| name | edit-director |
| description | Makes high-level editing decisions for a polished video. Use after script and footage/asset analysis to choose the opening shot, pacing, cuts, shot order, J-cuts/L-cuts, cutaways, montage rhythm, retention beats, and what to remove or emphasize before implementation. |
Edit Director
Use this skill to turn footage and script into an editorial plan with taste. It owns the cut logic, not asset acquisition or rendering.
Responsibilities
- Choose the strongest opening shot or opening visual.
- Decide shot order, pacing, cut length, and rhythm.
- Mark fast cuts, holds, cutaways, inserts, reaction moments, and proof moments.
- Decide what to remove.
- Plan J-cuts, L-cuts, ambience bridges, and visual resets when audio exists.
- Create a high-quality edit plan that implementation can follow.
Workflow
- Read
plan/script.md, plan/shot-list.md, plan/asset-list.md, and plan/creative-direction.md.
- Identify the video's retention beats.
- Choose the first 3 seconds and the strongest visual sequence.
- Build an edit decision list.
- Mark moments that need motion graphics, captions, or sound hits.
- Write
plan/edit-decision-list.md.
- Update
plan/timeline.md only when the edit logic changes.
Output
# Edit Decision List
| Time | Shot/Asset | Edit Decision | Reason | Audio | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
Quality Heuristics
- The first 3 seconds must earn attention.
- Do not use a shot just because it exists.
- Cut on meaning, action, rhythm, or audio energy.
- Let premium shots breathe; cut weak shots fast or remove them.
- Avoid constant motion if the viewer needs to read.
Do Not
- Do not download assets.
- Do not perform final color grading.
- Do not implement code.
- Do not accept every footage segment as usable.
