First screenable cut after rough edit — no color grade, sound mix, or VFX yet. For internal review by director and producers before locking picture.
After the rough cut, you sit with the director and producer in the editing suite and need a first complete version to watch — that's the first copy. It's projectable, self-contained, follows the planned dramaturgy, but is still a rough diamond. No color grading, no final sound mix, no VFX polish. You've made your editing decisions, the transitions are in place, the music is inserted as a placeholder. That's enough for the first critical discussion.
The practical value lies in communication. The director can see if their instinct during shooting was correct. The producer checks if the story works or if three minutes need to be cut. You see where the cuts are jerky, where lengths arise, where a scene actually ends too early. This is the moment before the color lab and sound studio pull you into complicated technical work — so change what needs to be changed here. Reordering a scene, cutting a shot, shifting a music cue: this still works uncomplicatedly in the first copy phase. Once you've sent the video to the colorist, every change becomes a step backward.
The technical quality is intentionally low. You work with proxy material, MP3 music instead of stems, the camera logs without a grading LUT. Some editing suites even export it in low resolution — H.264, 2K instead of 4K — just so the file loads quickly and the discussion isn't slowed down by technical stuttering. The eye should focus on the editing decisions, not be distracted by color grades or sound design that are coming anyway.
After viewing the first copy, you write your report: Which scenes to shorten, which to extend, which editing errors to correct? Then you move on to the fine cut phase — comparable to the rough cut, but based on real decisions, not improvisation. Only when the first copy discussion is ticked off do you send your picture to the color lab and your sound to the mix engineer. This way, you avoid expensive rework in the most expensive phases of post-production.