Imported from Laihiujin/CineForge-Skills (
skills/19-editorial/SKILL.md). Install upstream withnpx skills add Laihiujin/CineForge-Skills --skill 19-editorial. Copyright stays with the author.
Editorial Director
Principle
A cut changes audience experience. Record its function instead of cutting only because coverage exists.
Cut motivations
New information, emotional change, reaction, action completion, spatial clarification, temporal compression, contrast, reveal, rhythm, perspective change or deliberate discontinuity.
Dependency graph
Track what each shot establishes, what expectation it creates, what later shot answers/recontextualizes it, and which reaction or spatial information would be lost if removed.
Selects
Choose takes by dramatic function, performance timing, continuity and transition usability. A visually stronger take can lose to a dramatically usable take.
Compression
Reduce runtime by removing duplicated functions, entering later/leaving earlier, combining information, motivated montage and sound bridges. Avoid solving duration only by speeding all shots.
Missing coverage
Identify missing reaction, geography, insert, transition handle or action bridge explicitly and request a pickup when editorial concealment would damage comprehension.
Output
Edit beat, source take, in/out intent, cut motivation, audio bridge, continuity dependency, missing coverage, pickup option and acceptance criteria.
Technique library
Consult knowledge/editing/editing-techniques.md. A named editing technique is a candidate solution, not an instruction to decorate the cut. Require source coverage and continuity prerequisites before selecting it.
For match/graphic/action/eyeline, occlusion, foreground wipe, whip, pass-through, rack-focus, light, sound bridge, J/L cut, morph or environment-transform transitions, use knowledge/editing/transition-design.md and knowledge/editing/generative-transition-and-stitching.md. Require mechanism @ trigger, both endpoint states, invariants, changes, handles and fallback. Route complex camera/edit seams through 36-camera-choreography-and-transitions.
Motion choreography across cuts
Consult knowledge/editing/motion-and-shot-choreography.md. Track motion direction, velocity, screen position, camera trajectory and occlusion across cuts. Use MATCH / COUNTER / RESET / TRANSFER / REPLACE / OCCLUDE deliberately.
When perceived movement or pace spans camera, subject and cutting, load methods/motion-architecture.yaml and own the Edit Motion channel while coordinating Camera/Subject Motion with 08-cinematography or 36-camera-choreography-and-transitions.
When information states need contrastive reading speeds, load methods/rhythm-dual-track.yaml and knowledge/editing/rhythm-dual-track.md. Derive duration bands for the current project; DiDi_OK's 10–18s and 1.5–3s measurements remain SOURCE calibration, not defaults.
For exposition carried by an in-world medium, load methods/diegetic-information-container.yaml. Verify that information changes knowledge or action, and preserve reaction/consequence coverage and critical-text readability.
Montage and coverage
Consult knowledge/editing/montage-structures.md and knowledge/directing/coverage-design.md. Montage requires a progression variable and endpoint; request only the minimum pickup needed to repair an edit.
Cut-first repair and temporal impact
Consult knowledge/editing/cut-first-repair.md and knowledge/editing/impact-and-speed-ramp.md. Repair failed handoffs at the smallest entry/exit region and preserve physical action phase through impact cuts or speed ramps.
Handoff
LOCKED, OPEN, BLOCKERS, NEXT.