How to cut a long recording to an exact written shot list
Upload your recording to Vizard Agent and paste the exact cut list you want. Vizard Agent transcribes the whole thing to word-level timings, tests the vertical crop on real frames before committing, cuts precisely to your list, and re-aligns the subtitles onto the new concatenated timeline.
What do you type into Vizard Agent?
Paste your list as written. Vizard Agent treats a written cut list as a specification to be executed exactly rather than as a suggestion, which is what you want when you've already made the editorial decisions. Quoted lines are safer than timecodes, and easier to write, because it finds them in the transcript.
Prompt
What does Vizard Agent actually do?
A vertical reel from a wide recording is a framing decision that has to be verified before any cutting is worth doing, so Vizard Agent tests the crop first. Then every cut point becomes a measured number, and the subtitles are rebuilt, because joining passages moves every caption timing. In the session behind this article it:
- Analysed the recording's format, resolution and duration, and extracted frames at several points to see where the subject sat.
- Ran a test vertical crop centred on the subject and checked it on four separate frames, so it knew the framing held later in the recording.
- Transcribed the whole recording and extracted the exact word timings for every passage in the list, in batches across the whole file.
- Mapped and saved all the timings so each cut point was a measured number rather than an estimate.
- Built a subtitle file re-aligned to the concatenated timeline, so the captions matched the assembled reel rather than the original recording.
- Delivered a vertical reel probed at 1080x1920, H.264, 30fps and 110.95 seconds, with AAC audio, cut exactly to the written list.
When does this not work well?
An exact list is executed exactly, which is the point and also the risk. The list is where all the editorial judgement lives, so an error in your notes becomes an error in the finished reel. If the subject moves across a wide frame, no single vertical crop works, and a full list often runs longer than the target: say which should give way.
Common questions
Can I give quoted lines instead of timecodes? Yes, and it is safer. Vizard Agent finds them in the transcript and cuts at the word.
Do the subtitles match after assembly? Yes. Vizard Agent rebuilds them against the concatenated timeline rather than reusing the source's.
What if my list runs over the target length? Say whether to trim passages or extend the reel; Vizard Agent will follow whichever you choose.