; a working export with the wrong route is still a failed deliverable.

6. Check the intended audience Show the clip to someone who did not write the prompt. Ask what they believe it offers and who it is for. If that differs from the brief, revise the explanation or visual evidence.

7. Record unresolved assumptions Mark each unverified product fact, permission, or destination requirement as unresolved. An owner must resolve it before sign-off; silence in the review sheet is not approval.

People, identity and visual continuity

8. Match the authorized identity Compare the generated person with the approved reference at the beginning, middle, and end. Reject unexpected identity changes, especially after turns, occlusion, or a cut.

9. Inspect faces in motion Watch expressions and lip movement at normal speed, then pause where motion is fastest. Repair frames with drifting eyes, teeth, skin, or expression rather than judging from a thumbnail.

10. Inspect hands and contact Pause when hands touch faces, props, clothing, or each other. Count visible fingers only where the shot requires them and check that the grasp remains plausible through the motion.

11. Track clothing and accessories Compare colors, logos, jewelry, and wardrobe across cuts. If an item changes without a story reason, replace the shot or edit the sequence; a single corrected frame is insufficient.

12. Track props through occlusion Follow objects as they pass behind hands, bodies, or foreground elements. They should return with the same shape and position unless the action explicitly changes them.

13. Check backgrounds and reflections Look for shifting architecture, disappearing objects, inconsistent mirrors, and impossible shadows. Review transitions frame by frame where the error first appears.

14. Protect real-person consent Confirm that any recognizable face, voice, or likeness has the permission required for this use. If consent is missing or the use differs from the approval, stop publication and replace the asset.

Motion, continuity and edit

15. Watch once at normal speed Play the whole output without pausing before inspecting details. Note the first timestamp that feels wrong; a sequence can fail even when every selected still looks strong.

16. Check the main action The subject should complete the action in the brief. If a jump, gesture, or product reveal never finishes, shorten or regenerate the shot rather than describing completion in the caption.

17. Separate camera from subject motion Check whether a pan, orbit, or zoom makes the main action unreadable. Retest with a fixed or simpler camera while holding the source and other settings constant.

18. Check physical continuity Review object location, direction of travel, and cause and effect across adjacent frames. Flag teleporting, reversals, duplicated objects, and motion that breaks the intended scene.

19. Inspect cuts and transitions Pause two seconds before and after each edit. Check subject position, scale, lighting, and audio continuity; hide a bad transition with a deliberate cut only when the story still makes sense.

20. Check first and last frames The opening must be usable in its feed or player, and the ending must not collapse, freeze unexpectedly, or cut a sentence. Export the actual last frame, not a preview that stops early.

21. Review flicker and temporal artifacts Watch high-detail areas, hair, labels, lights, and edges at full speed. If they pulse or morph, simplify movement, improve the reference, shorten the shot, or use another workflow.

Text, products and brand

22. Read every on-screen word Transcribe captions, labels, and generated signs from the final export. Correct spelling, dates, units, and names. Use a conventional text overlay when exact lettering cannot survive generation.

23. Compare packaging to approved artwork Check product shape, color, logo, label, and claims against the approved pack. Do not use a generated substitute when exact packaging is a hard requirement.

24. Check logo integrity Inspect marks at their smallest rendered size and during movement. Reject altered lettering, cropped symbols, or a competitor mark accidentally introduced by the output.

25. Check product demonstration truth The shown action, interface, and result must represent what the product actually does. Remove fabricated screens, impossible steps, or benefits that the approved product material does not support.

26. Check captions against speech Read subtitles while listening. Verify names, numbers, negation, and the call to action; auto-caption errors can reverse the meaning of a claim.

27. Check readable safe areas View the export at the destination's expected crop and small-screen size. Keep essential text, product details, and calls to action inside the visible area and large enough to read.

28. Check all versions If the same creative has square, vertical, landscape, or localized variants, review each exported file. An approved source timeline does not prove every crop, caption, or translation is correct.

