The Master Guide / 11 Editing · The cut
The editorial pass
The first assembly is a draft, not the cut. Run one editorial pass on it before the music options [proven].
The first assembly is a draft, not the cut. Run one editorial pass on it before the music options [proven].
Cut with the sound first. Lay the scene's dialogue, voiceover and key sounds first, and set the picture cuts from their timings (word timestamps from the transcript, sound onsets), never inside a word.
J and L cuts and sound bridges. Let a line or a sound start under the outgoing shot (a J cut) or carry over the incoming one (an L cut), and carry a sound across a scene change where the treatment's editing style allows. Every overlap is in the sound only, so the picture cuts stay real cuts.
Try at least two scene orders where the story allows: the treatment's order, and one other the material suggests. Render the second as its own review file and compare them.
Land the end on a button: a last beat, look, sound or hit after the line, timed to the film's rhythm.
Place the treatment's 2–3 key sounds now, as designed effects, so the client approves the edit with them. The shots' own sound stays on its track, failed parts muted (see Sound design and mix → Keeping or muting in-shot sound). The full effects pass comes in finishing.
Note the pace; never chase it. Note the assembly's average shot length and its cut-on-beat rate beside the reference breakdowns' (see References → Analysing a reference), with the reason your cut differs, and list the hit points with their offset to the beat. They are information, never targets.
Give every cut a reason (see Editing → A reason for every cut).
Note what changed and why. The treatment's editing style and the plan's timings still hold.
Why: award editors say a real sound pass makes a cut come to life, and that missing sound can undo edit decisions.