How to approve the edit plan before any cutting starts

Last updated 2026-09-05 · 8 min read

What is the short version?

Approving a plan written in words approves a description. Approving a sheet of the actual frames in running order approves the video. The second one takes the same amount of your time and catches the things that matter.

1. Go to Vizard Agent with the brief.
2. Say to plan first and not to cut until you approve.
3. Ask for the plan as frames, in order.

What do you need before you start?

The brief and one sentence holding the work back. That sentence is doing something specific: without it the natural thing is to build a first version and show you that, which is a fine way to work and a slower one when the footage is wrong.

• The brief. Subject, length, format, feel.
• Your footage, if you have any.
• The instruction to plan first. Explicitly.
• What you want to see. Frames, order, timings.
• How much you want to approve. Once, or at stages.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Say the two halves: plan, then wait. "Give me your plan" on its own often arrives alongside a first cut, because producing one is the natural next step — adding "do not start until I approve it" is what makes it a gate.

Prompt

Variants worth knowing:

• "Do not cut yet." Makes the plan a gate.
• "Show me the frames." A plan you can actually judge.
• "Then go ahead." One approval, not a running commentary.

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the order Vizard Agent worked in on a real fifteen-second product film that had to be planned before it was cut. Everything up to the assembly is the plan, and the interesting part is what looking at it changed.

1. Searches for footage matching the subject and the mood.
2. Checks the tool documentation so the plan is buildable.
3. Searches for music with the right energy.
4. Downloads the selected material and builds the graphics it needs.
5. Probes every clip's specification and checks the details.
6. Extracts key frames from each clip to judge its look.
7. Reviews the previews one by one.
8. Merges all the previews into one sheet so the running order reads at a glance.
9. Looks at the sequence as a whole — the watch, the run, the ending.
10. Searches again for footage that better matches the brief.
11. Searches once more for the specific mood the brief asked for.
12. Downloads the better material and only then assembles the film.

Step eight is the thing worth asking for by name. A written plan hides the problem this catches: several clips that each sound right in a list can be obviously mismatched when their frames sit next to each other, and that is visible in one glance rather than in three revisions.

Steps ten and eleven are what a plan is for. Looking at the sheet made it clear the footage was not night-time enough for a film about exercising at night, so the search was run again — a change that costs minutes at this stage and a rebuild at any later one.

What does the result look like?

A single sheet from Vizard Agent showing the frames in running order, with the music, the graphics and the timings named against them. You approve it, or you change one thing on it, and only then does anything actually get cut.

The first version you see afterwards is usually the last one.

When does this not work well?

Planning has a cost, and on small jobs it is most of the job. It also does not help when the brief is the thing that is unclear — a plan built on a vague brief looks fine and produces a video nobody wanted.

• Very short simple jobs. The plan costs more than the edit.
• A vague brief. The plan will be vague too.
• Footage you have not supplied yet. There is nothing to show.
• Exploratory work. Sometimes a rough cut is the faster question.
• Approval by committee. One gate becomes five.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Change the plan rather than the video, because at this stage there is no video yet. Vizard Agent keeps the sheet and all the material behind it, so swapping a clip or reordering two sections happens before anything is rendered, which is exactly where changes are cheap.

• "That clip is wrong for this." Replaced and the sheet rebuilt.
• "Swap those two sections." Reordered before cutting.
• "The mood is not right." Fresh search against the brief.
• "Go ahead." The film is cut from the approved plan.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

The normal loop is brief, first cut, notes, second cut. That works, and it spends the expensive step — the assembly — before anybody has agreed what should be in it. Approving frames in order moves the disagreement to the cheapest possible point.

Common questions

Is the plan a document? It can be, but ask Vizard Agent for the frames — they are easier to judge.

Will it wait for me? Yes, if you say not to start. Vizard Agent treats it as a gate.

Can I approve part of it? Yes. Say which parts and Vizard Agent proceeds on those.

Does planning cost extra? It costs the sourcing, which Vizard Agent needs for the edit anyway.

Can I see the music in the plan? Yes. Ask Vizard Agent to include the track and where it changes.

What if I do not like any of the footage? Vizard Agent searches again before anything is assembled.

Can I add my own clips at this stage? Yes, and Vizard Agent finds it the cheapest moment to do it.

Will the final cut match the plan? It should. Ask Vizard Agent to flag any departure from it.

Can it plan a longer film the same way? Yes, and the longer the film, the more a plan from Vizard Agent is worth.

Does this work with a written spec? Yes. Vizard Agent plans against your spec and shows you the result.

Can I ask for two plans? Yes. Vizard Agent can offer two directions, which is cheap at this stage.

What if I change my mind after approving? Then it is a normal revision, which is what the plan was avoiding.

Can it estimate the cost in the plan too? Yes. Ask Vizard Agent for the price alongside it.

Why frames rather than a written plan? Because a list of clip descriptions all sounds plausible, and the same clips seen side by side stop sounding plausible immediately.