# How the director works: the cut and its self-check

> What the Slicer AI director does: how it builds the reel, checks and fixes the finished cut itself, where earlier versions live and how your settings steer it.

Source: https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/director/

The AI director is the heart of Slicer. It listens to and watches your materials, picks the best moments, decides what goes first, where to cut away from speech to b-roll or photos, where to add a zoom, a plaque or an effect. Once the reel is built, the director **reviews the finished result itself** and fixes what can be done better. That is why a montage delivers one version — already checked by the director. There is nothing to pick: when the montage is ready, the project opens on the **Editor** section with the finished reel.

## What the director does

The run card shows the work stage by stage:

| Stage | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Preparing video** | Checking and preparing the materials |
| **Transcribing speech** | Words with exact timing — the basis for captions and cuts |
| **Listening for pauses** | Where the silence and pauses between phrases are |
| **Watching frames** | What is in the shots: framing, faces, actions, objects |
| **Voiceover** | The text and voice of the [AI voiceover](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/voiceover/), if it's on |
| **Finding the best moments** | The director writes the script of the reel: what to keep, in what order, what to cut away to |
| **Assembling the edit**, **Framing the shot**, **Preparing graphics**, **Rendering** | Cuts by words, framing for the format, captions and elements, rendering |
| **Checking the cut** | The AI looks at frames of the finished reel with graphics: what's on screen, what text, whether a face is cut off, text covers the main subject, or something repeats |
| **Polishing the cut** | The director reviews the finished reel and fixes it — the self-check |

The **Second version** stage is marked **not needed** on the card: a montage delivers one version.

The director refers only to words actually spoken and real shots: cut timing is checked against the words, so a phrase never breaks in the middle of a word. At speech cuts where the picture visibly changes, the montage adds the [Sound first](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/#audio-lead) transition on its own: the new clip's sound starts just before the picture changes, so the cut never lands in a pause.

The whole course of the montage — what the director found in the material, how it thought, why it built the reel the way it did and what it fixed during the check — is recorded in the [Chat with the director](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/chat/#journal). That is also where you can tell the director what to change.

## The self-check of the finished reel

Once the reel is built, the director watches it the way a viewer will:

-   **in playback order** — clip by clip, from the first second to the last;
-   **what is on screen** — from frames of the finished reel with graphics;
-   **what the viewer hears** — which phrases play and how one leads into the next.

If something can be done better, the director revises its edit plan: it straightens out the logic and the order of the clips and removes cut-off thoughts so that every phrase sounds complete. If the plan changed, Slicer assembles and renders the reel again — you get the corrected version. If there is nothing to fix, the reel stays as the director first built it.

Where you can see it:

-   on the run card — the **Polishing the cut** stage;
-   in the [Chat](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/chat/#journal) journal — **Director’s reasoning** **on the finished cut** and, if the plan changed, a card with the corrected plan. If the journal shows the director's brief, this step is labelled **for checking the finished cut**.

If the self-check doesn't work out — for example, the AI was temporarily unavailable — the montage doesn't fail: you get the reel as the director first built it.

## How the director edits

The director edits with restraint, like an experienced editor: the reel is built on clean cuts at natural speed, and tools are rare accents where they serve the meaning. Slicer checks this itself after the director answers — both on the first build and after the self-check:

-   **Speech plays at its own speed.** The director doesn't speed up or slow down fragments where someone talks.
-   **Tools are rare accents.** B-roll speed, transitions, effects and entrance animations come rarely and only with a reason; how many depends on the **Effects & transitions** setting. With “None” — no transitions, effects, animations or colour grading.
-   **Slow motion only where it looks smooth.**
-   **Within one take — a clean cut.**
-   **One colour look for the whole reel.** The director picks the colour grading for the whole reel at once.
-   **Every tool has a reason.** Why there is slow motion, a transition or an effect here, the director explains on the version card in the Chat — the **How it is cut — piece by piece** section.

All of this is a starting point: in the editor you can add any [effects](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/effects/), [transitions](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/) and [speed](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/speed-volume/) wherever you like.

## One version, checked by the director

A montage, a [rebuild with new settings](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/remount/) and a retry of a failed run deliver one version of the reel — the one the director built and checked itself. It becomes current right away and opens in the editor: edit and export it.

Earlier versions don't disappear. Every rebuild, retry, style change and export adds a new version, and the earlier ones stay in the project's **Media** section → **History** → **Video versions**. Files are kept for the last 10 versions — you can bring any of them back with **Make current** ([History and versions](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/history/)) or by asking in the [Chat with the director](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/chat/#versions): “bring back the previous version”.

> **Important.** When you bring back another version, the reel and the editor switch to it, and edits you haven't exported yet don't go into the history. If you need those edits, export the reel first.

> **Note.** The director used to build an alternative version as well, and the project opened the **Pick a version** sheet. If the sheet is still there in a project edited before 27 October 2026, **Pick this one** makes a version current and **Later** closes the sheet. More — in the [changelog](https://docs.slicer.media/en/changelog/one-version/).

## Price and when the self-check runs

-   A montage costs 24 tokens: the price covers building the reel, the self-check and the rebuild that follows from it.
-   The self-check runs on the first montage, on a [rebuild with new settings](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/remount/) (also 24 tokens) and on a retry of a failed run.
-   Export, style change and AI effect run without the director — there is no self-check in them.
-   **Smart cut** must be on. If it is off, or the AI director was unavailable and the reel was built the simple way (by pauses), the **Checking the cut** and **Polishing the cut** stages are marked **not needed**.
-   The self-check adds a little time to the montage — you can follow it on the **Polishing the cut** stage.

## Steering the director

The director follows your settings — both when building the reel and during the self-check. They are set on step 3 of the wizard and in the project's **Settings** section:

| Setting | What it affects |
| --- | --- |
| **Smart cut** | On — pauses and repeats are cut and the reel is built from the best clips. Off — editing and timing stay as they are, only “um”s and verbal clutter are cleaned up |
| **Video type** | “Auto”, “Talking head”, “Story / vlog”, “Product / review”, “Aesthetic + music” — the editing genre |
| **Pace** | “Calm”, “Balanced”, “Dynamic” — clip length, pauses, how often zooms happen |
| **Effects & transitions** | “None”, “Light”, “Bold” — how many [transitions](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/) and [effects](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/effects/) the director adds |
| **AI voiceover** | A [voiceover](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/voiceover/) based on your footage |
| **Notes for the director** | Free text up to 600 characters: mood, pace, what to show first, what to emphasize, how to end |
| **Reel length** | Auto, 15, 30, 60 or 90 seconds |

Note examples: “Fast, no pauses”, “Focus on price and benefits”, “Calm, to music”, “With humor”, “Open with the result, end with a call to follow”. Notes are used when building and checking the reel and in the voiceover text. The director follows them as long as they don't conflict with the editing rules.

> **Tip.** Want a different approach after the montage? Change the video type, pace or notes in **Settings** and press **Rebuild with new settings** — the director builds the reel again and checks it itself once more. The recognized speech and the frame analysis are kept, while your editor changes are reset.

## What's next

-   [The finished reel](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/tutorial/versions/) — a tutorial step.
-   [Rebuild with new settings](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/remount/)
-   [Chat with the director](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/chat/) — ask why the reel is built this way and request edits.
-   [History and versions](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/history/) — how to bring back an earlier version.