When you confirm sync, Selects begins analyzing your footage automatically. This process takes minutes, depending on footage duration, your internet connection, and hardware. It builds the foundation for all the tools that follow.
What the AI Does
Selects watches and listens to every clip in your project, building a complete understanding of your footage. It transcribes speech, identifies speakers, detects topics, and analyzes visual content. If your footage contains retakes, Selects groups them and selects the best take for the timeline.
How Your Data Is Processed
Analysis is handled by Cutback's cloud-based AI engine, so your data needs to be uploaded. However, Selects never uploads your actual video files or generates proxy copies. Instead, it extracts only the audio tracks and lightweight screenshots from your footage, compresses them, and sends those to the server. All uploaded data is encrypted and de-identified, making it impossible to trace back to you.
How Long It Takes
For a one-hour project, analysis typically takes around 20 to 30 minutes. Actual processing time may vary depending on the number of camera angles, total footage duration, and your network environment.
Choose how to get started
Once analysis is complete, Selects shows a summary of your project including category, tracks, detected speakers, and total duration. From here, choose how you want to start editing:
Suggest an edit — AI suggests editing prompt based on your content. (Recommended)
I have a script — Paste your script and Selects matches your footage to it.
Match a YouTube video — Paste a link to replicate the structure and pacing of an existing video.
I'll do it myself — Skip AI suggestions and start editing manually.
Select an option and click "Continue" to proceed. Each option is covered in detail in the next section.
