Highlight structure
Also known as: edit structure, reel structure
The shape a highlight edit follows, an opening that establishes, a middle that builds and an ending that releases, rather than a list of clips.
Updated
What it means
Structure is what separates an edit from a selection. The same clips in a different order produce a sequence that holds or one that does not, and nothing else about them changed. Order is a decision, not a detail.
The standard shape has three parts. An Opening sequence that says where this is, a middle that escalates, and a Closing shot that lets go.
Escalation is the part people miss. The middle has to get denser or bigger as it goes, because a flat middle is where viewers leave. Steady is read as stalled.
How it works in practice
Clips are sorted into roles before they are sorted into order. Establishing, building, peak and release, which is a smaller set of decisions than placing twenty clips individually and hoping the order works.
Music gives the skeleton. A track with a Build-up and a drop already has a structure, and matching the edit to it is easier than imposing a shape on a flat bed.
The peak is placed before the middle is filled. Deciding where the Climax sits fixes the length of everything else, and the rest of the ordering follows from it in both directions.
What to watch out for
Descending order is the natural failure. Putting the best clip first and working down is what unedited footage does, and it leaves a viewer with nothing to wait for. Attention is spent at the front.
Even density is the subtler one. A sequence where every shot is the same length and the same intensity reads as a Supercut regardless of how good the clips are.
Automatic assembly follows a shape only if one is specified. Shot scoring ranks moments without ordering them dramatically, so the structure comes from a rule rather than from the ranking.
How RawClip handles it
The assembled sequence follows a shape rather than a ranking: establishing material near the front, the strongest moment placed late, and a quieter shot to finish. Music is aligned to that shape, which is what makes the result read as an edit rather than as a list.