From logged footage to the rough cut: the paper edit and first assembly
The connective step between logging and fine editing: turn your selects into a written paper edit, build the first assembly, and get to a watchable version you can refine.
By Hanna Eng·Video editor, Free Conservatory of French Cinema
A paper edit is a written plan of your edit, built from your logged selects: which clips, in what order, and roughly why. The first assembly, called l'ours in French, is the first rough assembly on the timeline (not yet the rough cut). It is long and unpolished on purpose, the watchable skeleton you refine into a rough cut.
Logging tells you what you have. The edit decides what goes where. Between the two sits the step most people skip and then regret: turning a pile of organised selects into a written plan, then a first watchable version of the whole thing. This is where a paper edit and a first assembly earn their keep. They are not the finished film, they are the structure the finished film grows on, and building them deliberately is what keeps the rest of the edit fast and honest.
From selects to first cut: the path
| Step | Output |
|---|---|
| 1. Transcribe | A timecoded transcript of interviews and dialogue you can search and quote. |
| 2. Paper edit | A written, ordered plan: chosen clips, sequence and intent, before you touch the timeline. |
| 3. String-out | Every select dropped on the timeline in order, no trimming yet. |
| 4. First assembly (l'ours) | A long, rough but watchable version end to end: the skeleton of the film. |
| 5. Rough cut | The assembly tightened toward length and rhythm, ready to iterate. |
Where this step sits in the workflow
Dérushage, the logging pass, ends with a searchable set of selects: the clips worth keeping, named, flagged and sorted. That is the input to this step, not the edit itself. You know what you have, but you have not yet decided the order or built anything you can watch.
This guide covers the bridge between those two worlds. First you commit your selects to a written plan, the paper edit. Then you build that plan on the timeline as a first assembly, the long rough version a French editing room calls l'ours. From there you iterate toward a rough cut. Skip the bridge and you edit by improvising on the timeline, which is the slowest way to find a structure.
What is a paper edit?
A paper edit is a written, structured plan of your edit, made before you assemble anything on the timeline. It lists the clips you intend to use, in the order you intend to use them, with a short note on why each one earns its place. It can live in a document, a spreadsheet or index cards, the format matters less than the discipline.
The point is to make the hard structural decisions in text, where moving a section is a copy and paste, rather than on the timeline, where it is a slow drag of media. You are designing the spine of the film on paper first, so the assembly becomes execution rather than discovery.
- Clip or quote reference, with timecode, so each line maps back to real footage.
- Order: the sequence of beats, scenes or arguments.
- Intent: one line on why this clip is here and what it does for the story.
Transcribe the interviews first
For anything dialogue-driven, a documentary, an interview, a talking-head brand film, the paper edit starts with a transcript. A timecoded transcript turns hours of speech into text you can read, search and rearrange in minutes, which is impossible by scrubbing.
Work on the transcript like an editor, not a typist: highlight the strong lines, strike the weak ones, and reorder paragraphs to find the story. Because every line carries its timecode, the chosen passages drop straight onto the timeline later. DaVinci Resolve Studio (the paid edition) can generate a transcript and let you build a selects sequence directly from the text, so the paper edit and the timeline stay linked; the free edition does not include built-in transcription or text-based editing.
Build the string-out
A string-out is the first thing you build on the timeline: every select, in the order your paper edit set, dropped end to end with no trimming and no transitions. It is deliberately crude. The only question it answers is whether the order works.
Think of it as the paper edit made playable. Watching your selects run in sequence reveals what reading them could not: where the energy sags, where two clips fight, where a beat is missing. You reorder on the timeline now because the structure, not the frame-accurate cut, is what you are testing.
What the first assembly (l'ours) actually is
The first assembly is the first full version of the film on the timeline, from start to finish. French editing rooms call it l'ours: the first rough, oversized assembly, recognisable as the film but far from groomed. It is long, loose and unpolished, and that is correct.
