How to make an AI rough cut from interview footage

What a rough cut is, and why it is slow by hand

A rough cut is the first assembly of an edit: the soundbites in roughly the right order, at roughly the right length, before any color, mix or polish. On an interview project it is where most of the hours go, because someone has to watch the whole recording, log it and shortlist the lines worth keeping before a story exists.

An AI rough cut moves that first pass forward. The software reads the entire transcript, proposes an assembly, and leaves the judgment calls to you. The steps below follow the order you work in FlashCut.

Step 1: Upload and transcribe

1. Create a project and upload your interview files. You upload once; everything that follows works from the same footage.
2. FlashCut transcribes every word and labels each speaker, so interviewer questions and subject answers are separated from the start.
3. Rename speaker labels to real names once. The names carry through the transcript, the narratives and the client review page.
4. Footage is logged on arrival: shot type, scene and location, with interviews sorted to A-roll and cutaways to B-roll.

Step 2: Find the moments you remember

• Search by what was said, what was shown or how a moment felt, not just by filename.
• Jump from a search result straight to the shot in the footage, so you can check a line in context before using it.
• Find every shot of a specific person through face recognition when a shoot has several contributors.
• Use search to confirm that a line you need actually exists before you ask for a cut built around it.

Step 3: Get a first assembly

There are two ways to get a rough cut out of FlashCut. Use whichever matches how clear the brief already is.

• Get Narratives: FlashCut analyzes the whole shoot and proposes several storylines, each available at 90, 60 and 30 seconds. Open one, check its soundbites, then choose Assemble a cut.
• Ask the chat: describe the cut you want in plain language, such as the angle, the speaker to favor or the target length, and FlashCut builds a rough cut on the timeline.
• Narratives suit an open brief where you want to see options; chat suits a brief that is already settled.
• You can do both. Assemble a narrative, then refine it by chat instead of starting again.

Step 4: Edit by transcript

• Read the cut as text instead of scrubbing the timeline. Removing words from the transcript removes them from the edit.
• Tighten answers by cutting false starts and repeated phrases where the sentence still reads cleanly.
• Keep asking the chat for structural changes, such as moving the strongest line to the open or shortening the middle.
• Play the cut back after each pass. A transcript that reads well can still land awkwardly on a cut point, and only your ears catch that.

Step 5: Export to Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro

1. Open Export and go to the Timeline tab.
2. Choose Adobe Premiere (.xml) for Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro (.fcpxml) for Final Cut Pro, and download the file.
3. In Premiere Pro choose File > Import; in Final Cut Pro choose File > Import > XML. The cut opens as a timeline.
4. On first open, relink media if your editor reports it offline. The export references your original footage instead of copying it, so the editor has to find those files on your machine.
5. Export SRT captions separately if you need them. Their timings follow the edited timeline, so they line up with the cut.

What an AI rough cut does not do

An AI rough cut is a starting assembly, not a finished film. Being clear about the limits saves time later.

• It does not know your client’s brief unless you tell it. Narratives are proposals drawn from the footage; the editor still decides which story is right.
• It cannot use a line that was never recorded. If the story needs a bridge, you will have to find it in pickups or write around it.
• It does not replace color, sound mix or final polish. Those still happen in Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro after the export.
• It does not judge performance the way a person does. Check delivery, eyelines and continuity on every cut point before showing anyone.

Before you show the cut

On the Pro and Studio plans you can share the narratives with a client through a password-protected link before you commit to one, so the choice of story happens before the detailed edit rather than after it. If you only need a viewable file, export a rendered MP4 instead of a timeline.