Resolve Rough Cut

Turns a folder of raw footage into an assembled, gapless timeline. The timeline is the deliverable, not a finished video.

For editorial craft (why a cut works) see docs/guides/editorial-decision-guide.md. For the analysis layer see the resolve-media-analysis skill. This skill is the assembly recipe and the traps between them.

The deliverable contract

Deliver an assembled timeline. Do not add titles, captions, text cards, effects, transitions, music, or grading unless explicitly asked. Editors who ask for a rough cut want shot selection and pacing; styling is theirs. Adding graphics is work that gets thrown away, and see the Fusion trap below for why it also silently fails.

Render an mp4 only to preview the cut, and say that is what it is.

Workflow

1. Probe before importing. ffprobe every clip for r_frame_rate, avg_frame_rate, and rotation. Two things routinely differ from what the filenames and Resolve suggest, see Verified traps.

2. For a series, add a timeline to the existing project, don't create a new one. Check project_manager list first. One project per series keeps the bins, analysed clips and settings in one place; one per episode scatters them. Only create a project for a genuinely new series.

3. On a NEW project, set BOTH frame rates before any timeline exists. timelineFrameRate is locked once a timeline is created, set it via project_manager safe_set_project_settings. timelinePlaybackFrameRate cannot be set through the API at all, so ask the user to set it in the UI now, as a setup step:

   Project Settings (gear, bottom-right) → Master Settings → Playback frame rate