---
url: https://superduperai.co/library/take-something-from-every-clip/
title: Take something from every clip, and list the ones you cut with a reason
description: A rule for cutting someone else's footage, or your own from a year ago: each clip was filmed because it mattered, so each gets a chance, and the rejects get a written reason the person can argue with.
category: editing
platforms: [any]
works_with: [claude-code, life2film, capcut, manual]
tags: [editing, footage, coverage, review, accountability, workflow]
difficulty: beginner
verified: false
created: 2026-11-01
skill: video-edit
---

# Take something from every clip, and list the ones you cut with a reason

A rule for cutting someone else's footage, or your own from a year ago: each clip was filmed because it mattered, so each gets a chance, and the rejects get a written reason the person can argue with.

## Prompt

```text
After the cut is proposed, produce the CLIP ACCOUNT. For every source clip in the folder, one row: Clip | Shooting time | Used (in/out, where in the film) or NOT USED | Reason.

Rules for the reason column:
- 'Not used' needs a reason a person can check: duplicate of {clip} (same scene, worse frame), no usable speech (wind), nothing visible (lens cap, pocket), covered by a better shot of the same object, the story does not pass through this place.
- 'Boring' is not a reason. If the only reason is boring, find the 2 seconds in it that are not: a face, a gesture, the object of the day.
- Count: used clips, not-used clips, seconds used of seconds filmed.
- If more than {30} percent of clips are not used, go back to the cut and find one shot in each of the rejects to use as a cutaway before finalising.

Source clips:
{paste clip list with durations and shooting times}
Proposed cut:
{paste cut.json or the EDL}
```

## Steps

1. Generate the clip list from the folder with shooting times from container metadata, not file names.
2. Run the account after the first cut, before the critic pass. Fix the rejects first; the critic will have other notes.
3. Send the not-used list with the film. The person who filmed it will tell you which reason is wrong, and that is a one-line edit.

## Tips

- The person filmed it, so it mattered. A clip you cannot place is usually a clip you did not understand, not a clip without value.
- Life2Film's per-segment scores tell you which 2 seconds of a dull clip are the sharpest and steadiest; pick the cutaway from there.

## Works with

- Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result.
- Life2Film: The montage app: analysis, segment scoring and cuts on your device.
- CapCut / any editor: A manual recipe for any editor.
- By hand: No tool needed: a checklist or a technique.