AutoCut · alpha · worked example
How to plan cuts on beats without losing the action
A beat-aware cut planner gives candidate edit points. You still need to decide whether each point reveals, interrupts or repeats the action in the shot.
Updated October 10, 2026 · by thecreatingco
A small example to work through
Our 120 BPM planning grid has a beat every 0.5 seconds. One four-beat bar lasts 2 seconds; our eight-second sequence contains four bars.
| Item | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bar 1 | 0–2 s | Establish subject |
| Bar 2 | 2–4 s | Keep start of gesture |
| Bar 3 | 4–6 s | Keep completion of gesture |
| Bar 4 | 6–8 s | Show result |
| Candidate cut | 4 s | Reject if gesture spans 3.5–4.5 s |
Download the editable text worksheet · Download the CSV worksheet
Use the blank observation and decision fields to record your own result. These downloads are planning worksheets; they do not load an app project or demonstrate a completed export.
Try it and inspect the result
- Use footage and music with permission. Open AutoCut and compare its candidate cuts with a manually written bar grid.
- Lock a useful shot when the planner offers that control. Reroll a candidate only after recording why it fails: missing action, repetition or timing.
- Continue reviewing in ScenePilot and watch the complete sequence. Verify your downloaded result before treating the automatic plan as a delivery edit.
When the result differs
- Every cut is on a beat but feels rushed
- Use longer holds across several beats; rhythm does not require a cut on every beat.
- The same action appears twice
- Check clip selection and continuity rather than changing the tempo.
- The grid drifts
- Verify the tempo first; the separate BPM guide explains half-time and double-time ambiguity.
What this example establishes
The grid is a calculated example, not AutoCut output. Automatic beat detection and take alignment can be wrong. The action spanning 3.5–4.5 seconds should survive even when 4 seconds is a tempting beat boundary.
This page supplies a worked example and a review method. It does not report a newly completed end-to-end app test. For current availability and edition details, read the AutoCut overview.