How we make our films

Every Pollar film is made by a small team, with AI at defined steps. Here is what our editors do, what AI does, and what AI never does.
Pollar Films
A Steenbeck flatbed film editing table with reels, two speakers and a desk lamp.
Photo: Steenbeck ST 921 flatbed editing table, Danish Broadcasting Corporation archive. DRs Kulturarvsprojekt, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

At a glance

  • Choosing the story: editors decide; AI helps scan and rank the day's news
  • Research: editors, with AI helping us search
  • Writing: scripts and captions drafted with an AI language model, reviewed and approved by our editor
  • Fact-checking: our editor, cross-checked by two AI models from different companies
  • Visuals and animation: built in code, part of it written with AI; no AI-generated images or video
  • Voice: synthetic, generated with AI
  • Music and sound: our own
  • Subtitles in the Pollar app: translated with AI; the Polish version is reviewed by our editor
  • Final sign-off: always an editor

Choosing the story

Editors choose what we cover. AI helps us scan and rank the day's news, but the decision to make a film, its angle and the question it answers rest with an editor.

Research

We build each film on primary sources: official statements, court and prosecution documents, laws, statistics and wire reports. AI helps us find them. Our editor reads every source we rely on, and we save each one with the time we retrieved it, so we know what was true when. We keep confirmed facts apart from allegations. Anything reported only unofficially stays out of the film, or is clearly attributed.

Writing

Scripts and captions are drafted with an AI language model, then reviewed and approved by our editor. We follow written house rules: claims are sourced, there is no “first”, “only” or “never” without a source, and we never name a suspect in a criminal case, as Polish press law requires.

Fact-checking

Before a film is published, our editor checks its claims against the original sources. Two AI models from different companies then audit the facts and the reasoning, and we verify each of their findings at the source before changing anything. Just before posting, we read the sources again in case the story has moved. Every film shows an “as of” time, the cutoff of our reporting.

Visuals and animation

Everything on screen is built in code: maps, charts, timelines and text. Part of that code is written with AI. We never use AI-generated images or video. Photos come from licensed sources such as Wikimedia Commons and are credited. Maps use OpenStreetMap and official data, with borders as recognised by the Polish government.

Voice

The narration is a synthetic voice generated with AI. We say so on screen in every film.

Music and sound

Our own.

Subtitles and translations

Films on Instagram carry English subtitles. In the Pollar app, subtitles in Polish, German and French are translated with AI, and the Polish version is reviewed by our editor.

Disclosure and responsibility

Every film opens and closes with an on-screen note on AI assistance, and every caption names the editor who made it. Pollar P.S.A. is responsible for everything we publish, whatever tools were used.

Updates and corrections

When a story moves after we publish, we post an update under the film. When we get something wrong, we correct it in the caption or a pinned comment, and in the app, and say so publicly. To report an error, use our corrections page.

How AI works in Pollar's news coverage is described in our AI policy.