First edit by editor and director — before studio notes, before test screenings, before reshoots. Establishes the film's visual pacing.
The first cut is created in the editing suite between the editor and the director — without pressure from above, without test screenings, without the usual compromises. This is the moment when the raw materials take on their first dramatic form. The rhythm is set, the breaths between scenes are defined, the emotional architecture of the film is truly decided for the first time here.
In practice, this means: the editor works according to the scripts, the takes, and their notes from set — not according to what producers might want later. The pace, the length of each cut, the choice between multiple takes of the same shot — everything follows the logical content and artistic instinct. A conversation between the editor and the director about every problematic spot, every question of length or transition. This phase is incredibly important because here the basic structure is created, upon which everything else will later be built — music, sound design, color grading, visual intensity.
The term is often romanticized — as the original vision before external interference. That's not entirely wrong, but it's not the whole story either. Nobody waits with a "perfect" original cut. There are scenes that are too long. Transitions that don't work. Takes that, acting-wise, don't deliver what they promise. The first cut is a working draft — raw material for the next phases: test screenings, studio notes, possibly reshoots. Sometimes the best ideas from this phase are later removed if they prove to be too long or too slow in context.
What one should never forget: the first cut defines the tempo of the entire film. If you work too hesitantly or too quickly here, you'll be fighting against it throughout post-production. That's why this moment — when the editor and director truly have time to work together — is so valuable. This is the foundation.