Frame accurate, from the first cut to the last

Video is made of frames. Editors work in frames, and so do the sound mixer and the colourist who take the cut after you. B/side treats every position as a whole frame, so the cut you make is the cut you meant.

What that means in practice

• Every mark lands on a frame. In points and out points never fall between two frames.
• Every cut lands on a frame too, so a trim of one frame is exactly one frame.
• Drop-frame timecode is exact across a full day. A shot from the end of a long day carries the right timecode, just like one from the morning.
• Sound stays in sync with picture, through every edit and every trim.

Why it matters

A single frame is easy to miss when you are cutting and easy to see when it is wrong. A flash frame at a cut gets noticed on the big screen. A line that starts a beat early gets noticed by the person who said it.

Long days matter as well. Reality shows and documentaries roll cameras for hours. Timecode that is still exact at the end of the day means a shot can always be found again by its number, by you or by anyone you hand the cut to.

Why it matters after you

Your cut does not stop with you. On most jobs it goes on to sound and to colour, and both of them work from frame numbers and timecode. When every position in the cut is a whole frame, the cut that leaves your room is the one you watched.

What you notice

Mostly, nothing. Frame accuracy is the kind of thing you only think about when it is missing. In B/side you cut and trim on the frame you are looking at, and that is where the cut stays.