The Master Guide / 11 Editing · The cut
Cuts by ending type
Set each in and out point by the ending type the plan chose for the shot, so a cut can fall on motion [proven].
Set each in and out point by the ending type the plan chose for the shot, so a cut can fall on motion [proven].
Work from a full-size frame strip of every kept take (steps below).
Ending type | Where the out point falls |
Moves through | Inside the move, once its direction and speed have read and before it slows. |
Settles | After the settle has read, never on the drift after it. |
Hidden cut on a whip (a planned join, with its fallback cut) | On the frame of peak motion: the frame where the picture moves furthest from the frame before. |
After a shot that moves through, the next shot's in point has something already moving, or a reaction already starting.
Finding a whip's peak frame. Measure it from the motion tracked across the frames (steps below). Where the blur loses the track, choose by eye on the frame strip: the frame with the most motion blur.
Cutting on movement is editors' craft [proven]. How many frames into a move you cut is a starting value [best available, not yet validated]: set it by eye on the strip.
Then read the four frames either side of every cut on the cut sheet, and the last and first frames at full size. A cut inside a move can show a flaw that a settled frame hid. Each shot carries 0.5–1 s of handle at each end (see Video with Seedance → Joins, endings, extension and the video edit).
Why: cuts placed after every move had settled made a film stop and start. Higgsfield cut four takes into one fight with every cut on movement.
Do it yourself
Export a frame strip (ffmpeg)
Export a full-size frame strip of every kept take with ffmpeg, for example -vf fps=24 over the take's window.
Find a whip's peak frame (After Effects)
Read it with After Effects' Track Motion, or from frames exported one by one. For the steps, follow Camera and lens → Measuring the dose on the sample batch → Do it yourself.
Sources
Higgsfield, How I Make Realistic AI Short Films Using Seedance 2.5 (official); Lucas Eskin, Cut+Run (LBB).