How to keep what was approved and change only what was not

Last updated 2026-09-04 · 7 min read

What is the short version?

The failure mode of revision rounds is almost never that the fix itself was wrong. It is that fixing one thing quietly moves three others, and by version five you are re-approving things you already approved back at version three.

1. Go to Vizard Agent and name precisely what is approved.
2. Name the one thing that still needs to change.
3. Ask it to verify the new version against the approved one.

What do you need before you start?

The approved version and the vocabulary to describe what you liked about it. That second part is the work — "the timing, the mask, the audio and the retrigger behaviour" is a usable freeze list, and "it felt right" is not.

• The approved version. Named or numbered.
• What is frozen. As specific a list as you can write.
• What changes. Ideally one thing.
• An earlier version, if relevant. Something you want back.
• The verification. Ask for it explicitly.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Write the freeze list out in capitals if that helps you be exhaustive about it. The list is doing real work here — every attribute you name is one that Vizard Agent cannot quietly improve on while it is busy fixing something else.

Prompt

Variants worth knowing:

• "Do not change X, Y, Z." The freeze list.
• "Restore what V2 had." Bringing something back.
• "Verify against V4." The closing check.

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the order Vizard Agent worked in on a real fifth revision of a music video, where the fourth version's structure had already been approved by the client and only the sequencing of the shots inside it was still wrong.

1. Builds the approved version's edit list and renders it.
2. Measures it frame by frame and uploads it for approval.
3. Confirms a flagged problem is a false positive rather than acting on it.
4. Views the approved timeline strip and a key frame.
5. Loads the approved plan and locates the original source images.
6. Classifies each source image one at a time — thirteen of them.
7. Watches how several of them actually play in the cut.
8. Freezes the approved version as a mask and lists its slots in time.
9. Inspects how the sequence files are stored before rebuilding.
10. Saves the mask and every slot it contains.
11. Validates the sequencing graph and detects the blocks it can reorder.
12. Builds the new sequence inside the frozen mask.
13. Rebalances it where the walk through the sequence ran uneven.
14. Renders the new master with the original audio.
15. Verifies the new version against the mask before uploading.
16. Checks specific moments across the new cut.

Step eight is the mechanism. Rather than trying to remember what must not change, Vizard Agent writes the approved version down as a structure — which slot starts when, and how long it lasts — so the new revision has somewhere to fit rather than something to match.

Step fifteen is what makes it safe to send. Checking the new version against the frozen mask catches the thing that ruins revision rounds: a change that worked, and moved something approved by two frames while it did it.

What does the result look like?

A new version in which exactly one thing is different from the last. Everything you approved is still there and measurably so — not "it looks the same to me" but actually checked by Vizard Agent against the structure that was signed off.

Where you asked for something from an earlier version to come back, it returns inside the current structure rather than dragging its old timing with it. That distinction is what stops revision rounds from cycling.

When does this not work well?

A freeze list only protects the things it actually names, and the attributes people forget to write down are reliably the ones that end up moving. Some changes also genuinely cannot be made without touching part of what you froze, and Vizard Agent will say so rather than break it quietly.

• An unwritten freeze list. What is not named is not protected.
• Changes that need the timing. Some fixes cannot fit the mask.
• Contradictory versions. V2's feel and V4's structure may not coexist.
• Very many rounds. The mask ossifies and the video stops improving.
• A change of mind about the mask. Say so; do not work around it.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Update the freeze list rather than describing the video again. Vizard Agent keeps every version's mask, so adding an attribute to what is protected — or releasing one — is a rebuild against a modified structure rather than a fresh interpretation.

• "That moved." The mask is tightened around it.
• "I need the timing free after all." Released, and rebuilt.
• "Go back to V3's version of this." That slot restored inside the current mask.
• "Both changes at once." Applied together against one mask.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

An editor with the project open does this by not touching the other tracks, and it mostly works. What it does not give you is proof — nobody re-measures version five against version four, so the small movements accumulate silently until someone notices at version seven.

Common questions

What should be on the freeze list? Anything you would be annoyed to see change. Vizard Agent protects what you name.

Can I freeze everything but one thing? Yes, and that is the cleanest way to ask.

Does it really check afterwards? Yes. Vizard Agent verifies the new version against the frozen structure.

Can I bring back something from two versions ago? Yes. Vizard Agent restores it inside the current structure.

What if the change needs the timing? Vizard Agent tells you rather than quietly breaking the freeze.

How many versions can it keep? All of them in the project. Name the one you mean.

Can I name versions rather than number them? Yes, as long as you are consistent — Vizard Agent uses whatever you call them.

Does this slow things down? Slightly per round. It usually saves Vizard Agent whole rounds overall.

What if I forgot to freeze something? Add it. Vizard Agent tightens the mask and rebuilds.

Can it show me what changed? Yes. Ask Vizard Agent for the differences against the approved version.

Is this the same as sending notes? No. Notes tell Vizard Agent what to change; a mask says what may not change.

Can two people approve different parts? Yes, as long as Vizard Agent gets one combined freeze list.

Does it work for generated video too? Yes — the mask holds the structure while shots are regenerated inside it.

Why write it down at all? Because "keep what we had" means something different to everyone reading it, and a list does not.