# 6. Montage and the run card

> Starting the montage and reading the run card — stages, elapsed and remaining time, tokens, stopping and what to do if the montage fails.

Source: https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/tutorial/montage/

**Step 6 of 9** · the montage takes a few minutes, from you — one tap

Everything is ready — let's start. The montage runs on the server: you can close the tab or the app, the reel is still assembled and the status updates by itself.

**Demo (iPhone):**

1. Tap “Create reel” — “Free” under the button
2. “Editing started” — the project opens on Media with the “First montage” card
3. Stages: finished ones have a check mark and time, the running “Transcribing speech” shows a percentage
4. The token line and “You can close the app — the video keeps rendering on the server…”
5. Almost done: ≈ 0:40 left

## Starting

Tap **Create reel**. Under the button it says **Free** for your first reel or the price: a montage costs 24 tokens, with your balance shown below. If you do not have enough tokens, the button says **Top up balance** and leads to **Balance**.

After the start you see **Editing started**, the wizard closes and your new project opens. While the montage runs, the project opens on the **Media** section with the run card on top.

## The run card

-   **Title** — the kind of work: **First montage**. Below — the current stage and the overall percentage.
-   **Time** — **Queued for 0:12** while the reel waits in the queue; then **1:05 elapsed** and the estimate **≈ 2:10 left**.
-   **Stages** — what the AI does, in order: **Preparing video**, **Transcribing speech**, **Listening for pauses**, **Watching frames**, **Voiceover**, **Finding the best moments**, **Assembling the edit**, **Framing the shot**, **Preparing graphics**, **Rendering**, **Checking the cut**, **Polishing the cut**, **Almost done**. The running stage shows a percentage, finished ones show their time. On the **Checking the cut** and **Polishing the cut** stages the director reviews the finished reel itself and fixes it if needed (the [self-check](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/director/#self-check)).
-   **Stage labels.** **not needed** — the stage was not needed in this run (for example, the AI voiceover is off) and costs nothing. The **Second version** stage is marked this way too: a montage delivers one version. **simplified** — AI was unavailable at this stage or answered only partly, so the stage ran without it. Tap a label for an explanation.
-   **Tokens.** A paid montage has a column with each stage's share of the price and a “Tokens reserved: …” line; a free one shows **Free — no tokens are charged**.

The same percentage is shown in the **Projects** list and in the project header.

## Changed your mind

The **Stop** button at the bottom of the card stops the montage. Slicer asks for confirmation and says what happens to the tokens: reserved ones return to your balance. More — [Retry and stop](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/projects/runs/).

## If the montage fails

Instead of the run card you get a failure card: a clear reason, the stage where the montage stopped and what happened to the tokens — for a paid montage they return to your balance. **Show stages** expands the stages with their times. Tap **Retry**: the montage continues from the stage where it stopped, not from scratch. Retrying a free run is free.

> **Tip.** While the montage runs, you can go back to **Projects** and start your next reel — each project is edited on its own.

## What's next

**Step 7 of 9** — [The finished reel](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/tutorial/versions/): the montage is ready, watch the reel the director checked itself.