Rough Cut
A rough cut is the first complete assembly of a film with its structure in place.
What this is about
At this stage the questions are structural: does the order work, is the argument clear, which scene can go. The cut is usually too long, sound is unbalanced, there are no titles and colour is untouched — all of that is on purpose, because polishing a scene that gets deleted next week is wasted work. Showing a rough cut to a client needs a short explanation of what it is, otherwise feedback arrives about music and colour instead of about structure, and the round produces nothing usable.
A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- Judge structure and length here, not colour, titles or the final music
- Expect the rough cut to run long — cutting down comes with the fine cut
- Tell reviewers what stage they are seeing, or you will collect the wrong feedback
With TillyGen
A review round in TillyGen can be labelled as a rough cut, so comments stay on structure and the colour discussion waits for its own round.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
Should a client see the rough cut at all?
Often yes, because structural changes are cheap now and expensive later. Frame it clearly as a structural review and name what is deliberately missing.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.