How to sort and rate video clips automatically before you edit

You can have software watch every clip in a shoot, rate it from hero to junk with one to five stars, tag what kind of shot it is, and file it into bins in your editor before you make the first cut. Basecut does this on your own Mac or PC. You keep the final say: the ratings are a sorted starting point, not a finished selection.

Last checked 2026-10-26, against Basecut 4.1.1.

Where a step names Basecut, it is our product, so judge that part on your own footage. The order of the work (measure, rate, review, then edit) is worth keeping whatever tool you use.

What every clip gets

Step by step

1. 1. Point Basecut at the card dump

   Import the card or the folder as it is. Basecut reads the files where they are and never changes the originals, so sorting is safe to run on a whole shoot.

2. 2. Add a one-line brief if some moments matter more

   The import screen has an optional brief box, up to 400 characters, for that shoot only. Write what matters, such as "the vows, the toasts, the first dance" or "the keynote and the award", and clips that match rank higher and carry a Brief match tag.

3. 3. Check the rough view while the AI works

   Within seconds of import, the import card shows how many clips look shaky, soft, dark or blown out, or like a repeat of another take. These are measurements, not AI guesses, so you can start on the junk before the rating pass finishes.

4. 4. Let the AI rate and tag every clip

   Basecut watches and listens to every clip and gives it a verdict with stars: hero (5), keeper, maybe, skip, and junk (1). It tags the kind of shot (interview, b-roll, action, establishing) and how it was captured (drone, gimbal, tripod, handheld, vehicle). Clips longer than 90 seconds are judged section by section, so one long take can hold a hero moment and a skip.

5. 5. Review the picks with the filters and keys

   Use the verdict filters to go straight to the heroes or the maybes. Press A to keep a clip, R to reject it, S to pick a different take of the same shot, and U to undo. Click the stars to set your own rating. Reject moves a clip to the junk bin; nothing is deleted.

6. 6. Open the sorted project in your editor

   DaVinci Resolve gets bins, clip colors, star ratings and markers. Premiere Pro gets label colors, markers and a sequence for each verdict. Final Cut Pro gets keyword collections with ratings and markers. You start the edit from the heroes instead of an unsorted pile.

Why the ratings are relative to the shoot

An AI judge almost never gives out its top score, so a plain score would leave you with hundreds of keepers and no heroes. Basecut ranks each clip against the rest of the same shoot instead, and promotes the top of the batch. Quality floors still have to be met, so a weak batch promotes nothing and you see an honest "0 heroes". Drone clips are ranked against drone clips, so a strong aerial does not crowd out a strong interview.

Where automatic rating goes wrong

• It rates what it can see and hear. It does not know that the shaky clip is the only angle of the first kiss, so check the maybes and skips around key moments.
• A dark or handheld shot made that way on purpose can rank low. Use the brief and your own star clicks to correct it.
• Two different shots of the same view can be grouped as takes of one shot. Swap take shows every take with a preview before you pick.
• The ratings sort the pile. The story, the music and the order of the film are still yours.

For the junk flags alone, see How to find shaky, blurry and dark clips automatically.