Guide 8 of 8 · Cutting · 6 steps

Notes on the time, then the release list

In the cutting room a note is pinned to a frame. Resolve the notes, set where the cut goes out, and only then can it be approved: by you.

At the end: A cut reviewed to the frame, every note resolved, a destination set, and the cut approved by you.
Before you start: A production with a cut. On the sample channel, “Five ways to draw Rivet” has one: its five style tests, four seconds each.
Nothing to connect: reviewing a cut spends nothing.

Step 1

Open the reel

Open the Cutting room. The reels are listed on the left, those in review first; a production arrives here once it has a shot list or a cut. Open one: the cut plays in the gate, its notes sit on the right, its shot list runs at the bottom.

The cutting room on Five ways to draw Rivet: the reels, the cut paused at 00:00:00, three open notes, the release list and the shot list with five chosen takes. — The desk, on a fictional sample channel.

Step 2

Find the frame

Space plays and pauses. The comma and the period step one frame; J and L, one second. The timecode reads minutes, seconds and frames, at 24 frames a second. Ticks on the scrub bar mark the notes, and a note lights up as the playhead passes it.

The gate: the cut at 00:00:00 of 00:20:00, the scrub bar with note ticks, the transport with J L 1 s, comma and period 1 frame, and Note at playhead N.

Step 3

Pin a note

Press N, or Note at playhead, or click the picture. A sheet opens on the frame, with its timecode, and asks what should change there.

A note written at 00:06:00 over the pixel-art still: The key leaves the frame here: reframe so it stays in, with Pin note.

Write the note and press Enter to pin it (Shift Enter starts a new line, Esc discards it). A note about the whole production is a General note.

Step 4

Work through the notes

The notes sit beside the picture, in time order, each with its timecode: press one to go to its frame. The new note is marked where you pinned it.

The gate at 00:06:00 beside the notes: four open, the new one at 00:06:00 highlighted, the scrub bar with a tick for each note.

When a note is dealt with, press Resolve. The list opens on the notes still open; All shows the resolved ones too. Notes are written in the production’s own file: they are still there after a restart, and for whoever opens the folder next.

Step 5

Read the release list

Under the notes, the release list counts what the cut needs: an approved script, a take for every shot, no open notes, a cut, and a release destination. Set destination… offers the channel’s destinations. While a note is open the approve button stays grey, and the line beside it says what is missing.

The release list: 3 of 5 ready, 4 notes open, Set destination… opened on YouTube, and Before approval: resolve 4 notes and set a release destination.

Try it hereIllustration

Pin a note at the playhead, resolve the open notes, set the destination, then approve the cut.

Five ways to draw Rivet

The cut at 00:06:00: Rivet as a pixel-art scene

Notes3 open

General note
Pick the channel’s look before the next production.
Hold this one longer: the key should be the first thing we see.
The key disappears at this size. This is why pixel art was set aside.

Release3 of 5 ready

Script approved: ✓v1
Every shot has a take: ✓5 of 5
No open notes: —3 open
A cut exists: ✓five-ways.mp4
Release destination set: —

Before approval: resolve 3 notes and set a release destination.

Behaves like the desk’s control. This page saves nothing and sends nothing.

Step 6

Approve the cut

With no note open, Approve this cut appears. It is the cut’s only way to approval, and it is a person’s button.

Every note resolved, the release list at 5 of 5 ready, and Approve this cut.

The stamp lands with the cut’s length. Next comes Mark published, which asks for the destination, the link and the date on the day it goes out.

The cut approved: 5 of 5 ready, the Approved stamp with Cut · 00:20:00, and Mark published.