First-Pass Edit Review Checklist: Cuts, Captions and Export

1. Set up your review before changing anything

Use this checklist on an edited draft of your existing footage, whether it is a talking-head explanation, interview or walkthrough. Keep the source recording and your original brief available. First watch the whole draft at normal speed with sound. Does it deliver the point you asked for, and does the ending finish? Then inspect individual problems in the order below so you resolve meaning and cuts before polishing captions or effects.

• In the full Cubix editor, open Show Timeline when you need to inspect clip boundaries and nearby items. Wait for processing to finish before judging a result that is not ready to play.
• Write a review note for each issue: current timeline time, a quoted phrase, what is wrong and what should change. Source time and edited time can differ after cuts.
• Separate a required correction, such as a missing qualifier, from a preference, such as a softer zoom. Fix required corrections first.
• Keep a short list of things to preserve: the correct take, a demonstration step, an intentional pause, caption wording or the current music.

2. Confirm the meaning and the chosen takes

Listen to each complete thought, especially around shortened explanations and repeated attempts. Compare uncertain passages with the source. A clean delivery can still be the wrong take if the speaker corrected a number, name or condition later. Judge the retained sentence in context rather than counting how much footage was removed.

• Confirm the opening establishes who or what the video is about without relying on a sentence that was cut.
• Check names, prices, quantities, dates and claims against the source or your own approved notes.
• Keep words such as ‘not’, ‘only’, ‘unless’ and ‘in this example’ when removing them changes the claim.
• In an interview, retain enough of the question or setup for the answer to make sense. In a walkthrough, keep the step that explains the visible result.
• Pass when the retained recording communicates the intended point accurately. Rework a misleading take or missing qualification before styling the edit.

3. Listen across every changed cut

Play from before a join through the next complete phrase. Listen for clipped first consonants, missing word endings, doubled words and abrupt breaths. A paused frame cannot establish that a speech cut sounds natural. Check the opening and final word as carefully as the joins in the middle.

• Keep the breath or pause needed to follow the next idea. There is no single silence length that makes every speaker sound right.
• Check repeated takes for an accidental repeat of the last word from one take and the first word from the next.
• If the cut is too tight, select the clip on the timeline and inspect its boundary. Adjust the edge only when the required source material is still available.
• After changing a boundary, replay the join and check nearby captions and audio timing. A trim handle cannot recreate speech that was never recorded.
• Pass when complete words survive and the speaker has a natural rhythm at normal playback speed.

4. Read captions against the audible words

Play each caption while listening to the speech it represents. Correct names, specialist terms, numbers and negations, then check when each line appears and disappears. After a video trim, confirm captions still follow the retained speech rather than an earlier version of the timeline.

• Use Edit caption text where available, or select the caption and use its text controls. Correct the words without changing the speaker’s meaning.
• Check timing as well as spelling: the line should belong to the phrase being spoken and should not linger over the next unrelated sentence.
• Inspect the longest line and the busiest background. Adjust the available Size, Position or style controls when text is hard to read or covers a face, product or demonstration.
• Review the target aspect ratio at a phone-sized viewing scale. Check the destination’s upload preview for interface overlays; one position cannot guarantee clearance on every platform.
• Pass when captions match the audible words, remain readable and leave important picture detail visible.

5. Watch the crop throughout the shot

Review the framing in motion, including the start and end of a zoom or reframe. A centered face at one instant can leave the frame when the speaker leans or gestures. For screen recordings and demos, the important subject may be the cursor, product or interface text rather than a face.

• Confirm the canvas shape suits the intended version, then inspect the crop at the opening, each reframing change and the ending.
• Use the selected clip’s available position, size or layout controls to retain the subject and the detail needed to understand the action.
• Look for jump cuts that distract from speech, cutaway gaps, unintended blank intervals and a final frame that ends before the thought is complete.
• Recheck captions after moving the picture. Pass when the subject and essential detail stay visible through the entire affected section.

6. Check speech, music and sound at the joins

Listen once with headphones for clicks, abrupt room-tone changes and chopped word endings. Then listen on the device or speaker your audience is likely to use. Speech needs to stay understandable when music, effects or another voice overlap; a visually quiet waveform alone does not establish a good mix.

• Check speech at the quietest sentence and the loudest moment, then listen across cuts and transitions.
• Select the relevant audio or video item before changing its level. In Audio › Volume, use Clip loudness for the selected item; use the available Volume curve controls when only a local section needs adjustment.
• Confirm you adjusted the intended item rather than muting the voice with the music. Replay the affected section and the surrounding mix.
• Check the first and last sounds for an abrupt start, unexpected silence or a music tail cut too early.
• Pass when speech is understandable, transitions sound intentional and the mix stays consistent through the edit.

7. Choose a correction, then review its actual scope

For a focused follow-up in the full editor, open Ask Cubix and describe where the problem is, what should change and what should stay. For an exact boundary or visible property, use the relevant manual control. After any correction, play the changed section plus the surrounding material. Instructions to preserve an element describe your intent; verify what the edit actually did.

8. Watch the full downloaded export

Once the timeline passes review, choose Export and inspect the output settings available for your project and plan. Confirm the intended aspect ratio and resolution. Wait for the render and download to finish, then open the resulting file in a media player. Watch it from the first frame to the last with sound; checking an editor preview does not check the exported file.

• Confirm the file contains the intended version, complete duration, final sentence and ending. Check for unexpected black or frozen intervals and missing picture or audio.
• Read captions against speech near the beginning, middle and end, and at every section you corrected. Watch for drift after cuts.
• Check crop, caption placement, music and other visible layers against the timeline you approved.
• If the export fails a check, correct or investigate the problem and export again. Review the replacement file rather than approving the previous version by mistake.
• Record the reviewed filename or version. Before publishing, inspect the destination’s upload preview for its own crop and overlays.

9. Use this final review checklist

Mark an item passed only after checking it in the relevant playback. Keep unresolved issues next to their timestamps so a later correction does not get mistaken for an approved result. If you made a new edit after reviewing the export, export and check that new version.