Proxy

A lightweight stand-in for heavy footage, so editing stays quick. You cut on the proxy and finish on the original.

A proxy is footage's working double: the camera's heavy original transcoded into something light enough to cut fluidly, linked by name and timecode to the master it stands for. The editor works at speed; the original waits, untouched, for the finish.

Cut on the proxy, finish on the original is the whole workflow in one line: at the end, the edit relinks to the masters and every decision replays at full weight. The discipline is unglamorous bookkeeping, names, timecode, folder structure, because a proxy that cannot find its original converts a shortcut into a search party.