Speech, music and sound

29. Listen without looking Play the complete audio on headphones. Mark missing words, abrupt level changes, noise, clipping, and unnatural pauses without relying on the image to explain them away.

30. Verify names and numbers Compare the spoken script with approved names, pronunciation, prices, and quantities. Re-record or edit a wrong claim; subtitles alone do not repair misleading speech.

31. Check lip synchronization Watch mouth closures, pauses, and consonant-heavy phrases at normal speed. If the mismatch persists, adjust the audio source or choose a shot that does not require close lip detail.

32. Check speaker identity For multiple speakers, verify that the correct voice matches the visible person through every cut. Do not use a cloned or imitated voice without the appropriate authorization.

33. Check music and effects rights Record the license or permission for every music bed, sound effect, and voice source for the intended territory, channel, and commercial use. Replace material with unclear rights.

34. Balance the mix Check that speech remains understandable under music and effects on both headphones and a small speaker. Reduce the competing track instead of assuming viewers can turn volume up.

35. Inspect audio at the cut points Listen around edits, fades, and the final second. Remove clicks, sudden silence, duplicated syllables, and music tails cut mid-beat where the ending sounds accidental.

Rights, export and delivery

36. Confirm source permissions Keep a record for source video, images, people, brand marks, music, and any stock material. A paid AI plan does not itself license third-party inputs.

37. Review disclosure requirements Check the destination's current synthetic-media or endorsement rules for this specific use. Apply required labels and plain-language context; a label does not replace consent or accurate claims.

38. Export at the target settings Set the intended duration, orientation, resolution, frame rate, and file type in the export controls. A prompt asking for a format does not override the actual output settings.

39. Inspect the exported file Open the downloaded asset in a separate player. Confirm the file plays, has the expected dimensions and audio, and contains the full beginning and ending; do not approve only the editor preview.

40. Test the real destination Upload a private or unlisted version where appropriate, then inspect platform compression, cropping, captions, thumbnail, link, and playback on mobile. Fix defects introduced after export.

41. Record failures and costs Keep the source, prompt, model or tool version, settings, rejected attempts, manual edits, elapsed time, and accepted export. This makes cost per accepted deliverable and later corrections reproducible.

42. Obtain named sign-off Record who approved creative quality, facts, identity, rights, disclosure, and technical delivery. If any hard requirement remains open, mark the asset blocked rather than shipped.

Three worked review decisions

Product ad: the label changes during a turn

Brief: a bottle rotates once while its real label stays readable. At 0:04, letters morph during the turn. Checks 21–24 fail even if the first and last frames look correct. Keep the approved packaging artwork beside the export; try a slower, smaller movement or composite the real pack footage. Do not publish a false ingredient or price claim.

Character scene: identity drifts after occlusion

Brief: the same authorized person walks behind a doorway and returns. The face and jacket change on re-entry. Checks 8, 11, and 12 fail. Save the timestamp and reference, shorten or split the shot, and review the complete replacement. A frame-level patch that leaves an inconsistent transition is not a pass.

Dubbed explainer: correct picture, wrong spoken number

Brief: a voiceover explains a supported product price. The video looks coherent but says a different number from the approved script; captions repeat the mistake. Checks 4, 26, and 30 fail. Correct the source script and audio, regenerate or re-edit, then review both speech and captions in the final uploaded version.

What counts as approval

All applicable hard requirements must pass in the final destination version. Record the exact asset, reviewer, date, and exceptions. If a required permission or factual claim is unresolved, block release. For repeated production, track accepted outputs divided by all attempted outputs, failure reasons, retries, manual correction time, and cost per accepted deliverable. Do not infer quality from a cherry-picked example.

Related workflows and primary references

If the main problem is getting a usable first shot, start with AI video prompt troubleshooting. For rights and disclosures, use the commercial-use checklist. To create a clip for review, open the Magic Hour AI Video Generator.

Magic Hour's media API evaluation guide and development and testing guide describe reproducible input, job, error, and output checks for API users. Apply the visual and editorial checks above to the actual rendered result, not a mock response.