Vizard Agent

How to replace one weak shot with a better one from your own footage

Last updated 2026-09-15 · 8 min read

Tell Vizard Agent which shot is weak and what it was supposed to show. It goes back through the rest of your footage for everything that could fill that slot, looks at each candidate properly, substitutes the strongest one at the same length — and where no whole clip works, crops the usable region out of a shot that has other things in it.

What is the short version?

Every edit has one shot that is doing badly. It is blurry, or it lingers, or it shows a corner of the thing rather than the thing — and cutting it shortens a beat that was working, so it stays.

  1. Go to Vizard Agent with the cut.
  2. Name the shot and what it should have shown.
  3. Ask what else in your footage could fill that slot.

What do you need before you start?

The cut and the rest of the footage — including the clips that did not make it. Vizard Agent searches what you already have, so the material you decided against at the start is exactly where the replacement usually comes from.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Describe the slot's job to Vizard Agent rather than the shot's fault. "That clip is blurry" invites a sharpening pass on a clip that will still be the wrong shot; saying what the moment is supposed to show turns the request into a search for something that actually shows it.

Prompt

The inventory shot around twenty seconds is blurred and sits there too long. That beat should show the parts clearly. Go back through my other clips, show me everything that could fill that slot, and swap in the best one at the same length.

Variants worth knowing:

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the sequence Vizard Agent worked through on a real workshop promo where two shots were letting the whole cut down. Most of the effort goes into looking properly at material that had already been passed over once at the start.

  1. Locates the weak shot in the assembled cut.
  2. Downloads and reviews the remaining short clips.
  3. Lists everything that could substitute for that slot.
  4. Looks at each candidate rather than reading filenames.
  5. Picks the best stretch out of the longer clips.
  6. Substitutes it at the same duration.
  7. Reviews the cut with the new shot in place.
  8. Crops a clean region out of a clip when no whole shot fits.
  9. Checks the crop's real size in the delivery format.
  10. Confirms it reads at the size the video will be watched.

Step eight is the move people forget they have. A clip that is unusable as a whole — a banner with a roof and a pile of wood around it — often contains a perfectly good shot inside it, and cropping to that region gives you material you did not know you had.

Step three matters because candidates are a decision you can make quickly and a search you cannot. Being shown five clips that could fill a slot takes seconds to judge; being asked "is there anything better" takes an afternoon of scrubbing.

Step nine is the check that keeps a crop honest. Cropping into a shot makes everything in it bigger, and a banner that was legible in the wide can be too large or too soft once it fills a vertical frame.

What does the result look like?

The same cut with one shot quietly better than it was. The rhythm is completely untouched because the replacement runs at the same length, and the beat now shows the thing it was always supposed to be showing.

Vizard Agent also tells you what else it considered and why it chose what it did, which is what you need when you disagree with the choice.

When does this not work well?

Sometimes there is no replacement. If the moment was filmed once and filmed badly, the honest options are to reshoot, to shorten the beat, or to cover it with something else entirely — and no amount of searching produces a shot that was never taken.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Say what the replacement gets wrong, or simply name a different candidate. Because Vizard Agent chose from a list it showed you, a note like "the second one was better" is a single-step change rather than the start of another search through the footage.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

By hand a weak shot usually survives, because replacing it means re-reviewing footage you already rejected and matching a duration by eye. The cheap alternative is to shorten it, which changes the rhythm and is what most people do.

By hand Vizard Agent
The usual outcome The shot stays The shot is replaced
Where you look The clips you liked All of them, again
Choosing By memory From a list you can see
No whole clip fits Give up Crop a region out of one
The rhythm Shortened to cope Kept, same duration

Common questions

Why not just cut it shorter? Because that changes a beat that was working. Vizard Agent keeps the length.

Will it search clips I rejected? Yes. Vizard Agent looks there first, because that is usually where the replacement is.

Can it crop part of a clip? Yes. Vizard Agent will suggest it when no whole shot fits.

How does it judge a candidate? Vizard Agent looks at frames from it rather than reading its filename.

What if the grade does not match? Vizard Agent matches the replacement to the shots around it.

Can it replace several shots? Yes. Vizard Agent works one slot at a time so each choice stays reviewable.

Will it tell me what it rejected? Yes. Vizard Agent lists them with reasons, which helps when you disagree.

Does the length have to be identical? Not always, but Vizard Agent defaults to keeping it.

What about the audio on that shot? Say whether it carried any; otherwise Vizard Agent keeps the existing mix.

Can it use a still instead? Yes. Vizard Agent will put movement on it if no footage works.

What if the crop is too soft? Vizard Agent checks it at delivery size and will tell you.

Does it change the shots either side? No, unless continuity forces it.

Can I give it a candidate myself? Yes, and Vizard Agent will compare it against the others.

Why did the weak shot survive so long? Because replacing it looked like more work than living with it.

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