guideIllustrativeChoosing between Spotlight, Highlight Reel, and Cinematic Tour
Three Dunphy formats. Three buyer moments. The decision is easier than it looks once you start from where the video lives, not how long it is.
You uploaded photos. Three options appear: Spotlight, Highlight Reel, Cinematic Tour. Which one?
The right way to pick isn't by length or by credits. It's by where the video is going to live.
The use-site decision tree
Answer one question before opening the format picker: where will this video be seen?
- On the listing card (Zillow thumbnail, MLS, listing-page hero image) → Spotlight (4 seconds, 1 credit)
- In the social scroll (Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook video posts) → Highlight Reel (8 seconds, 2 credits)
- On the listing page itself, or embedded in a follow-up email → Cinematic Tour (20 seconds, 4 credits)
That's the whole framework. Length follows from use-site, not the other way around.
Why the use-site decides
Each surface has its own attention pattern.
A buyer scanning thumbnails on Zillow spends maybe two seconds on a single card. A Cinematic Tour is wasted there — it never gets played. A Spotlight is built for that two-second moment: a hero photo with subtle motion that makes the buyer pause.
A buyer in the IG Reels feed is in entertainment mode. They'll watch eight seconds if the first half-second hooks them, and they'll swipe past anything that doesn't. A Highlight Reel is paced for that — multi-photo cuts, music-led, vertical-friendly framing.
A buyer who already clicked into the listing page is leaning in. They want to feel the home. Cinematic Tour earns the full twenty seconds because the buyer has already committed.
When you actually use more than one
Most agents will generate two or three formats for the same listing. They're not interchangeable; they're complementary.
A typical mid-tier listing might use:
- Spotlight as the listing-card animation
- Highlight Reel posted as a Reel the day of the open house
- Cinematic Tour embedded on the listing page and sent in the buyer-followup email
Total cost: 7 credits. Total time at the keyboard: under three minutes.
The credit breakdown
| Format | Duration | Credits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotlight | 4 seconds | 1 | Listing cards, MLS hero, IG story sticker |
| Highlight Reel | 8 seconds | 2 | IG Reels, TikTok, Facebook video posts |
| Cinematic Tour | 20 seconds | 4 | Listing-page embeds, follow-up emails, Zillow tour |
You can buy credits in packs — see pricing for current packs.
FAQ
Do I need different photos for each format? No. Spotlight uses one hero photo; Highlight Reel uses four to six; Cinematic Tour uses six to eight. All three pull from the same upload — you cull once.
Can I make all three from one set of photos? Yes. That's the most common workflow for any listing worth a real press kit.
Which one converts best on Zillow? Spotlight on the listing card. Cinematic Tour as the listing-page video. Together they cover the two moments that matter most on Zillow specifically.
What if my listing is empty / unstaged? All three formats still work — they show what's there. If virtual staging is part of your workflow, do that before uploading.
Can I change my mind after I pick? Generate a different format. Both versions stay in your library. The first one you didn't want is two credits at most.
Next:
- See Spotlight for the listing-cover deep dive
- See the listing-cover outcome for where Spotlight lands in your workflow
- Comparing Dunphy to other tools? See Dunphy vs Momenzo
Written by
Matthew JohnCo-founder & CEO, Typito AI
Co-founder and CEO at Typito AI. I've been dabbling with video storytelling for 15 years and every day on the journey has been exciting. At Typito we're building Dunphy — the AI video agent for real estate — alongside the broader Typito video stack. Writing here about real-estate marketing, video, and integrity in AI-generated content.