Film print without soundtrack — image only with sync marks. Used as cutting copy during post-production before final sound mix is locked.
On set or in the post-production workflow, you'll encounter the silent print whenever you have to work with rough cut material without having the final sound track available yet. It is a pure picture copy — the film strip runs, but no audio track is exposed or synchronized. Instead, you'll only find technical reference marks on the edge of the material: contour lines, timecode information, and possibly visual sync points. The term is misleading in that "lisse" (smooth) here doesn't refer to the surface but to the absence of acoustic information.
In practice, you'll use the silent print primarily in three scenarios: First, during the rough cut, when the editor is working with picture and doesn't need to know yet how the music or dialogue will be placed later. Second, for VFX work — the visual effects supervisor needs clean picture material without sound artifacts to perform compositing and grading unimpeded. Third, as a working copy for various departments: the colorist, title designer, even the director can work on the same picture version in parallel without "soiling" each other's sound tracks. This saves time and prevents chaotic confusion when eight people are fiddling with one version simultaneously.
Technically, with a silent print, you need external synchronization — without acoustic anchor points, you rely on timecode and visual markers. In modern DCP workflows, the silent print has become less common because you cut everything non-linearly and only bring picture and sound together during the final mix. However, it is still used today in older film formats or with physical intermediates. The decisive advantage: you can work on multiple edit versions in parallel processes — the sound designer works on their version, while the editor disassembles and reassembles their own silent print.
A practical tip from editing practice: clearly label every silent print with the project ID, version, and date. Material without clear labeling leads to mix-ups. And: also save an EDL (Edit Decision List) with every silent print — this way, you can always revert to the original editing decision if the sound layer is reworked later.