Make The Cut · One day · Durban

Anyone can cut.
Few can hold
someone.

Your edits aren't bad because you don't know the software. They're flat because they have no highs, no lows and no cadence — a row of clips where there should be a story. That's a decision problem, not a button problem.

Join the list See the day

Format: One full day, in person
Seats: 20 — bring your laptop
Software: Principles first, shown in Resolve
From: R1 995

The diagnosis

There's no story in your timeline.

Watch a flat edit and you can feel what's missing before you can name it. Every shot is roughly the same length. Every moment carries the same weight. Nothing builds, nothing drops, nothing earns the thing that follows it.

That isn't a Resolve problem. Someone who understands cadence can cut a better film in Windows Movie Maker than someone who knows every panel in Resolve and has nothing to say with them.

So this day is about the decisions: which frame holds, which one goes, how long a moment gets before it stops being a moment, and how you build a shape a stranger will stay with to the end. I'll demonstrate all of it in DaVinci Resolve, because that's what I cut on — but what you're learning survives whatever you switch to.

The day

Empty project at nine.
Exported film by five.

One continuous build. You don't watch me work — you work, and I come round.

01

Project setup and workflow

Starting a project so it doesn't fight you at hour six. Structure, media management, and the settings that quietly decide what's possible later.

02

Keyboard and workspace

Setting up shortcuts properly. The difference between editing at the speed of thought and editing at the speed of your mouse.

03

Selects

Going through everything and deciding what's alive. The most undervalued hour in post, and the one that determines the ceiling of the edit.

04

The draft timeline

Getting a rough shape down fast and resisting the urge to polish anything. Structure before finish, always.

05

Pacing and cadence

The core of the day. Where the cut lands, how long a beat holds, how you build to something and then give the viewer room. This is the part that separates your work from the stuff you keep re-watching.

06

Editing techniques

Match cuts, J and L cuts, motivated transitions, montage logic. Out-the-box moves and, more importantly, when not to use them.

07

Colour grading

Balance first, look second. Nodes, windows and the restraint that separates a grade from a filter.

08

Sound design

Half the picture. Dialogue cleanup, atmospheres, music bedding, and mix levels that hold up on a phone speaker.

09

Export and deliver

Master, platform cutdowns, vertical variants and subtitles — rendered and checked before you leave the room.

The footage

I supply it. On purpose.

You could bring your own material, and every attendee would spend the day solving a different problem at a different pace. Instead everybody gets the same properly shot set — multiple cameras, real audio, an interview and cutaways.

That means when the room ends up with twenty different edits of identical footage, the only variable is the decisions. You'll see exactly what a different choice does, which is the fastest way anyone learns pacing.

Close interview frame from the supplied footage

A-cam

Wider interview frame from the supplied footage

B-cam

Seats

Four ways in.

Same day, same room, same material. The Pro seat is the one worth reading twice.

Early bird · 6 seats

R1 995

The full day, all materials, project files to keep.

Standard

R2 495

Identical day, once the early seats are gone.

Pro seat · 6 seats

R3 950

Everything above, plus my personal asset library — around R30 000 of sound, LUTs and elements I use on paid work — and a 30‑day support line after the day for when it goes wrong at home.

Bring a mate · 2 seats

R4 200

Two standard seats, booked together.

Prices in ZAR. The Pro seats tend to go first — the asset library alone is worth more than the seat.

Straight answers

Before you ask.

Still not sure? Email me with a link to something you've cut and I'll tell you whether this day helps.

What do I need to bring?

Your own laptop with DaVinci Resolve installed — the free version is more than enough, no Studio licence needed. Headphones, a mouse if you prefer one, and a drive with about 50GB free. I'll send a setup checklist a week before so nobody spends the morning installing software.

I don't use Resolve. Is this wasted on me?

No — the day is about decisions, not panels, and selects, pacing and cadence transfer to Premiere or Final Cut unchanged. You'll be following along in Resolve on the day, which most people find easier than they expect. If you're committed to another NLE, you'll take the thinking and leave the shortcuts.

I've never edited at all. Can I come?

Honestly, no. This is for people who already cut and know their work is flat. From a standing start you'd spend the day on mechanics and miss the part that matters.

Can I cut my own footage instead?

Not on the day — everyone works from the same supplied set, which is what makes the comparisons useful. Bring your own material to the Pro seat follow-up instead.

What's actually in the asset library?

The sound design, LUTs, transitions and graphic elements I use on client work — around R30 000 of it, yours to keep and use commercially. It's the single biggest reason people move up to the Pro seat.

When is it?

The next date is being reset and will go to the list first. Join it on the enquiry form and say which workshop — you'll hear before it's public.

The other half

Cut it here.
Shoot it there.

Make The Cut teaches you what to do with footage. All The Gear No Idea is the day you learn to go out and get footage worth cutting. Independent days — take either first.

Both days: R5 625
Booked separately: R6 620 — you save R995

All The Gear No Idea

Anyone can cut.Few can holdsomeone.