It exists to prove the film holds together as a whole. Every scene is present, in order, watchable beginning to end, even if every cut is soft and every scene runs long. You are not judging craft here, you are judging structure: does the story stand up when you watch it run?
Why the first cut is long and rough on purpose
A first assembly that is already short and tight is a warning sign, not an achievement. It usually means decisions were made too early, on the timeline, before the whole shape was visible. Keeping the assembly long protects your options: you cannot put back a moment you trimmed away before you knew the film needed it.
Walter Murch's In the Blink of an Eye is the standard reference here: a first assembly runs long and is shaped down afterwards, because the craft of editing is largely subtraction, and you can only subtract from material that is still on the timeline. So the rule is simple: get the whole film standing first, tighten second.
From assembly to rough cut
Once the assembly plays end to end, the work shifts from building to refining. You pass through it tightening: trimming the heads and tails, removing the scenes that the watchable whole revealed as dead weight, and finding the rhythm of each transition. The result is the rough cut, shorter, sharper, but still open to change.
This is iterative, not linear. Expect several passes, each one tighter than the last, with feedback between them. The paper edit and the assembly are what make those passes productive: because the structure was decided deliberately, each rough-cut pass refines the film rather than rediscovering it.
- Pass 1: tighten heads and tails, cut obvious dead weight, confirm the order still works.
- Pass 2: find the rhythm, smooth transitions, balance scene lengths against the whole.
- Pass 3: address feedback and lock the structure before fine editing and finishing.
Common mistakes at the first cut
The expensive mistakes here are about order of operations, not technique. Polishing cuts in the assembly wastes time on frames you may delete. Trimming too early throws away options before the whole is visible. Skipping the paper edit means improvising structure on the timeline, the slowest possible route.
The counterweight is discipline about what each stage is for. The transcript and paper edit decide structure in text. The string-out and assembly prove that structure plays. Only the rough cut and beyond is about craft. Mixing those jobs is the most common reason a first cut takes far longer than it should.
- Polishing individual cuts before the whole film stands up.
- Cutting the assembly short too soon and losing options you needed.
- Skipping the paper edit and improvising the structure on the timeline.
- Treating the assembly as a deliverable instead of a working draft.
Frequently asked questions
What is a paper edit?
A paper edit is a written, structured plan of an edit, made before assembling on the timeline. It lists the chosen clips, their order and a short note on why each is used. Deciding structure in text first means moving a section is a copy and paste rather than a slow timeline drag.
What is the first assembly in video editing?
The first assembly is the first full version of the film on the timeline, from start to finish, with every selected clip in order. It is long, loose and unpolished by design. Its only job is to prove the story holds together as a whole before any tightening begins.
What does l'ours mean in editing?
L'ours is the traditional French editing term for the first assembly: a rough, oversized first cut, recognisable as the film but far from groomed. It is meant to be long and unpolished, a draft you shape down rather than a finished result.
Why is the first cut so long?
On purpose. A long first assembly keeps your options open: you cannot restore a moment you trimmed before you knew the film needed it. Editing is mostly subtraction, and you can only subtract from material still on the timeline, so you get the whole film standing first and tighten second.
What is the difference between a string-out and a rough cut?
A string-out is every select dropped on the timeline in order, untrimmed, just to test whether the sequence works. A rough cut is what you get after tightening the assembly: shorter, with rhythm and trimmed transitions, but still open to change. The string-out tests structure, the rough cut starts shaping it.
How do you go from selects to a first cut?
Transcribe any dialogue, write a paper edit choosing the clips and their order, build a string-out of those selects on the timeline, then assemble the whole into a long watchable first version. From there you tighten across several passes toward a rough cut. Each step decides one thing before the next.
Do you need a transcript to edit an interview?
For interview or dialogue-driven work it is the fastest path. A timecoded transcript lets you read, search and reorder hours of speech in minutes and edit on the text before touching the timeline, with each chosen line carrying its timecode straight into the assembly. DaVinci Resolve Studio (the paid edition) can transcribe and build a selects sequence from the text; the free edition does not.