Editing & pacing
How to order stills and short clips into a teaser — cuts, duration, montage vs continuity, and QA-before-stitch discipline.
Timeline sketch
Visualize the selected pace recipe
Hard cut
Instant switch A→B.
Default edit. Energy comes from shot choice and timing, not transitions. Most Studio teaser cuts should be hard cuts.
When
Nearly always for short trailers
Avoid
Using fades as decoration between every shot
Note crumb
hard cut on action / on beat
Editing is selection
What you leave out matters most.
Editing is not software — it’s choosing order, duration, and emphasis. For Studio Academy, that means which stills become heroes, which 6s clips survive QA, and how they sequence into a teaser.
Rule
Kill good shots that don’t serve the logline.
Studio tip
Shot list priority (hero/support/draft) is pre-editing.
Pace recipes
Ready timelines for Academy-length teasers.
24s hybrid
Neon trailer sketch
Structure
Still establish → 6s push → still CU → 6s track → button still
Durations
3s still · 6s clip · 3s still · 6s clip · 6s button
Music
Beat every ~2s; hit on button
When
After plate→6s scenario
- ·Both clips QA Go
- ·DNA continuous
- ·One move type per clip
- ·Budget counted for 2×6s video
Cheat sheet
Spine · cuts · hybrid 24s
EDITING & PACING CHEAT (Studio Academy) SPINE (short teaser) Establish (wide) → character (MS) → identity/emotion (CU) → button CUTS hard (default) · match · J/L (needs audio) · smash (once) · dissolve (time/mood) · cross-cut DURATION wides longer · CUs shorter · still montage ~1.5–3s · vary rhythm RULES 1. Selection > decoration — kill shots that miss the logline 2. Motivate cuts (eyeline, action, beat) 3. QA Go before stitch — no identity No-Go in the cut 4. Prefer stills-first montage over broken motion loops 5. One accent hit per major cut with music 24s HYBRID SKETCH 3s still · 6s push clip · 3s still · 6s track clip · 6s button still