Q: Raw UGC-style or polished production for short-form?

Q: Raw UGC-style or polished production for short-form?

Short answer: raw wins the hook, polish wins the brand. Most should default to raw.

Longer answer: over-produced content now reads as an 'ad' and gets swiped — viewers' guards go up. Phone-shot, slightly imperfect UGC feels native and earns the first 3 seconds. But pure chaos doesn't build a recognizable brand. The pros fake it: raw-LOOKING but tightly edited underneath.
— selling / discovery → raw, native, handheld
— brand recognition / premium positioning → controlled polish

Verdict: shoot raw, edit tight. The platform rewards content that looks unproduced even when it isn't. Save the cinematic stuff for when people already know you.